Getting Around Pattaya: Baht Buses, Grab and Scooters

The songthaew, and the mistake that costs you 85 baht

Songthaews are the blue pickup trucks with two benches in the back. They run fixed loops — Beach Road one way, Second Road the other, with other routes heading south to Jomtien and north to Naklua. You flag one down, sit in the back, press the buzzer on the roof when you want to get out, and pay at the driver's window afterwards.

The fare is a flat 15 baht, and it is the same whether you ride two streets or the length of the loop, including out to Jomtien. Recently increased from 10, so anything older telling you a tenner is out of date.

Here is the mistake. If you ask the price before getting in, or the driver asks where you are going, you are no longer on the loop — you are chartering the truck privately, and that costs around 100 baht. Neither party is scamming anyone; it is a different service. Get in, sit down, press the buzzer, pay 15 baht at the window. Say nothing at all and the system works perfectly.

Grab, taxis and motorbike taxis

Grab works well here and is the simple answer when you are going somewhere the loops do not cover, or when it is raining. Central Pattaya to Jomtien runs about 50 baht — more than three baht buses, still less than a coffee.

Motorbike taxis wait at the mouth of most sois. The official ones — a win in Thai — wear orange vests, and that is what you are looking for. A short hop is about 25 baht, and they are genuinely the fastest way through Second Road traffic at six in the evening. You will be handed a helmet; wear it.

The green and yellow metered taxis still exist, but they have been largely superseded by Grab and Bolt, and between those and the baht buses there is rarely a reason to flag one down.

Hiring a scooter — cost, and the part that matters more

A scooter is around 300 baht a day, or about 2,000 a month for a longer stay, which is why so many long-stayers have one parked outside. Shops are on every other corner and most will take either your passport or a cash deposit — either is normal here, and in years of hiring bikes, cars and jet skis around Thailand I have never been ripped off by a rental shop or charged a bogus damage fee. The one time I did drop a bike and break a mirror, the shop asked about 200 baht to fix it.

The cost is the easy part. The thing to think about is that Thai roads are genuinely dangerous, Pattaya's are busy with holiday riders who have not ridden before, and many travel insurance policies will not pay out without the correct motorcycle entitlement — for most visitors that means an international permit covering motorcycles, not just a car licence.

Hire one if you ride at home. If you do not, the 50-baht Grab is a bargain by comparison.

Hiring a car

About 1,000 baht a day. Worth it for a specific kind of trip rather than for the city: the Sattahip navy beaches, Khao Kheow Open Zoo, the Na Chom Thian attractions and anything further out have no useful public transport, and taxi fares over those distances add up quickly.

Inside the city a car is more nuisance than help — parking on Beach Road and Second Road is limited and the baht buses are quicker.

Where you need no transport at all

Central Pattaya is walkable end to end, and the baht buses on Beach and Second Road cover anything beyond that. Jomtien's strip works the same way. Naklua is about ten minutes up Beach Road from the middle.

Pratumnak is the awkward one — it is a hill, and there is no restaurant strip at the bottom of your road, so most evenings involve a baht bus either way. Na Chom Thian is the genuine exception: spread along several kilometres of road with nothing walkable, and the one area where I would say a scooter or car is close to essential.