Your Travel Guide to Thailand
All information & tips to prepare your trip in Thailand
The red line is operated by SRT (State Railway of Thailand). Entry into service in late 2021, it links Bang Sue and its large railway station Krung Thep Aphiwat Station to Rangsit via Don Muang on side and to Taling Chan on the other side. Here is it main interest for tourists: the line finally makes Don Muang Bangkok airport accessible by metro. For now, you have to combine the MRT (Bang Sue or Chatuchak station) and this Red Line to get there from downtown Bangkok. The line will be extended and once over, the SRT Red line will run from the Rangsit campus of Thammasat University in Pathum Thani province to Maha Chai in Samut Sakhon for a total of 87 km.
Red Line trains run from 5:30 a.m. to midnight.
Train frequency varies by time of day. During peak hours, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., there is a train every 12 minutes. The rest of the time, there is one every 20 or 30 minutes.
Once again, this line has it own system and operator and use its own tokens as tickets. However, it seems that you can use your credit card on the gantries (I have not tested).
Bangkok subway is called MRT. The metro line only covers a small part of the city even if connected to the BTS it offers more opportunities. The MRT is very clean, has air conditioned cars and is especially convenient to get to Grand Palace, Wat Pho or Chinatown.
The Chao Phraya Express boats run regularly on the river running through Bangkok. They go to all monuments and interesting places on the river shores including Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, the three must see temples in Bangkok. Fare is cheap.
Taking the bus to get around is clearly not the easiest mean of transportation to use for a foreign tourist in Bangkok neither the fastest one but it's the cheapest one. Bangkok bus network is wide and you can go almost anywhere but just need to be patient.
Bangkok is the city in Thailand that offers more choices of public or individual transport (metro, bus, boats, tuktuks...). Because, no, there are not just tuk-tuks and pink taxis to get around Bangkok !