Bangkok By Express Boat

 

A ride on the Chao Phraya River should be high on any tourist's agenda. The cheapest and most popular option is the Chao Phraya Express Boat, basically an aquatic bus plying up and down the river. The basic service (12 baht) plies from Wat Rajsingkorn (S4) all the way to Nonthaburi (N30), with stops at most of Rattanakosin's major attractions including the Grand Palace, the Temple of Dawn, etc. Board at piers with a sign showing the route and pay the ticket collector who will approach you bearing a long metal cylinder. In addition to the basic service, there are express services flagged with yellow or orange flags, which stop only at major piers and should be avoided unless you're sure where you're going. The signposting of the piers is quite clear, with numbered piers and English route maps, and the Central station offers easy interchange to the BTS Saphan Taksin station. The boats run every 5 to 20 minutes from sunrise (6 AM) to sunset (7 PM) every day, so ignore any river taxi touts who try to tell you otherwise.

 

Most piers are also be served by cross-river ferries which are particularly useful for reaching Wat Arun or Thonburi. They run every few minutes and cost 2-3 baht - pay at the kiosk on the pier and then walk through the turnstile.

In addition to the workaday express boat, there is also a Tourist Boat which stops at a different subset of piers, offers commentary in English and charges a flat 150 baht for a day pass. The boats are slightly more comfortable and may be worth considering if you just want to cruise up and down, but they only operate every 30 minutes and stop running by 3 PM.

 

Chao Phraya Express boats operates mainly two types of boats; all of them are built mainly by wood.

• Single-screw boat: They are able to hold around 90-120 people at the same time. It is around 26-32m long, depending on the amount of wood in the time it is built, and about 2.7m wide. Area on the back of the boat (painted yellow on the floor) is normally restricted only for embarking/disembarking passengers, but some people like to stand there when the boat is highly crowded. There are two 2-step stairs on each side of boat connecting the yellow pad on the back to the passenger area inside the boat, while the middle area between those stairs is non-functioning on-board toilet. The engine room with the appearance of large wood box, is located inboard in the center line of the boat before the seating area, which is two on the left and another two on the right and an aisle passing in the middle. On the later-built boats, the roof over the engine room till the middle section of the boat is raised higher for extra headroom because most standing passengers on crowded boats are standing there, and this design will apply with all another boats that will be built later in company's shipyards in Bangkok and Ayutthaya. This type of boats operate all no-flag, orange-flag, and green-yellow flag trips. This also serves off-peak direction trips of yellow-flag routing. The fleet has about 43 boats of this type in service.

• Twin-screw boat: Holds around 120 to 180 people. These wooden boats are as dramatic in appearance as the most rakish modern catamarans. Unlike the single-screw boat, the boat driver is in its small pod above passenger deck, similar to a cockpit on board a Boeing 747 airliner, giving views for passenger in the frontmost row and a public access to the boat's front deck for person who desired to watch a view from the boat's front without any obstruction (except Thai national flag). It is about 30-40m long and about 5-7m wide. Unlike a single-screw boat, it has seating area entire the boat, while most seating is in front of engines. Engine rooms are placed lower than those single-screw, and some passengers prefer to sit on it when it is crowded. There are 8 seats behind each engines. There are two aisle in the seating area in front of engines and 3 aisles behind the engines. There are two toilets, one on the port and another on the starboard, located in front of each engine. It serves as yellow-flag express boats in peak hours, and serves as tourist boats in off-peak hours. The fleet has about 14 boats of this type in service.

All seats on board all boats have individual life jackets and there are some floating loops around the boat that can be used in case of emergency.

 

Piers

 

• N33 Pak Kret (Served only by green-yellow flagged boats on peak time)

• N32 Wat Klang Kret (Served only by green-yellow flagged boats on peak time)

• N31 Ministry of Commerce (Served only by green-yellow flagged boats on peak time)

• N30 Nonthaburi (Phibun Songkhram 3) - a large market of the city (Terminal pier for all lines, except a green-yellow flag)

• N29 Phibun Songkhram 2 - Rama V Bridge and Wat Nakhon In

• (N29) Rama V bridge (Thonburi bank): Newly built pier; served only by orange flagged boats

• N28 Wat Khian (Served only by local boat (No flag); Orange flag serves on off-peak hours)

• N27 Wat Tuek (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N26 Wat Khema (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N25 Phibun Songkhram 1 (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N24 Rama VII Bridge (Thon Buri Bank)

• N23 Wat Soi Thong (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N22 Bang Pho

• N21 Kiakkai - Military venue at the northernmost of Samsen Road

• N20 Khiao Khai Ka (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N19 Department of Irrigation (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N18 Phayap - Access to northern section of Sam Sen Road

• N17 Wat Thep Nari (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N16 Krung Thon Bridge

• N15 Thewet - Flower market and Vietnamese community

• N14 Rama VIII Bridge - Bank of Thailand (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N13 Phra Athit - Khao San Road and Bang Lamphu clothing market

• N12 Phra Pin Klao Bridge - Close to the Southern Bus Terminal

• N11 Thon Buri Railway - Terminal of SRT Western line (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N10 Wang Lang (Siriraj) - Siriraj Hospital and ladies market

• N9 Tha Chang - Grand Palace, museums and universities quarter

• N8 Tha Tian - dried seafood market and notable temples

• N7 Rachini - 24 hour flower market (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N6 Memorial Bridge - Little India and night market, ferry to Portuguese community

• N5 Ratchawong - Chinatown

• N4 Marine Department

• N3 Si Phraya - Close to Portuguese and French embassies

• N2 Wat Muang Khae (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• N1 Oriental - Old Westerner quarter

• CEN Sathon (Taksin Bridge) - Interchange and terminal of BTS Silom line; (terminal pier of peak-direction yellow flag boats and green-yellow flag boats, and also tourist boat)

• S1 Wat Sawettrachat (Served only by local boat (No flag))

• S2 Wat Worachanyawat

• S3 Wat Rat Singkhon (Terminal pier for local boat (No flag) and orange-flagged boats)

• S4 Rat Burana (Big C) - Terminal pier for counter-peak direction yellow-flagged boats (generally smaller boats than peak direction)