Ferry between Pattaya and Hua Hin permanently cancelled

[Thaiger]

With travel restrictions for dark red zones limiting flights and bus services, ferries are not immune from the economic damages of Covid-19 either. The ferry service running between Hua Hin and Pattaya hasn’t been operating since last year due to Covid-19, but it now appears it will not ever restart. Royal Passenger Liner Co was operating as the sole operator of the route, and the only ferry service utilising the Bali Hai Pier where it occupied Pattaya Port C.  Yesterday the mayor of Pattaya City announced that the ferry company, who had suspended their service citing the lack of foreign […]

The post Ferry between Pattaya and Hua Hin permanently cancelled appeared first on Thaiger News.

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[EdwardV]

Another permanent casualty of the on again, off again lockdown model. The only difference is the ferry series is big enough to get noticed. Hope the government can do more to help those who are too small to get a story written about them. 

[AlexPTY]

It was probably the same company which procured those lamp posts. I took this ferry once, there were another 2 people on it. Whoever had this brilliant idea must be financed by government, because it's obviously was a waste of money 

[Cathat]

Two very different bunches of punters go to Patts or Hua Hin for a bit of r and r.

This was a no go from day one and was garanteed to fail sooner or later.

I would imagine quite a few of the occupants of the villas and condos of hua hin will be celebrating the demise of this service today.

It should keep the great unwashed away from the town for good.

 

[NumbNut]

17 minutes ago, Cathat said:

Two very different bunches of punters go to Patts or Hua Hin for a bit of r and r.

This was a no go from day one and was garanteed to fail sooner or later.

I would imagine quite a few of the occupants of the villas and condos of hua hin will be celebrating the demise of this service today.

It should keep the great unwashed away from the town for good.

I thought this myself when I first heard about the service being launched, I just couldn't see much crossover (get it?) between the average Patts punter compared to the average Hua Hin expat.

Shame to see any service cancel though

[emilyarin]

Thought this service was cancelled over a year a go, wasn't they trying to unload these second hand Chinese boats, but no taker's, maybe the Chinese could convert them into submarines and resell them,

any buyer's in mind.

[actonion]

Permanently cancelled until next time

 

[AussieBob]

Doomed from the start - amazed it lasted for this long. But as we all know, admitting fault or error is not something easily done (unless arrested).  Lots of problems in Thailand have been, and will continue to be in future, blamed on Covid. The reality is that so many things are a disaster from conception - like that bridge they touted from Sattahip to Hua Hin, which would become the world's longest bridge over water by about 50kms

One 'solution' to many of Thailand's travel related issues, like this one between Hua Hin and Chonburi, is to reform the Thailand airways system (routes available). Why do so many of domestic flight routes have to go to/from Bangkok? I have asked and it seems that it is because it has always been that way.  If it was economic they should allow direct flights to/from Hua Hin to Rayong.  Indeed they should allow direct flights between other larger cities outside Bangkok direct to other larger cities outside Bangkok.  

[Henryford]

I presume the same will happen to the proposed Sattahip to South Thailand ferry.

[gummy]

6 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I presume the same will happen to the proposed Sattahip to South Thailand ferry.

Not so sure about that as that is run by a more commercially astute management team but only time will tell.

[NCC1701A]

too bad as i live within walking distance of the ferry here in HH. 

two hours later I am Pattaya. Ferry was 50% full during my last trip December 2019.

  

[HolyCowCm]

6 hours ago, EdwardV said:

Hope the government can do more to help those who are too small to get a story written about them. 

Not to throw a negative light on your nice wish, but they seem to just not care of anything but themselves. Small to them are their underling boot lickers that keep them afloat. Everyone and everything else unless benefits them is disregarded.

 

[HolyCowCm]

3 hours ago, Colin said:

By contrast, on the occasions (pre-pandemic) that I have collected friends arriving at the Hua Hin terminal, the ferry has been reasonably well occupied. Not that I counted, but my recollection is that the passengers arriving were by no means all expats/ tourists.

For what it's worth, I feel that the service was not advertised sufficiently. Certainly, I found out about it almost by accident and others I asked had not heard of it at all. A pity, because the only alternative to the relatively quick and comfortable journey is the 5 hour (or so) schlep by road, with all the joys that entails.

As to the 'great unwashed', I thought that moniker applied these days to all expats ?

I was considering to use it the next time my USA high school buddy came to visit, but the Covid 19 has destroyed that plan 10 fold. I was going to fly in to Suvarnabhumi to meet him, then we were going to Pattaya for a few days via bus, then over to Cha Am Hua Hin via ferry, and then from there down south by train. You are correct that is seemed to be the best way to get from side to side. I for one had nothing negative to say about it.

[HolyCowCm]

36 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I presume the same will happen to the proposed Sattahip to South Thailand ferry.

But if this lasts then this might just be my next plan of action when my USA friend can finally arrive and we all can have something of a normal fun life again. 

[ExpatPattaya]

8 hours ago, Thaiger said:

but it now appears it will not ever restart.

So why the title "permanently". 

Another company could buy the  ferry boat and start the service when the Tourists start coming back . 

[HolyCowCm]

26 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

too bad as i live within walking distance of the ferry here in HH. 

two hours later I am Pattaya. Ferry was 50% full during my last trip December 2019.

That's what I wanted to hear. An actual real perspective from someone who took it and utilized its benefit. I could see it had something going rather than having to drive.

[gummy]

Just now, ExpatPattaya said:

So why the title "permanently". 

Another company could buy the  ferry boat and start the service when the Tourists start coming back . 

Assuming that is they could obtain the license to operate. You never know in Thailand 

[NCC1701A]

1 minute ago, HolyCowCm said:

That's what I wanted to hear. An actual real perspective from someone who took it and utilized its benefit. I could see it had something going rather than having to drive.

yes it was great. two hours vs five by bus or taxi. 

or course more expense. 1250 baht vs 378 baht VIP bus from HH.   

[HolyCowCm]

12 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

yes it was great. two hours vs five by bus or taxi. 

or course more expense. 1250 baht vs 378 baht VIP bus from HH.   

I would gladly pay that amount to enjoyably travel by water and have a beer or two or three if they sold them. If not I would back pack my own. That to me is riding in Nature's style.

[NumbNut]

4 hours ago, Colin said:

As to the 'great unwashed', I thought that moniker applied these days to all expats ?

Very good point

[FlipFlopArmy]

Was a nice ride I remebee a lot of „ Made in Germany „ signs when walking around on that Katamaran.

 

[King Cotton]

21 minutes ago, FlipFlopArmy said:

Was a nice ride I remebee a lot of „ Made in Germany „ signs when walking around on that Katamaran.

Ha-ha, well observed and sorry I missed your debut post, earlier!

Hello, FlipFlopArmy and welcome to Thaiger Talk

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

King Cotton

[AussieBob]

4 hours ago, gummy said:

Assuming that is they could obtain the license to operate. You never know in Thailand 

From what I have read, they had a Contract with the Pattaya Provincial Govt - not a licence as such to operate, but a contracted agreement to provide the services  - they have announced that they will be cancelling that Contract. Obviously we will never know the terms, but maybe there was some kicking back going on. I heard the Pattaya Govt wants the company to rebuild/restore the Pier before they will accept the cancelled contract. 

[Cathat]

14 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Doomed from the start - amazed it lasted for this long. But as we all know, admitting fault or error is not something easily done (unless arrested).  Lots of problems in Thailand have been, and will continue to be in future, blamed on Covid. The reality is that so many things are a disaster from conception - like that bridge they touted from Sattahip to Hua Hin, which would become the world's longest bridge over water by about 50kms

One 'solution' to many of Thailand's travel related issues, like this one between Hua Hin and Chonburi, is to reform the Thailand airways system (routes available). Why do so many of domestic flight routes have to go to/from Bangkok? I have asked and it seems that it is because it has always been that way.  If it was economic they should allow direct flights to/from Hua Hin to Rayong.  Indeed they should allow direct flights between other larger cities outside Bangkok direct to other larger cities outside Bangkok.  

Distance between u tapo and hua hin is probably to short for a commercial airliner to be viable.

even a small turbo props are not that cheap to operate on short sectors because of all the fees you incur every time you land and depart.

Probably would be better using a float plane or helicopter for such a short distance and skip the going to the airport bit.

Would be fairly expensive also but would be a point to point service.

Getting permission from the authorities to run such a service would probably be  very challenging.

Quite a few people have tried to run boat services between Pattaya and hua hin over the years.

Nobody has succeeded to make it viable long term to date.

The reason so many thai flights go to and from Bangkok is because thai run a hub and  spoke system with wide body aircraft taking people to and from their Bangkok hub and smaller narrow body aircraft then taking them on to their destinations in thailand.

It worked well until about 2000ish for full service airlines but is now considered an old style way of running an airline and few major airlines operate in this manner now.

 

 

 

 

 

[AussieBob]

5 hours ago, Cathat said:

Distance between u tapo and hua hin is probably to short for a commercial airliner to be viable.

even a small turbo props are not that cheap to operate on short sectors because of all the fees you incur every time you land and depart.

Probably would be better using a float plane or helicopter for such a short distance and skip the going to the airport bit.

Would be fairly expensive also but would be a point to point service.

Getting permission from the authorities to run such a service would probably be  very challenging.

Quite a few people have tried to run boat services between Pattaya and hua hin over the years.

Nobody has succeeded to make it viable long term to date.

The reason so many thai flights go to and from Bangkok is because thai run a hub and  spoke system with wide body aircraft taking people to and from their Bangkok hub and smaller narrow body aircraft then taking them on to their destinations in thailand.

It worked well until about 2000ish for full service airlines but is now considered an old style way of running an airline and few major airlines operate in this manner now.

Thanks - good to know why.  You are probably right, in that it is too short for a viable airline route as the costs would be too high - airline flights inside Thailand are cheap - they would charge foreigners more if they could, but international rules stop them doing that.  

Thailand sure is slow to change - and clearly it takes a lot of money at the Provincial levels to get their airport upgraded - and take away business from Bangkok.