Right Down The (Yellow) Line
My friend Tim was back in town and asked me if I would like to join him in trying out the new Yellow Line monorail (*).
As this is another new form of transport I hadn't experienced yet I happily agreed and last Monday we met up at the Lat Phrao MRT Station.
There we immediately hit a snag when I wanted to pay as I couldn't use my MRT card.
Helpful staff requested me to use a (BTS!) Rabbit card instead, which I did, problem solved! (**)
This 23-station, 30.4 km, monorail is a driverless system that provides excellent views both front and back.
Inside everything looks very efficient with plenty of seats.
And just in case you might forget which line you are using, all seats (except those reserved for the elderly, etc.) are colored yellow ;-)
The Bombardier rides are a little less smooth compared to the other MRT & BTS models used, it's slightly jerky.
Here you can see the railway switch at the Lat Phrao Station.
On the way to Hua Mak Station.
We got off at Samrong Station where I couldn't help noticing these warnings...
If pickpockets only would be wearing outfits like that!
As for sexual harassment, a very sad sign of the times!
(**) A helpful Twitter user explained it as follows: While the owner is the MRT, the operator is actually BSR which is BTS (hence the rabbit card), Sino Thai and RATCH. Sino Thai with Alstom (originally Bombardier) built the line.
