When Red Trucks aren’t red?
Category : LiveInCM Tips/Tricks Travel
What are they?
So if you read the first post on Red Trucks in Chiang Mai you know the basics of using Red Trucks to travel the old city and the outer areas. So what happens when Red Trucks aren’t red? If you’ve been in town more than a day you’ve seen the same trucks but they’re not red. These trucks (of any color, including red) are actually called seelors(4 Wheels) or songthaews(2 Benches) and they operate more like buses, going further afield on specific routes. Once you know the routes these are actually very simple to use.
Who can take them?
Anyone is welcome to use the various colored trucks. Just make sure you know where you are going, and more importantly, know how you are getting back. Either get yourself to one of the truck depots or hail them on the road as they are coming by and tell driver where you are heading. Then jump in the back and press the “stop request” button when nearing your stop. Finally, just like the Red Trucks, go around front and pay for the ride.
Where to start?
Start off by learning where to find the correct color/route trucks. You can get to any of these depots by walking or by taking a Red Truck as described in the previous article.
– Wararot Market – Ping River
The majority of Songthaews can be taken from the transport depot near the river. Its locally referred to as Kad Luang, Wararot Market, or Chinatown. Along the river you will find queues or Yellow, White, Green and Blue trucks waiting their turn to fill up and take off on their way.
- Yellow – This yellow truck will head North to Mae Rim and East-North-East to Doi Saket
- White – The white truck will head East to Sankamphaeng
- Green – The green truck will head North-North-East to San Sai and/or Mae Jo
- Blue – The Blue truck will head south through Sarapee to Lamphun
– Chang Puak Gate – Northern Bus Station
About 400 meters north of the north gate is the small bus station/Songthaew depot. This depot is almost as large as the one near the Ping river and has Yellow, White, Green, and Orange trucks going along the following routes
- Yellow – This yellow truck will head South to Chom Tong
- White – The white truck will head East to Sankamphaeng
- Green – The green truck will head North-North-East to San Sai and/or Mae Jo
- Orange – The orange truck will head north through Chang Dao to Fang
– Chiang Mai Gate
The smallest depot is just outside of the south gate serving only the Yellow(not the same as Wararot Market) truck route heading south towards Hang Dong and San Pa Tong.
How Much?
– Generally you can expect to pay 20B for any of these rides. The prices can vary depending on your destination and which “zone” it may be in. The price could be 10, 15 or 20B, but this is one of those cases where I don’t mind leaving the change!
When can you go? Hours of operations?
These guys start early. You can catch most of them anywhere from 6 am to 6pm (18:00)
Keep this in mind for your return trip. If you’re not on the last run back you may find it tough to get a ride, or at least very expensive!
Please feel free to contact us by email, contact form, or comment below. We’re happy to answer any questions and look forward to ideas about future blog posts. What would you like to know about Chiang Mai?
2 Comments
Richard
July 19, 2014 at 7:29 amJust wanted to point out that some (not all) green song-thaews go to Mae-Jo direct, not via San Sai. Helpful article … Thanks !
King
July 19, 2014 at 8:45 amThanks for the update Richard. I’ve updated the blog to point that out.