Editorial Policy

I want this site to be accurate, useful, and honest about where it is uncertain. This page sets out how a guide gets from my notebook onto the page, who checks it, and how it stays current once it is up.

Where the writing starts

Everything begins with having actually done it. I am Jon Ferris, and I have spent ten years getting around Thailand without a car, which means I have used most of what I describe on an ordinary weekday rather than for research. The lived experience is mine, in the first person, blunders included. That is the raw material.

Who checks it, and for what

Riding in a taxi is not the same as driving one, and there is plenty I could not see from the back seat. So Wichai Thongchai, who has driven Bangkok’s metered taxis and the ride apps for over twenty years, reads every guide from the driver’s side of the glass. He checks the details only a driver would know: whether a claim about surcharges, tolls, meter rules, airport queues or app dispatch matches what really happens in the cab, and whether a tip I think is clever would in practice just irritate the driver or fail outright. Where a guide carries that kind of driver-side detail, it names him as the reviewer and gives the date he looked it over.

The facts I build on

For the fixed, checkable things I lean on the bodies that actually run the system rather than on hearsay or a blog I read once: Airports of Thailand for airport transfers, the State Railway of Thailand for trains, the Department of Land Transport for taxi rules and complaints, the BTS and MRT operators for the city rail, and the World Health Organization for road-safety figures. For scam warnings I point readers to official travel advice from their own government. These sit on the Resources page.

Money, and why I keep it vague on purpose

Fares and timetables in Thailand change constantly, so I treat every figure as approximate and always tell you to confirm the current price before you commit. You will not find fare-comparison tables or “this option versus that one on price” pieces here, because a number like that is out of date almost as soon as it is published. This is a know-how site: I would rather teach you how a fare is built up so you can spot a bad one yourself.

Keeping it current

I go back over the guides on a regular cycle and rework them when a rule, a route or a piece of advice moves on. Each one shows when it was published and, where there has been one, the date of the last revision or fresh driver review.

Independence

Nobody pays me to steer you toward a particular taxi cooperative, ride app, booking site or operator, and nothing here is sponsored. Where I name a service it is because it is genuinely the one most visitors will meet, not because there is money behind it. Spot an error and the Contact page will reach me. I will look into it and fix it.