Songthaews Explained: How Thailand's Shared Pickup Trucks Actually Work

A songthaew is a pickup truck converted into shared public transport, with a covered rear and two bench seats running down each side facing each other, and its name literally means “two rows”. The first one I ever rode, up in Chiang Mai, I got in going confidently the wrong way and paid for the privilege of a scenic tour back. Once you understand that a songthaew is really a shared minibus wearing a pickup’s body, the whole thing stops being a mystery and becomes the cheapest, most useful way to move around a Thai town.

What a songthaew actually is

A songthaew is a small truck with the load bed roofed over and fitted with two long benches, carrying paying passengers along a rough local route. In Chiang Mai these are the famous red trucks, the rot daeng, which run flexible routes around town for a small flat fare, commonly around 30 baht agreed before you get in ¹. The same vehicle appears in different colours and names across the country, but the format never changes: you sit in the back, others get on and off as you go, and you share the ride.

Think of it as the layer of transport beneath taxis and buses. It is slower and less private than a car, and it will not take you door to door on demand, but it is a fraction of the price and it goes where the everyday traffic of a town flows. In many places it is the only public transport there is.

How the shared route system works

Most songthaews run a customary route for a fixed flat fare, so you join one already heading your way rather than directing it like a taxi. Pattaya is the clearest example: its baht buses are songthaews looping a set circuit for a standard flat fare, commonly around 10 baht if you stay on the route ¹. You do not book, you do not tell the driver a turn-by-turn direction, you simply ride the loop until you reach your stop.

The tricky part for a newcomer is that the route is often invisible. There is rarely a printed map, and the destination is not always signed in English. The way locals cope, and the way you should too, is to name your destination to the driver before you climb aboard and read his answer. A nod means he passes your way. A shake of the head means wait for the next one. The Department of Land Transport regulates this kind of public transport, and if a driver behaves badly the national complaints line is 1584 ².

Flagging one down

You catch a songthaew by standing where it can safely pull in and raising a hand as it approaches, exactly as you would hail a taxi. On a busy town route in Chiang Mai one comes along every few minutes, so you are rarely waiting long for a red truck running the roughly 30 baht town service ¹. When it slows, lean towards the driver’s window and say where you are going before you commit.

This is the moment that decides your fare. If you get in first and ask the price later, you have handed the driver the initiative. Say the destination, hear the answer, and only then get in the back. My own rule after that first wrong-way ride is simple: no bum on the bench until I have heard both the direction and the number.

The buzzer, and stopping where you want

To get off, you press the buzzer fixed to the roof or ceiling of the rear as you approach your stop. There is usually an electric bell push mounted overhead; one press tells the driver to pull over. If you cannot find one, a firm tap or knock on the back of the cab does the same job. This matters because on a fixed loop like Pattaya’s roughly 10 baht circuit, the truck will not stop unless you signal, and it is easy to sail past your turning while you are still looking for the button ¹.

Once you have pressed it, wait for the truck to come to a proper stop before you climb down over the tailgate. Drivers pull in quickly and move off quickly, so keep a hand on the rail until your feet are on the pavement.

Paying the fare

You pay the flat fare in cash at the driver’s window as you get off, not when you get on. In Chiang Mai that is commonly around 30 baht for a town trip, and on the Pattaya loop roughly 10 baht, though these customary fares drift over time so confirm the current one when you say your destination ¹. Carry small notes and coins: handing a driver a 1000 baht note for a 30 baht ride will get you a flat refusal or a long wait for change.

I keep a little stash of ten and twenty baht coins in one pocket precisely for songthaews and motorbike taxis, so I am never fumbling. Pay the exact customary amount that locals pay, say thank you, and walk on. There is no tipping expected and no meter to check.

Agreeing a charter for off-route trips

Anything off the normal route is a private charter, and the single rule is that you agree the price before you move. If you want a red truck to leave its usual circuit and run you somewhere specific, or you are travelling late, or you have luggage, the driver is effectively hiring you the whole vehicle, and that costs more than the flat shared fare. Official travel advice for Thailand repeatedly makes the same point about unmetered transport: settle the price up front to avoid a dispute at the other end ³.

The failure mode is always the same and always avoidable. You get in without a number, the trip is longer or fiddlier than you thought, and the driver names a figure you were never going to like at a moment when you have no leverage. Fix it at the kerb, out loud, and there is nothing left to argue about. This same caution applies to any unmetered ride you take in the country ⁴.

The same truck, different towns

The songthaew shows up everywhere, but each place runs it a little differently, so it is worth reading the local version before you arrive. The system in the north is not the system on the coast. For the specifics of how the red trucks work in the old city, see getting around Chiang Mai. For the baht-bus loop and where it does and does not reach, see getting around Pattaya. And for the island’s own, more expensive setup, see getting around Phuket.

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Fares and routes in Thailand change constantly and vary by town, so treat every figure here as a rough guide and confirm the current fare with the driver before you ride.