Phuket is a large island with many of its attractions spread out across it. When I visited Phuket the main transport options to see the different attractions spread out across the island seemed to be hiring a driver or taking a taxi each way. Both of which, while they may have been cheaper than what you’d pay for the same service in London or Australia, were quite above what I wanted to pay as a solo traveller on an extended trip. Luckily, I found a very easy way to explore different areas of Phuket at a fraction of the cost and not much longer in time at all, which was utilising the Phuket public buses.
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Suggested read: How to get to Railay Beach from Ao Nang in Krabi.
How to use the Phuket public buses?
Phuket has a network of public buses that travel across the island to main areas like Pa Tong and Old Phuket Town. It is really simple to find out if one of the buses runs along the route you want to travel by utilising Google Maps. You can see where the bus stops (roughly – more on this below) are, and, with a few extra clicks, can see when the buses are expected to come pass.
As you can see, unlike with public transport in other countries, Google Maps doesn’t seem to want to give an exact timing of the Phuket public buses expected arrival just things like “every 45 minutes”. To find out when the Phuket public buses are arriving though, you can click on the bus option in Google Maps and it will show the times on the following page.
I was staying at Lub D Phuket Patong in Pa Tong and could see there was a bus stop just down the road from me on the Pa Tong beach road so headed down. I went there thinking if this doesn’t work, I’ll just get a taxi or tuktuk and I’m in no worse position than I would’ve otherwise been but it all went to plan. I waited where the bus stop was marked on Google Maps and kept an eye out for the bus coming down.
When it did arrive I flagged it down and it stopped a little further along the road and waited for me. I hopped on from the back and found my seat.
What are the Phuket public buses like?
The Phuket public buses were easy to differentiate from other transport in Phuket and being a solid blue colour you’ll spot them coming
As you can see from the below photos, there was considerable room for passengers and their bags. As we set off through Phuket these seats did fill up. It was basic, just like riding in a larger tuktuk but the public buses were a great way to travel through Phuket.
How to pay for Phuket public buses
As I had jumped onto the back of one of the Phuket public buses, I was at a bit of a loss how to pay. But after driving a little bit, the bus pulled over temporarily and they came around to collect money and issue tickets.
How much are the Phuket public buses?
When I visited the Phuket public buses were 40 baht for a one way journey, which was considerably cheaper than a tuktuk (Pa Tong to Phuket Old Town via a tuktuk or a taxi was about 500 baht each way). At the time I travelled, Google Maps was incorrectly showing this price as 30 baht one way so it’s a good reminder not to rely heavily on Google Maps in Asia. There is also another type of public bus, the Phuket Smart Buses , that I also took while in Phuket, which is 100 baht a one way journey (more on this below). However, both options are considerably cheaper than private car/taxi.
The bus stop locations
As mentioned above, Google Maps doesn’t correlate the best with Asia whether that be the walking directions (I think I rolled my eyes and cursed Google Maps many a times while using it across Asia, especially in Bangkok), bus fare pricing or, as I learnt, bus stop locations but don’t let this put you off at all! The bus stop locations Google Maps gives you are approximate. Head to that location and keep your eye out for any signs of the bus company (like the one below) – if this is within 50 or so metres of the bus stop marked by Google it’s likely to be the location. Ask around the people in Phuket are immensely friendly and helpful to tourists and will easily confirm with you if it’s the bus stop you need to be at. I found I needed to do this when I visited Phuket Old Town as the bus stop was earlier along the road than what Google Maps said it was.
In addition to this, on my return journey of Phuket Old Town to Pa Tong, Google Maps showed me as being able to return to my original bus stop in Pa Tong. However, due to the one way driving system in Pa Tong, the bus actually terminated in Pa Tong before my original bus stop so I had to walk a bit further (only about a 10 minute walk further) to get back to where I started. Again, don’t let this put you off it really isn’t stressful and if you have a working phone you’ll barely notice any inconvenience because you can work it out straight away (just be sure to leave a bit of wiggle room on either side of your itinerary if travelling on the Phuket public buses!).
I went on two different types of Phuket public buses that had different fares
As mentioned above, while here I travelled on two different Phuket public buses. The first one, which I’ve described in this article, took me between Pa Tong and Phuket Old Town, and a second one, which was the Phuket Smart Bus (pictured below), took me from Pa Tong to Ma Doo Bua.
The Phuket Smart Bus was a more ‘typical’ bus (not like an extended tuktuk of the other bus option described above) and the route I took from Pa Tong to Ma Doo Bua was headed to the Phuket Airport so it was full of travellers with suitcases. On my return journey back to Pa Tong from Ma Doo Bua, it had already picked up people from the Phuket Airport so the bus was quite busy and I had to stand (well I chose to sit on the floor in the stairwell haha). But for the 100 baht price tag in relation to what a private vehicle would have been (the Pa Tong to Ma Doo Bua one way journey via Grab would’ve been 700 baht) it was more than fine.
I hope this helps you save a few dollars exploring Phuket on the public buses. I went on all these bus journeys thinking ‘okay worse case scenario if this doesn’t work out, is that I order a Grab or jump in a taxi’ but in my experience the Phuket public buses showed up (one was about 5 minutes late) and got me to where I wanted to be at a very good price!
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