The airport rail link to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok just isn’t that popular. No matter what the SRT Electric Train Company, which runs the Airport Rail Link, tries to do passenger numbers still remain low. Even their latest discount price on the City Line — just 20 baht no matter which station you went to — didn’t work. Numbers remained around the same as before — around 6,000 passengers a day.
That’s why, instead of extending the discount fare for another few months they’ve just announced their decision to put prices back up to normal. After all,when you’re losing 2 million baht a month, you’ve got to make money somehow.
It’s actually a real shame the Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link isn’t doing better than it is. It’s fast, efficient, always on time and incredibly clean. There’s also plenty of space for your luggage and it’s comfortable.
The problem, however, seems to be it’s not that convenient. Bangkok is so large a city that many people who are going to or coming from Suvarnabhumi Airport have huge distances to travel. To take the Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link, that usually means having to drag or carry heavy luggage on and off trains and then still have to take a taxi at the other end anyway.
For most of us, we might as well take a taxi to and from the airport in the first place. It’s not that much more expensive and a heckuva lot more convenient.
If, however, you’re looking for something interesting to do, I’d recommend taking the train to Suvarnabhumi Airport just for a look around. It only takes around 30 minutes and, when you get there you can take photographs (Suvarnabhumi is the most photographed place in the world on Instagram) and there’s even a food court where you can get an extremely inexpensive, and delicious meal.
Even with the non-discounted price, it will still only cost you 90 baht round-trip and what a fun day out. You can find out more information about the airport rail link train here.