Apart from receiving a few hard stares from some tuk-tuk drivers along the route into Banzaan Market, the first bus, which left the airport at 9:30 am carrying four paying passengers along with a bunch of journalists and bus company officials, encountered no problems.
Among the paying passengers were husband and wife Ben and Kim Webb, from the UK. He is 24 and she is 25. Mr Webb told The Phuket News, “This is the first time for us in Thailand.
“As soon as we stepped out of the airport, we were bombarded by all the taxi drivers. “Pay this, go there” but we wanted to get on the bus. The sign was easy to read and it was exactly what we wanted, and cheaper as well."
Mrs Webb said, “We just came from Malaysia. It is okay for us because it is cheap, even though it takes about an hour and a half to go [to Patong].
The couple said they were spending three days in Phuket before travelling on to Bangkok.
The airport bus, driven by Rungphet Parmanee, 41, arrived at its stop outside the JJ Market on Pang Muang Sai Kor Rd at 11 am without incident. Local people were curious – they had not heard about the service.
They quizzed The Phuket News staff. “Is it true?” one asked. When told it was, the locals were delighted. Said one, “It is so good to have a bus to the airport. Now we can go to Thalang or other places more easily.”
No paying passengers climbed aboard before the bus left again for its route back to the airport, down through Jungceylon to Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd to the south end of Patong and then along the beach road, collecting stares from tuk-tuk drivers, and thence out of Patong.
The buses leave the airport for Patong at 8:15, 9:30, 10:15, 11:30, 12:30, 14:15, 15:30, 19:30 and 20:45, and from Patong headed for the airport at 8:00, 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:30, 15:30, 17:00, 18:00 and 19:00.
In between the buses will stop at Muang Mai, Thalang Town, Tesco-Lotus Thalang, the Heroines Monument, Boat Lagoon, Tesco-Lotus Bypass and Kathu Town.
The service uses eight buses at the moment, each with 22 passenger seats. If the service is popular, more may be added.
Meanwhile, only time will tell whether the hard stares turn into something more unsettling.