Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, this is kind of kind of one of those more interesting; I saw this and then I said, I'm going to make a video on this. This is one of these things that frankly, the Thais come up with some really creative ways of dealing with problems at times. I'll just jump into it.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Thai Enquirer and it's on X, so it's Thai Enquirer on X, so it is @ThaiEnquirer on X, under the headline: Phuket plans boat taxi network to cut airport travel time. Quoting directly: "The Government plans to develop a boat taxi network in Phuket to reduce traffic congestion and provide faster transport between tourist areas and Phuket International Airport. Deputy Government Spokesperson Lalida Perisiwatana said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is preparing to build piers and a water transport system using funds from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. The government said travel between Patong, and the Airport could take about 30 minutes by boat, compared with more than 2 hours by road during heavy traffic."

So interesting. You know if this comes off and this starts being operational, using these boats could wildly reduce the amount of commute time one has to endure when getting to and from the Phuket Airport. That said, quoting further: "The project is part of the government's "Phuket Model", which also includes efforts to reclaim state land, revoke illegally issued land titles and restore areas within Sirinat National Park. Authorities are pursuing about 20 state land encroachment cases in the area. The Government said the model could later be expanded to other tourist provinces, including Phangan Nga and Krabi." So again, this is one of these, it's “modern problems require modern solutions”, to quote from the old Dave Chappelle Show. There's an issue, you have got a 2-hour commute to get to the airport, or it can be a matter of minutes or far less than 2 hours by using these boats. Frankly it's not a bad idea and it's environmentally sound; it's boats as opposed to cars. I mean there's some argument to be made; there's less air pollution, things of that nature. 

But that said, again anybody that has ever been to Thailand knows the Thais are very much sort of river people or water people. Here in Bangkok, I mean there is an entire canal commuter system that Thais use daily. Much like buses, much like the rail system, there are canals and canal boats. Watching those canal boat guys do their thing, it's just amazing - the guys, that that's what they do day in and day out - and they can move those cigar boats up and down that canal like nothing else; it's something really to behold. But again, it's an interesting solution to what has proven to be a rather vexing problem. It remains to be seen how this plays out so we will be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.