Phuket Opinion: Marketing failing airport bus service

PHUKET: The operators of the airport bus service linking Phuket International Airport with Patong need to improve their marketing approach as quickly as possible if they hope to turn around the service’s slow start before the high season draws to a close.

It came as somewhat of a surprise that the service, launched with considerable fanfare in July last year, has not turned out to be as popular as expected, especially given the widespread dissatisfaction with the woeful public transport options on the island.

Unfortunately, and despite perhaps legitimate claims by the operator that Airports of Thailand (AoT) and other forces with vested interests at the airport are largely to blame, the sad fact remains that nine months after starting, the service still has no discernible English-language presence on the internet to inform would-be riders that it even exists.

After complaints last year that the information on the website was only in Thai, the owner promised to add English during a revamping of the site due to be completed in October. A recent web search yielded discouraging results.

The domain name that had been clearly shown on the side of buses [phuketairportbusexpress.com] yielded a “No Result” message. Subsequent research in Thai for contact information turned up two telephone numbers, for a landline and a mobile. Several attempts to reach both over the course of a weekday morning proved fruitless: both numbers worked, but nobody picked up the phone – making information about the service unavailable to any and all callers, regardless of what language they speak.

The airport express bus operators could take a page out of the playbook of the bus that links the airport with Phuket Town. That service also had problems gaining traction after their launch in 2005, but now seems to have emerged as a fairly reliable and legitimate transport option.

Not surprisingly, that service has an informative website and staff who are typically ready to provide additional information over the phone.

The express bus operators need to put themselves in the shoes of their target market. For many, the first impulse will be to fire up a smart phone and try to get basic information about how to reach their final destination quickly, safely and at a reasonable cost. When such information is nowhere to be found, they will need to settle for what appears to be the next best alternative, given the information at hand.

The airport express bus operators need to address marketing as a top priority, both for their own future success and also to help turn the tide in Phuket’s battle to free itself from being known as a “tourist trap” destination.