Chiang Mai Bus Terminal 3, or Arcade 3, was crowded with large numbers of people and tourists last night, waiting to board intercity coaches to travel back to work after enjoying holidays and New Year celebrations with their families and relatives. Most passengers had booked their tickets in advance and chose to travel at night so they could rest and sleep on the bus.
Coach travel has regained popularity this year for the first time in several years, both on the Bangkok–Chiang Mai route and inter-regional routes, due to the convenient and standardised services provided by operators. On 3rd January, a total of 27,042 passengers used the services for both arrivals and departures. Outbound passengers alone numbered 14,667, using a total of 1,053 bus trips — 988 regular services and 65 additional services. The route with the highest number of extra services was Chiang Mai–Bangkok, with 74 regular trips and an additional 22 extra trips. It is expected that on 4th January more than 25,000 passengers will use services on all routes. Over the two return-travel days of 3rd and 4th January, more than 50,000 passengers are expected to use coach services.
