BK: How long have you been a van driver?
I began about eight years ago. My life was pretty boring. I didn’t know what to do with myself after my wife left me. My brother asked me to join the driver team at Piya Tour, which runs between Bangkok and Petchaburi, so I agreed to join right away.

BK: Do you like it?
I do. During the first couple years, it was really good. I loved to do it. I meet new people every day. It’s good to see many types of people. But then again, after driving for eight years, I’m getting bored again. My life doesn’t have much excitement. It’s a lot of waiting around to drive.

BK: How is your work environment?
It used to be better a couple years ago. We had a lot of drivers, and I had to drive only once a day. Nowadays, I have to drive two times a day because there are fewer drivers than in the past. They quit to do something else or drive for other operators. The number of operators has grown rapidly in recent years, so our customer numbers have also dropped.

BK: How do you start your day?
Our van service operates from 5am-8pm. If I have to start as the first driver of the day, I have to wake up at 4am and catch the first van from Petchaburi to Bangkok. If I have to drive from Bangkok early morning, I might just sleep in the car and drive to Petchaburi.

BK: How much do you earn?
I first started at B10,000 a month, but now they give me B12,000 a month.

BK: Have you ever had an accident?
Never. I drive fast but I don’t drive recklessly. I don’t like to drive close to other cars because that can lead to accidents.

BK: How do you feel about the gas price hike?
I’m OK with the hike, but the thing that I worry about is if gas will run out. We have recently faced this problem at gas stations, where they say they’ve run out of gas and we have to switch to diesel. The prices are so different—B1,000 versus B400 for a full tank . Anyway, I think the people who will really worry about the hike are our customers, because when gas prices go up, we have to raise our fares. The burden falls on the customers.

BK: Do you ever want to do something else?
Not really. I might stop driving next year and go home to help my family business. We sell coconuts.