Siem Reap to Phnom Penh - Golden Bayon Express

Two days ago I travelled from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh with my father and sister using Golden Bayon Express, at the suggestion of our guesthouse that it is a safe and reliable option. The vehicle was a late model Toyota Hiace 12 seater van.

They drove at extremely high speeds - an average of 100 km/h and frequently at 120+ km/h (I could see the speedo), at least in the first section to Kompong Thom, overtaking and passing every other vehicle on the road. It was by far the most dangerous and aggressive driving I have experienced anywhere in the world and was far too fast for the road conditions and level of traffic.

I am quite tall and was very cramped for leg room, so at the lunch stop at Kompong Thom I jumped ship and was lucky to score a seat on a normal "large bus" for the remainder of the journey. My father and sister stayed in the van and had the "daylights shaken out of them" on the rough second half of the journey after Kompong Thom.

Other Khmer passengers explained that the drivers must abide by company policy to complete the journey in a maximum of 6 hours. They have a 30 minute break in Phnom Penh and then pickup new passengers and return to Siem Reap the same day. The worrying part of this scenario is that the latter part of the return trip will be in the dark. To quote the driver himself "he must drive fast on the first half of the trip to meet the time schedule, because of the rougher, slower Kompong Thom to Phnom Penh section".

In three previous visits to Cambodia I have had great success using normal "large buses" which are slower but are safe and comfortable. If you value your safety and comfort, I would advise avoiding these Golden Bayon Express vans.

I've lived and traveled in Southeast Asia for about 7 years now and am amazed at the number of traffic fatalities (buses with 20 killed, etc) that never get mentioned in the western media. There are often accidents like this with minivans or buses every other week. Maybe it's because traffic fatalities are so common in Asia. One problem is that drivers in SEA don't make a lot of money and end up working double shifts just to make ends meet.

If the driver looks tired or the vehicle has bald tires, etc, I start looking around for another ride. I've actually been in two taxis in Bangkok where the drivers fell asleep at a red light.

I agree that Golden Bayon drive fast. It's one of the reasons people like to use them. I don't think their safety record is that bad but perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm usually not that desperate. My other gripe with them is that on the one occasion when I used them which was from Phnom Penh to Battambang they charged me $10 and I found out after that my Cambodian colleagues paid $8 for the same trip. I'm not aware of other bus companies having a dual pricing structure for foreigners and locals,

Lots of bus companies around SEA have dual pricing, some have a formal two price system, but many more do it informally. See http://www.canbypublications.com if you scroll through the bus schedules you'll see several that openly list two prices.
I spend winters in The Yucatan and the local Collectivos charge all the day trippers that come off the cruise ships double.

@cmburns. You may be correct though I've caught quite a few buses in Cambodia over the years and never been aware of it on the routes I've travelled. I just had a look at the bus section in Canby and can't find any mention of dual pricing there. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I have no problem with dual pricing for things like historical sites or other things which have cultural significance for the local people but I draw the line at public transport. That's just price gouging and if possible I avoid companies that engage in it.

If you click on "Bus Schedules" in the Blue section on the left side, then scroll down the schedules you'll find a couple of dual prices in the "Comments." Or, go to http://catmekongexpress.com you'll find dual pricing on many of their routes! I've been using Mekong Express for years, and while I'm not a fan of dual pricing I doubt I'll stop booking Mekong Express over that. I try to think of it as a kind of Loyalty Program, the locals use the buses all the time, where most tourist aren't really long term repeat customers. I fly a lot, so every third or forth trip is free, with FF miles, but the guy that flies once every few years will probably never get a free trip. In Cambodia the locals just get the discount on front end, where I get it on the back end, but it works out the same.

Ok..just had a look and you're correct. In any case, when it happened to me my Cambodian colleagues found it rather amusing and offered to buy my tickets for me in future.
I've used Mekong Express before to go from Phnom Penh to Saigon and found them good but wasn't aware of a dual pricing structure.