The History of Hong Kong Buses

As early as before the war, there were bus companies in Hong Kong. /kloc-in the 1920s, there were many bus companies in Hong Kong, including Kowloon Motor Company (KMB, the same below), Kai Tak Motor Company, China Motor Company (CMB, the same below), Hong Kong Hotel on Hong Kong Island, Aberdeen Neighborhood Welfare Association and so on. On June 1933, 1 1, the government implemented regional franchising. The Hong Kong Island Line is operated by CMB, while the Kowloon and New Territories Lines are operated by KMB.

194 1 year, Japanese troops invaded Hong Kong. Due to the shortage of fuel, the bus service in Hong Kong was once paralyzed. After the war, many buses were destroyed or requisitioned by the Japanese army, so the bus company had to use modified cars instead of walking. In 1949, KMB sent four newly purchased Dana A double-decker buses to 1 route, becoming the first double-decker bus in Hong Kong, laying a good foundation for the popularization of double-decker buses in the future. In September, 1953, KMB set up bus stops all over the New Territories.

With the growth of Hong Kong's population, KMB and CMB, two major bus companies in Hong Kong, bought double-decker buses from Britain. 1960 Add double-decker buses to route 16B from Tsuen Wan town center to Jordan Road Pier in Kowloon, which is the first route in the New Territories to adopt double-decker buses. 1962, CMB also bought a double-decker bus.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. 1967, riots broke out in Hong Kong, and bus companies were forced to suspend their routes due to lack of manpower.

Develop new towns and increase the importance of buses.

After the riots, 1968 public transport services in Hong Kong have generally returned to normal. At the same time, two major satellite cities in Hong Kong, Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong, have also matured. In view of this, KMB opened Line 40 from Tsuen Wan to Kwun Tong on 9 May, 1968.

However, the good times did not last long. It was because of the breakdown of bus service during the riots that the status of white-brand vehicles (green minibuses and public minibuses from now on) was improved.

One person controls the cross-sea bus.

In the past, in addition to drivers, buses in Hong Kong generally had doormen and conductors. As early as 1960s, KMB cancelled the guard and installed automatic doors for buses. 197 1, CMB tries out a management mode of one-person control, and passengers must put the fare into the cash box after boarding the bus.

1In August, 972, the first cross-harbour tunnel in Hong Kong, the Hung Hom Cross-harbour Tunnel, was opened to traffic. KMB and CMB operate three cross-harbour bus routes, namely:

10 1, from Yuminfang, Kwun Tong to Kennedy Town.

102, from Lai Chi Kok to Shau Kei Wan.

103, from Hengtouqi to pokfield road.

It is worth mentioning that there was a bus factory strike in Britain at that time, and the supply of buses in Hong Kong exceeded demand. Before 1 972 September1day, 103 route was operated by KMB alone. At that time, the cross-sea bus fare was one yuan, and it was fifty cents after crossing the tunnel. The fare of Route 40 between Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong is one fifth of that of the cross-harbour bus.

1973, KMB and CMB introduced Tanner Treasure double-decker bus from England, which was the first full-cockpit bus in Hong Kong.

The rise of luxury buses, three-axle buses and air-conditioned buses

As early as the1970s, there were already luxury buses in Hong Kong. At that time, luxury buses operated on the 200 and 20 1 routes between the airport and downtown. In addition, in order to encourage the middle class to use buses, bus companies also operate a number of bus routes between large housing estates and the city center (for example, Bus No.206 from Mei Foo San Tsuen to Tsim Sha Tsui). Although these luxury buses have no air conditioning, they have high-backed chairs.

1980, KMB introduced Shengli II air-conditioned bus and Dennis Zubilun air-conditioned bus, but they were eventually converted into non-air-conditioned buses because of the failure of the test.

198 1 year, KMB and CMB purchased 12m three-axle capital jiamu bus from jiamu bus factory, the originator of hong kong-style three-axle bus. Since then, the three-axle bus has become the biggest feature of Hong Kong buses.

1984, at that time, Citybus, which was mainly a through bus between China and Hong Kong, took the lead in purchasing a 12m double-decker air-conditioned bus, which was the first double-decker air-conditioned bus with a rear engine in Hong Kong. 1985, KMB purchased the Dennis Falcon bus to run a luxury bus route to replace the old luxury bus.

1987, KMB bought a Toyota 24-seat air-conditioned minibus, mainly engaged in 90 routes (Tiaojingling to Rainbow) and some luxury bus routes, with narrow and tortuous roads along the way.

1988 In June, a KMB double-decker air-conditioned bus was put into trial operation on bus No.6 between Mobil New Village and Tsim Sha Tsui. Since then, KMB began to purchase a large number of double-decker air-conditioned buses. However, the first route with a double-decker air-conditioned bus is not the No.6 bus, but the 1A bus between Zhongxiu Mao Ping and Tsim Sha Tsui.

Since 1995, bus companies have stopped buying non-air-conditioned buses.

Popularization of ultra-low platform passenger cars and the end of China-Pakistan era

196, Citybus purchased several Volvo B6LE ultra-low floor buses, which were the first batch of ultra-low floor air-conditioned buses in Hong Kong. In the same year, KMB purchased Denise darts single-deck ultra-low platform bus, and sent it to 60M (Tuen Mun downtown to Tsuen Wan subway station) and 88K (Xianjing to Hedong Building) routes.

1997, KMB purchased the Danish trident double-deck ultra-low floor bus.

1In February 1998, the government refused to extend the franchise of China Motor Company Limited. In September of the same year, New World First Bus took over the CMB route.

In 2003, Chow Tai Fook, the parent company of New World First Bus, acquired Citybus.

In August 2005, the world's first double-deck air-conditioned bus with the same engine driving the air conditioning system and the driving system was retired.