History of bus transport in Hong Kong

The history of bus transport in Hong Kong began wih the introduction of the first bus routes in the 1920s.

History

1920s: The beginnings

Omnibus Transport in Hong Kong dates back from the beginning of the last century, and by the end of the 1920s, several operators were operating a number of bus services on both side of the Victoria Harbour. The list of operators include Kowloon Motor Bus, China Motor Bus, and even the Hong Kong Tramways have dipped into it to serve the Happy Valley area.

However, in 1933, like in London, bus services become franchised and rights were given to Kowloon Motor Bus on the North side, and China Motor Bus on the Island. Other services are to be terminated with immediate effect and the fleet should be sold to the operators.

1930s: Pre-war Franchise

Records are scarce due to heavy bombing by the Japanese, but some photographic and written evidence show that an extensive network of routes and fleet of buses run on both sides of the harbour. The bus already runs to extreme ends (at that time) of the territory like Yuen Long, Fanling and Stanley. Buses of various British makes, such as Leyland, Thronycroft and Daimler are present in significant numbers around the territory.

1940s: During the War

During the occupation, the Japanese was keen to try reverting operations to normal levels, but without a decent supply of fuel and stock, they just failed to succeed in any way. Routes were cut short progressively and Horse-Driven carts were reintroduced to the territory. However, service level is still dwindling due to the reduced resources, partonage and population.

1950s: Post-war Expansion, Part one

After the British comeback, public transport services was the first priority. With all the capacity assigned to the British Mainland, supply of stocks are slow to come, and both companies have to resort to use a number of trucks re-built to accommodate passengers. These vehicles were eventually phased away and out of services by the end of the 1950s.

As people were coming back to Hong Kong after the war, as well as a continuous surge of people who wanted to escape the communists (which lasted until 1980), need for public transport skyrocketed and more larger-capacity buses were necessary. The Kowloon side was more keen to try at first, as they bought some 20 Daimler double-deckers to ease the situation. The Daimlers was an unparalled success just like the AEC Regents (RT) in London, and more orders were to folloow in all sorts of specifications, spread until the 1970s, which totalled more than 1000 including the Fleetlines.

China Motor bus did not embrace that approach and resorted to more single-deckers; after all, the island is more hilly than the mainland that the Gardner engined double-deckers aren't up to the job, and population levels are much steadier and predictable. Instead, the Islanders parted up with Guy in Wolverhampton and became the most major buyer of Arabs besides Wolverhampton Transport.

Comparing the buses of both sides of the harbour in the 1960, The KMB ones were larger in capacity with the standard engines, while the CMB ones were small yet over-powered. Purchasing strategies were different; when the KMB is up for the double-decker, CMB is a loyal customer of Guy and bought long 36-foot versions of the Arab, but with only 60% of the capacity of a 34-footer!

1960s: Post-war Expansion, Part two

The growth of Hong Kong seemed to gone out of control and squatters were built in virtually every available locations, like on urban outskirts or hillsides. In the end of the 1950s, the Shek Kip Mei fire in 1954 had given birth to public housing in Hong Kong, which continued until the present day. Areas like Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong and Chai Wan was developed at a rate that is unparalled by any other British land. Bus transport had to be increased accordingly and a need of more and more buses. The KMB started to call for larger double-deckers than its 30-footers (after the British lax of regulations), but Daimler just didn't respond. To the dismay of KMB, they have to turn to AEC to acquire a number of 34-footers to provide a decent service to the customers. Daimler is slow to respond to the situation, but finally gained ground by introducing the 34-foot Daimler, with the 6LX, which gained KMB support and redirected further orders to them. an order of about 300 was finally achieved, and those behemoths (at their time) was dominating the Kowloon streets, replacing older Daimlers to outer areas and later on the Cross-harbour Tunnel.

Meanwhile, the CMB was on a even greater endeavour. On the route 8 and 8a (and much, much later 82) buses have to tackle the challenge of a hill en-route, which consisted of an entire uninterruped strech of 1:10 climb of 1km. However, the small Tilling-Stevens and the Arabs which the CMB employed was not up to the job due to the large population of Chai Wan, and the large double-deckers the other side employed at the time does not have the power to get through. Seeing an early success in Africa, the CMB ordered 30 36-footer single-decker to shift the working crouds, along with the purchase of new Arab double-deckers. Those single-deckers, however, suffered the problems of the african siblings; they were just too long, with a 10 ft overhang and 18' wheelbase and without an upper deck to provide more strength, the buses literally bends and their tails were seen swinging up and down, like a dragon wagging its tail! Those long buses lasted only 4 years before they were re-bodied and cut down to a standard 30-footer.

At that time, even with a large bus and a larger partonage, costs were still high as there were 3 people employed on a bus; one to drive, one to collect fares and one to supervise loading through doors in various locations. (Those on the south have two, where the fare-collecter and the gate-keeper was just one person) This was deemed unacceptable and bus company had resorted to pneumatic doors instead of manual doors or open platforms, which reduced the crew by one people. The extra crew was not forgotten, as the companies was on an all-out expansion and new routes readily absorbed any surplus.

Early 1990s: Interchanging when one saw the other's demise

This section will talk about the Advent of Bus-Bus interchange in Hong Kong, an old concept elsewhere but new in Hong Kong. It will also talk about the start of the "Culling" of CMB

Late 1990s: Survival of the Fittest

Following a number of labour movements and protests, as well as some (unfounded) critisms by the Legislative Council councillors, China Motor Bus took its toll and have to handover 26 routes to Citybus in 1993, followed by 14 in 1995. The public and the government is still not put up by it and its franchise was terminated in 1998 and its routes goes to the New World First Bus and Citybus.

This section shall comprose the start of the 2nd generation SLFs, like the Trident or the B10TLs; It shall also include the end of the victories and fleetlines.

Early 2000s: On the Edge, to the scrapyard

This section is about the 2 1/2 and 3rd generation SLFs, including the Centroliner, the K94UB, the then Transbus E500 and the B9s. It shall also talk about the End of the 2nd generation rear-engined buses.