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Transport
Bus services on Hong Kong Island are provided mainly by New World First Bus Services (NWFB) and Citybus (CTB). At the year end, NWFB was operating 46 bus routes on Hong Kong Island, 13 in Kowloon and Tseung Kwan O and 33 cross-harbour routes, 28 of which were run jointly with KMB. NWFB had a licensed fleet of 663 buses, all of which were wheelchair-accessible low- floor vehicles. It recorded a daily average of 456,000 passenger trips in 2018.
CTB operates two bus networks under two franchises. One covers 52 bus routes on Hong Kong Island, two in Kowloon, one in the New Territories and 32 cross-harbour routes, 23 of which are operated jointly with KMB. The other franchise covers a network of 28 routes linking the urban areas with North Lantau and the airport, and one route for West Kowloon Station. At the year end, CTB had a licensed fleet of 978 buses, all of which were wheelchair-accessible low-floor vehicles. It recorded 600,100 passenger trips on average per day in 2018.
Bus routes connecting the New Territories with North Lantau and the airport are run mainly by Long Win Bus Company. It was operating 34 routes at the year end with a licensed fleet of 261, all of which were wheelchair-accessible low-floor buses. The company recorded an average of 113,700 passenger trips a day in 2018.
The New Lantao Bus Company (1973) was operating 26 routes on Lantau Island and one route for Shenzhen Bay Port at the year end. It had a licensed fleet of 155 buses, of which 93 were wheelchair-accessible low-floor vehicles. There were 83,600 passenger trips on average daily
in 2018.
The government works with these bus operators to rationalise their services, so as to enhance network efficiency, improve service quality, alleviate traffic congestion and improve roadside. air quality.
Non-franchised Buses
Non-franchised bus services play a supplementary role in the public transport system. They relieve heavy demand on regular public transport services primarily during peak hours, fill gaps which cannot be met by regular public transport and provide tailor-made services to specific groups of passengers. They serve mainly tourists, estate residents, employees and students. At the year end, there were 7,130 registered non-franchised public buses.
Public Light Buses
The number of public light buses (PLBs) has been capped at 4,350 since 1976. These vehicles handle about 1.81 million passenger trips per day. A legislative amendment to increase the maximum passenger seating capacity to 19 seats took effect in 2017.
There are two types of PLBS - green minibuses (GMBS) and red minibuses (RMBs). GMBs provide scheduled services with fixed routes, fares, vehicle allocation and timetables as stipulated by the Transport Department. At the year end, 3,295 GMBS were operating 349 routes, recording a daily average of 1,522,700 passenger trips. RMBS are not required to operate on fixed routes or timetables and may set their own fares but have limited operating areas. There were 1,028 RMBs in operation at the year end, recording a daily average of 288,100 passenger trips.
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