In this issue

Bus route changes for October and November
The debut of HK City Sightseeing

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More Conveniences: October and November 2024 Bus Route Changes

During October and November 2024, numerous bus routes have been altered or established to provide more convenience to passengers. In particular, a new bus route connecting Siu Sai Wan and Tai Po with the Western Harbour Crossing and major route changes in Tseung Kwan O were the biggest changes during the period.

Bus route 907D

A new bus route, 907D, started running during weekday peak hours on 28 October 2024. This bus route is the only route that skips the bus-bus interchange at Western Harbour Crossing, in both directions. Jointly operated by Citybus and KMB, it served as the special departures of another bus route, 307. The service would depart from Ting Tai Road and from Siu Sai Wan in the early morning and in the evening, serving Pak Shek Kok, Ma Liu Shui, and most local bus stops between North Point and Siu Sai Wan, during which the service connects Ma Liu Shui and North Point non-stop.

Other than the new peak hour bus route, the late night and early morning services of bus route N307 were also changed to further serve Tai Wo, North Point, and Causeway Bay.

Tseung Kwan O bus route changes

Citybus and KMB have implemented new changes in bus routes in Tseung Kwan O. On 2 November 2024, KMB's route 98X was shortened to Hang Hau (North) from LOHAS Park, and route 298X was extended to Mei Foo. Both bus routes added more departures to make traveling in and out of Tseung Kwan O more convenient. To better utilize the bus service resources, services route 298C ceased that day.

For Citybus, they implemented their changes two days later, on 4 November. For their changes, bus routes 798P and 798X will serve LOHAS Park and omit Tseung Kwan O Station for the Tseung Kwan O bound. Furthermore, bus routes 795 and 798X will add extra departures while bus routes 795P and 798X will cease to provide service.

Open-top Sightseeing Revolution: Launch of HK City Sightseeing Brand

On 21 November 2024, Citybus officially launched its newest branding for its open-top sightseeing bus service, HK City Sightseeing. The new branding replaced the Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus and introduced a new look for the whole experience, from buses to bus stop signs and staff uniforms. The bus operator also announced the launch of Citybus+, a travel pass that enabled free multi-rides on Citybus services during the validity period of the pass.

With these changes Citybus now positioned itself in the sightseeing tourism market, gaining reputation as the most popular open-top sightseeing bus service in Hong Kong, while competing with another open-top sightseeing bus operator which started operations in December 2008, Big Bus Hong Kong.

Ceremony of launch

HK City Sightseeing promotional video on YouTube
Welcome Onboard Our New "HK City Sightseeing" Bus
Cantonese version
Mandarin version
English version

On the morning of 21 November, Citybus officials held a ceremony to mark the start of the HK City Sightseeing service, at Tsim Sha Tsui near Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Numerous guests also joined the event, including Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung, Legislative Council member Yiu Pak-leung, among key people from the tourism and transport industry and other government officials. Managing Director Richard Hall emphasized that the new brand will be seen as the "super-connector" by enhancing the visitor's experience while linking up other related sectors and establishing strong collaborations and partnerships.

The guests then boarded the newly designed open-top sightseeing bus, yellow and blue in color. They had a short ride, formally kicking off HK City Sightseeing and thus signifying the start of the sightseeing bus revolution.

Citybus+

During the event, Citybus also announced a new type of travel pass, Citybus+, with three different types available for purchase by customers. Each type has different concessionaires that benefit customers through various methods of travel. While each type differs, it benefits customers by saving money on repeated single bus journeys, up to half the original expenditure.

Unlike KMB's Tourist Day Pass, Citybus+ is more expensive due to its multi-day validity. However, this allows tourists to discover more of Hong Kong while eliminating the need for repeated purchases due to short validity periods. Furthermore, the three types of Citybus+ would offer different travel features, and not all applied to all Citybus services except Citybus+ Voyager.

The following is a table comparing the three types of Citybus+:

Citybus+ comparison
Citybus+ types	Features	Price (HK$)	Validity
Citybus+ Traveller	Unlimited rides on Citybus urban and New Territories bus routes, as well as all Cityflyer, Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and Disneyland routes	180	48 hours
Citybus+ Explorer	Unlimited rides on all HK City Sightseeing services and Citybus urban and New Territories bus routes Priority boarding at Central Ferry Piers terminus for HK City Sightseeing	320	48 hours
Citybus+ Voyager	Contains all features of both Citybus+ Traveller and Citybus+ Explorer listed above	400	72 hours

These can be purchased on their official website, and the passes will also be available at designated tourist touchpoints. Each purchased pass can be activated using a mobile app with a registration. A QR code will be generated, and customers can scan it on the readers when they board the bus to enjoy the concessionary. The mobile app also provides onboard real-time narration to enhance the riding experience in multiple languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean; while displaying the surrounding tourist attractions and hotspots en route.

The Day and Night Passes of HK City Sightseeing were also adjusted on the same day, with a validity of 24 hours. The Day Pass was HK$250 for adults and HK$125 for the elderly and children, and the Night Pass was priced at HK$100 and HK$50 respectively.

A brief history

This open-top sightseeing bus service dates back to 2009, when NWFB established two Hong Kong Island sightseeing bus routes under the brand name Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus, to compete with Big Bus Hong Kong. These routes were extended to Kowloon in 2014 and have gained widespread attention and publicity.

NWFB merged with Citybus in 2023, and the Rickshaw brand initially continued until early 2024. Before the debut of the HK City Sightseeing brand, the bus operator ran numerous special open-top sightseeing bus routes during seasons, festivals, and special occasions, the most recent being bus routes H1© and H2© to celebrate Citybus's 45th anniversary. The new HK City Sightseeing brand has been used since July 2024, although only the wordmark was presented.

From 21 November 2024 (the day that the new HK City Sightseeing brand kicked off), the frequency of the service was improved by up to eight-minute headways at best. The fleet size was doubled from the initial five buses in 2009 to twelve as of November 2024, to cope with the high demand of customers, especially Cultural Route H2 (Tsim Sha Tsui to Central Ferry Piers).

Other highlights for November 2024

In late September 2024, TurboJET quietly placed MV Terceira back in service on its Hong Kong–Macau passenger ferry route. The vessel and the entire fleet were grounded after the pandemic started in early 2020. Rumors suggest that the hydrofoil fleet would be sold for scrap during the grounding.

KMB's two Enviro500EVs were returned to service on 6 November 2024 on bus route 6C after a long-duration storage. One of the buses, AED2, was used to run multiple load tests but was found unacceptable in terms of performance, and the buses were placed into storage.
On 10 November 2024, numerous transport operators provided free travel for persons with disabilities and their accompanying persons. Also on 17 November (Elderly Citizens Day), the operators offered free travel to the elderly aged 65 or above.
The three-runway system was officially opened by Chief Executive John Lee, on 28 November 2024. The inauguration of the third runway, which costs HK$141 millon, meant the airport can now handle more traffic and help boosting the local economy.
Starting from this issue, the URL for each issue will be presented in the new format. New issues are released in the second last week of each month. After unveiling each issue, some transport news (happened after that) will be assigned to the next issue, as we are working to maintain a consistent schedule between issues. We ask for your understanding and thank you for your support.