Citybus Hong Kong: Encyclopedia II - Citybus Hong Kong - History

Citybus Hong Kong - History

In 1979, Citybus began its operation in Hong Kong with one double deck bus (Volvo B55), providing shuttle service for the Hong Kong United Dockyard in Hung Hom. It later expanded into operating a residential bus route between City One, Shatin and Kowloon Tong MTR station.

By 1984, Citybus had begun a cross-boundary coach service between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Later in 1985, Citybus had introduced the first batch of air-conditioned double-deck coaches. Since then, the company kept expanding its fleet of air-conditioned buses. This had also been the remarkable start of the air-conditioned double-deck bus history in Hong Kong.

In 1991, the Hong Kong Government awarded Citybus its first franchised route 12A (Admiralty Tamar St. <> Macdonnel Rd.) on Hong Kong Island, which was poorly operated by China Motor Bus. It made Citybus the second franchised bus company serving Hong Kong Island routes, breaking the dominance of China Motor Bus.

In 1993, Citybus took over 28 more franchised routes from China Motor Bus after winning a competitive tender. Further 14 franchised routes was awarded to the company in 1995 without tendering, with the fleet expanded to over 500 buses.

In 1996, with the Tsing Ma Bridge coming into operation and commencement of settlement in the Tung Chung new town, Citybus won another tender to operate 13 new franchised routes serving Tung Chung and the new Hong Kong International Airport. The airport bus service, started in 1998, is called Cityflyer which is part of Citybus and is solely used for Airport express routes to the city. The Cityflyer service is composed of a series of 4 routes: A11, A12, A21 and A22. Citybus also operates various Overnight Airport routes and Airport Shuttle Routes.

In 1998, following the expiry of the franchise of the China Motor Bus, a further 12 routes were transferred to Citybus. Citybus's fleet was up to 1,100 buses. The remaining routes of China Motor Bus were transferred to a new operator New World First Bus.

Its business was expanded into mainland China with a joint venture operation in Beijing. It was not only Beijing's first joint venture bus operation, but it also marked the introduction of air-conditioned buses for the first time in the capital city. Following the success of this route, a second urban express coach route was introduced in Beijing. However, the services in Beijing was terminated shortly after the stocks owned by Citybus was sold to another Hong Kong company in June 2004. Citybus had also once operated a route (Route 658) in Tianjin. This service is now operated by another company.

In 1999, Citybus was acquired by Stagecoach Group of United Kingdom.

In 2001, Citybus discontinued the China <> Hong Kong service.

The company was acquired by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and NWS Holdings Limited (HKEx: 0659), the parent company of the major rival operator New World First Bus, in June 2003. And after a series of restructuring, Citybus is now a subsidiary of NWS Transport, which is also the mother company of New World First Bus and New World First Ferry. NWS Transport has since re-dominated the franchised bus serivces in Hong Kong Island.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki