Company History

China Motor Bus operated services in Kowloon in the 1920's. However in 1933, the Government invited tenders from transport operators for the exclusive franchise "to operate and maintain public omnibus services." CMB was awarded this franchise to operate bus services on Hong Kong Island.

The services, which started on June 11, 1933 had previously been run by three other companies, Hong Kong Tramways Limited, Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels Limited and the Aberdeen Kai Fong Motor Bus & Transport Company. 54 buses were owned and nine routes were initially operated.

By 1941, the fleet of buses had grown to 108. During the invasion and occupation of Hong Kong, most of these vehicles were either destroyed or taken for military purposes. On the return of peace, only four buses remained in running condition. A further 18 of the pre-war fleet were recovered from various locations, some in mainland China. The Company's garage, in WhitfieldRoad, and all machinery had been totally destroyed by bombing and fire.

The Military Authorities supplied lorries, fitted with seats, to enable services to be started and by the end of 1946, 44 vehicles were in service and 42 new vehicles were on order. By 1948, the fleet had regained its pre-war strength, and this had increased to 170 buses by 1952. At the end of the decade, the fleet has increased to 269 buses. At this time, the Company was also operating a small fleet of minibuses and sightseeing coaches.

Because of the constraints imposed by many of the roads on Hong Kong Island, these were all low capacity single deckers. In the mid-1960's however, CMB started operating 36 feet long single-deckers with a capacity for 90 passengers on routes that could accomodate such large vehicles. Initial trials with double-deckers started in 1962 and single deck buses were all phased out of the fleet by 1975.

Prior ro 1971 all buses, except the very small single-deckers, carried two conducters. In March of that year experiments were started with one man operated, pay-as-you enter operation and by 1976, the entire fleet was operated on this basis.

Further expansion of the Comapny's operation took place with the opening of the Cross-harbour tunnel and a large number of additional buses were placed into service at this time. Amongst these was the first rear engined double-decker to be operated in Hong Kong, following which large orders were placed for similar vehicles with a capacity of 123 passengers. On May 5 1981, the Company achieved another "first" in the operation of high capacity vehicles when the first 3-axle, 12 metre-long double decker was placed in service in Hong Kong, with a capacity of 170.

Experiments with air-conditioned buses started in 1988 and in July 1990, CMB's first air-conditioned double-deckers were put in to service. Air-conditioned buses and coaches now form 10% of CMB's total fleet.