Hong Kong bus route numbering

A bus route sign at the Repulse Bay Beach Stop (淺水灣海灘), with both Citybus and NWFB routes shown

In Hong Kong, public bus, public light bus (also known as green minibus) and residential bus routes bear their own route numbers.

Public buses

The numbering systems of public buses can be classified into Hong Kong Island routes, Kowloon and New Territories routes, Lantau Island (New Lantao Bus) routes, MTR Bus routes, cross-Harbour routes and Airport and North Lantau external bus routes. Their route numbering systems are independent. For example, there are both route 1, and route 2 on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Lantau Island respectively.

In the past, the air-conditioned bus routes were numbered as 200's (Kowloon and New Territories) and 500's (Hong Kong Island). However, this identification became void after they phased out all the non-aircon buses; since then, bus routes have used the old numbers.

At one time, there were two "N11" bus routes in Tung Chung, namely, Airport overnight route N11 and Lantau Island overnight route N11. The latter is no longer in service.

Public light buses

The numbering systems of public light bus (green minibuses) are classified into Hong Kong Island public light bus routes, Kowloon public light bus routes and New Territories public light bus routes. There is one public light bus route operating in Airport/Lantau Island (901). ^[1] Their route numbering systems are independent too. However, for cross harbour public light bus routes, the route numbers from Hong Kong Island or New Territories are used instead.

Residential buses

Residential bus routes are the routes which are requested to operate by the residents or estates community. In the past, the route numbers are with a suffix "R". The first residential bus route was route 88R from City One Shatin to Kowloon Tong station (it was then renumbered 62R). From c. 2003, the route numbers have been changed to prefixes "HR", "KR", and "NR". They stand for Hong Kong Island residential bus routes, Kowloon residential bus routes and New Territories residential bus routes respectively. There is no residential bus services on Lantau Island (except Discovery Bay) and the Airport.

Route numbering system for public buses

Note that xx represents numbers.

Hong Kong Island routes

• 2xx & 3xx: Recreational routes
• 5xx: Existing air-conditioned bus routes (The rule was abolished when China Motor Bus ceased operations in 1998.)
• 7xx: Island Eastern Corridor express routes

Kowloon & NT routes

• xx: Existing bus routes operated by Kowloon Motor Bus, except routes 20 and 22 which are operated by Citybus.
• 2xx: Existing air-conditioned bus routes as a rule before 2008. However, the rule was abolished with the phasing out of non-aircon buses.
• 7xx: routes operated by Citybus
• 8xx: Sha Tin Racecourse routes

Cross-harbour routes

• 1xx: Cross-Harbour Tunnel routes
• 3xx: Peak-hour only cross-harbour routes (except for 307)
• 6xx: Eastern Harbour Crossing routes
• 9xx: Western Harbour Crossing routes

Alphabet prefix

• Prefix A: Airport deluxe bus routes ^{[2] [3]}
• Prefix B: Border routes
• Prefix DB: Discovery Bay Bus Service
• Prefix E: North Lantau external bus routes ^{[4] [3]}
• Prefix H: Citybus Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus routes
• Prefix K: MTR Bus (formerly KCR Feeder Bus) routes
• Prefix M: Some bus routes that are terminated at an Airport Express station
• Prefix N: Overnight bus routes
• Prefix NA: Overnight Airport deluxe bus routes
• Prefix P: City Direct bus services.
• Prefix R: Recreational bus routes (for Hong Kong Disneyland / Marathon)
• Prefix S: Airport shuttle bus routes ^{[5] [3]}
• Prefix T: Special express routes for relieving rail services: T74, T270, T277
• Prefix W: Routes that terminates at West Kowloon Highspeed link station: W2, W3
• Prefix X: Express routes for special services
• Prefix Y: Typhoon-only temporary bus routes (Y41)

Alphabet suffix

• Suffix A, B, C, D, E, F: Conventional routes
• Suffix H: Hospital routes
• Suffix K: Mainly routes connecting to East Rail line (formerly KCR East Rail) stations of MTR
• Suffix M: Mainly routes connecting to the stations of Kwun Tong line, Island line, Tsuen Wan line and Tseung Kwan O line of MTR
• Suffix P: Peak hour-only routes (except KMB 8P, 40P, 276P, Citybus 8P, 796P, A29P, Long Win Bus A41P and New Lantau Bus B2P, which are whole-day services)
• Suffix R: Recreational bus routes
• Suffix S: Peak-hour only routes or special services
• Suffix X: Express services

Brief list

• Routes or route ranges marked italic indicates that the routes have been cancelled.

		Public buses	Public light buses	Residential buses
Hong Kong Island	Central and Western District, Wan Chai District, Eastern District	1-29 (except 4, 6, 7, 9, 14), 80-89, 380-389, 720-729, 780-789, N8-N8X	1-69	HR36, HR41-77
	Southern District	4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 30-79, 90-99, 260, 314, 347, 592, 595, N72, N90
Kowloon	Urban Kowloon	1-29, 200-229, 701-702, N213-N216	1-90	KR21, KR22, KR41, KR42
New Territories (or traveling between Kowloon and New Territories)	Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi	30-49, 230-249, 848, N237, N241	46M, 47M, 80-99, 301-313, 401-410, 481, 482	NR30-49, NR301-332, NR401-412
	Tuen Mun	50-69, 250-269, 868, 869, 506, K51-K76, N260-N269	40-49, 140-142	NR70-79, NR700-758
	Yuen Long		30-39, 70-79, 601-611, 616	NR90-99, NR901-956
	Tai Po	70-79, 270-279, 872, K12, K14, K17, K18, N76-N271	20-26, 28	NR50-59, NR501-528
	North District		50-59, 501	NR10-19, NR101-114
	Sha Tin, Ma On Shan	80-89, 272A, 272K, 272S, 280-289, 885-891, N281	27, 60-69, 801-811	NR60-69, NR80-89, NR801-833
	Sai Kung, Tseung Kwan O	90-99, 290-299, 790-799, 893, N293, N796	1-19, 101-111	NR20-29, NR201-NR214
Cross harbour bus routes	Cross-Harbour Tunnel routes	100-199, N11, N118-N182, N368, N373	Using numbers for Hong Kong Island or New Territories	Using numbers for Kowloon or New Territories
	Eastern Harbour Crossing routes	302, 307, 373, 600-699, N619, N680, N691
	Western Harbour Crossing routes	900-999, X962, X970, N930, N952, N960, N962, N969
Lantau Island and Airport routes	South Lantau routes	1, 4, N1	/	/
	Ngong Ping (Po Lin Monastery) routes	2, 21, 23, 1R	/	/
	North Lantau internal routes	34, 36, 37, 38, N38	/	/
	Serving between North Lantau / Airport and South Lantau	3M, 11, A35, N35	/	/
	Airport deluxe bus services	Prefix A, Prefix NA	/	DB02R
	Airport shuttle routes	S1, S52, S52P, S56, S56P, S64, S64P	/	/
	North Lantau external routes	Prefix E, N11-N42A	/	/
	North Lantau recreational routes	R8, R33, R42	/	/
	AsiaWorld–Expo special services	X1, X11, X21, X22, X33, X35, X41, X48	/	/
	Discovery Bay routes	/	/	DB00R, DB01P, DB01R, DB02R, DB03R
Cross border bus routes	Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point routes	B1	75	/
	Shenzhen Bay Control Point routes	B2, B2P, B2X, B3, B3A, B3M, B3X	618	/
	Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge routes	A10, A11, A12, A17, A21, A22, A23, A25, A26, A28, A29, A30, A31, A32, A33X, A34, A35, A36, A37, A41, A41P, A42, A43, A46, A47X, Prefix NA, B4, B5, B6, N35	901	/
	Heung Yuen Wai Control Point routes	79K, B7, B8, B9	59K, 59S	/

See also

• Transport in Hong Kong
• List of bus routes in Hong Kong

References

1. "New Territories GMB Route 901 | www.16seats.net".
2. "Route Introduction - Airport". lwb.hk. Long Win Bus Co. Ltd. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
3. "Cityflyer Route". nwstbus.com.hk. Citybus Limited & New World First Bus Services Limited. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
4. "Route Introduction - External". lwb.hk. Long Win Bus Co. Ltd. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
5. "Route Introduction - Shuttle". lwb.hk. Long Win Bus Co. Ltd. Retrieved 28 August 2014.

External links

• www.16seats.net