Bus stop

An average en-route bus stop, with the road markings "巴士站" in Chinese and "BUS STOP" in English with a stop pole in the front, some also with shelters installed.

Bus stops (巴士站) are essential facilities for the daily operation of franchised buses, providing a place for buses to stop for picking up or setting down passengers when travelling on designated routes, and facilitating the boarding and alighting of passengers on the road-based public transport system.

Bus stops are defined by the Transport Department (TD) as "the place at which an intending passenger gains access to the public transport system, the transition point between pedestrian and passenger" and are divided into two main categories: bus termini and en-route bus stops, most of which are classified as en-route stops.

As of March 2019, there are 8,753 franchised bus stops in Hong Kong.

Legal regulations

Under Section 3 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance (PBSO), Cap. 230, the Commissioner for Transport may designate an area of a road to be bus stop, and the use of a bus stop may be restricted to a specified grantee or a specified route. A bus belonging to a specified grantee or serving a specified route may stop at a bus stop to set down passengers; shall stop at a bus stop to set down passengers if requested to do so by a passenger and, if not at full capacity, to pick up an intending passenger when signalled to do so.

The Transport Department may require the grantee to erect and maintain a sign, of a type approved by the Commissioner, at a bus stop, or to remove any sign; shall erect or cause to be erected any sign on or near any road without the permission of the Commissioner. A bus captain shall stop his bus in motion at every bus stop indicating that all buses shall stop thereat, or at every bus stop indicating that all buses plying the route served by his bus shall stop thereat. If signalled to stop, he shall stop at all stops along the route being served by his bus to allow passengers or persons intending to become passengers to board or alight from the bus. Failure of a bus captain to pick up intending passengers at bus stops, i.e. skipping stops, is liable to prosecution by the Police and a fine of $2,000; however, a bus captain is not obliged to stop his bus to pick up passengers when the bus is displaying a bus full indicator.

Under Section 45 of the Road Traffic (Traffic Control) Regulations, Cap. 374G, subject to the regulations and to any direction given by a police officer in uniform or traffic warden in uniform, a driver of a vehicle on a road must not stop within an area designated as a bus stop unless the vehicle is a franchised bus. Except for franchised buses which are allowed to stop at designated bus stops, all other motor vehicles shall not at any time stop on roads marked with double yellow lines and offenders will be charged with a fixed penalty notice. Parking on double yellow lines is exempted if the vehicle cannot move forward due to traffic congestion or other traffic conditions.

Setting up bus stops

Franchised buses have designated stops as detailed in their Schedules of Services. Passengers can queue up at these facilities and vehicles can stop to wait or to pick up or set down passengers. At present, all bus stops in Hong Kong are subject to the following two conditions:

• The bus stops will not obstruct the sightlines of pedestrians or motorists; and
• The bus stops will not interfere with vehicle cut-through lanes.

In considering the addition, alteration or deletion of bus stops, TD will make reference to the guidelines in the Transport Planning and Design Manual (TPDM) that the ideal walking distance for bus passengers in the urban area is no more than 400 metres, and the optimal distance between stops of a bus route is 400 to 600 metres; and that the distance may be shortened if traffic conditions permit and there is a practical need to do so. To ensure road safety and better management of road traffic, the Manual contains guidelines on the following key factors to be taken into account when providing bus stops:

• sightline ((especially on road bends or at junctions);
• proximity to junctions and vehicle ingress/egress points of car parks along building frontages;
• impact on traffic and pedestrian flow
• walking distance between two stops; or availability of similar stopping facilities in the vicinity
• accessibility to passengers, including proximity to pedestrian crossings and footpath network; and
• other relevant site-specific factors such as width of footpath, traffic and pedestrian volumes, site constraints, and local traffic conditions, etc.

Bus stops should be located close to the footpath network and pedestrian crossings to maximise convenience for passengers. Thus, apart from these safety and technical considerations, the following factors would also be taken into account in locating pick-up/drop-off points:

• demand for public transport services in the area;
• requests from District Councils, the public, the relevant public transport operators and trades;
• compatibility with other road side activities, such as whether it would block the entrance of shops with heavy loading/unloading activities;
• local reaction to the proposed stopping points;
• requests of franchised bus and green minibus passengers and the number of routes observing the stop; and
• considerations relating to public transport operations, e.g. to arrange bus routes with partially similar routings at the same stop may reduce passenger waiting time and to facilitate bus-bus-interchanges.

However, there are concerns from the local community that some bus stops are too close to road junctions, road crossings or car park entrances. Guidelines in the Manual specifically state that where a proposed bus stop is desirable from the passenger perspective but does not fully meet the standards set out in the Technical Guidelines, appropriate mitigation measures will be implemented to improve the situation. These measures include provision of lay-bys, appropriate traffic signs and road markings, rationalisation of certain bus routes to adjust the number of bus stops, setting of stopping restrictions, etc. Transport Department will, as far as practicable, provide the necessary facilities to ensure that the proposed bus stops will not be affected by the proposed measures. The TD will follow the above guidelines as far as practicable and will consult the police and relevant government departments such as the Home Affairs Department and the Highways Department. Nevertheless, road safety is the primary consideration in all cases.

On the other hand, the franchised bus companies also regularly review the bus stop arrangements with the TD, and examine with the Department the locations of bus stops on the premise that they are compatible with the road conditions and the actual needs of the community. In the past, the operators have also proposed cancellation of bus stops which are not too far apart and less heavily used, but this could not be implemented due to opposition from the local community, and requests for reinstatement have been received from time to time after the cancellation of bus stops.

All in all, the TD will make reference to the recommendations published in the Handbook when considering the addition, alteration or deletion of bus stops and make corresponding adjustments in the light of the actual traffic conditions, passenger demand as well as the views of the local community, with a view to providing passengers with safe and convenient franchised bus services.

Bus stop design

Some bus stops have "BUS STOP" markings or are marked with double yellow lines, all of which prohibits the parking by other vehicles inside.

Most of the major bus stops in Hong Kong are "en-route stops" (中途站), which are bounded by a dotted rectangle on the road surface, painted with white road markings "巴士站" in Chinese and "BUS STOP" in English to allow buses to stop for picking up and setting down passengers, and where the area demarcated as a bus stop is, as a rule, not permitted to be parked by other vehicles, with or without a yellow line.

Lay-bys

Many bus stops use the design of a bus lay-by (停車灣/停車彎), also known as a "bus bay". The length of the lay-by near the road end should not be shorter than 13 metres, which is sufficient to accommodate a 12.8-metre-long bus so that the loading and unloading of buses will not obstruct the progress of other vehicles.

However, as a lay-by narrows the pavement next to the bus stop, some bus stops do not have a stopping bay and buses are parked directly on the roadside. This is quite common on urban roads and rural roads in the New Territories, and will result in traffic congestion if there is insufficient space for following vehicles to overtake the buses at the stops. In general, lay-bys should be provided on Class A/B rural roads, rural distributor roads, urban distributor roads, dual two-lane district roads and local distributor roads. For local roads and local distributor roads with two or more traffic lanes, the construction of a lay-by is not mandatory.

Bus stops on the right

Passengers of NWFB Route 315 had to cross the front of the bus from the pavement on the right side of Garden Road to board the bus at the pavement kerb separating the traffic lanes on Garden Road

Roads in Hong Kong are designed for left-hand traffic, with vehicles stopping mainly on the left-hand side of the road for picking up and setting down passengers. The doors of all public transport vehicles, which are mainly used for picking up and setting down passengers, are located on the left-hand side of the vehicle body, so as to facilitate picking up and setting down of passengers on the footpath rather than on the road surface.

Some bus stops on one-way roads can only be located on the right-hand side of the road due to the constraints of ancillary facilities on the left-hand side of the road (e.g. lack of footpaths or encroachment by other facilities). Passengers using these bus stops are required to alight from the bus on the road surface or on the kerb separating the bus stop lay-by from the adjacent carriageway and cross the pavement in front of the bus front to and from the bus stop. Examples are as follows:

• Kennedy Town (Citybus routes 5B, 5X, N8X)
• Garden Road Peak Tram Terminus (Citybus Route 15 and NWFB Route 315)
• Stanley Village (Cross-Harbour Bus Route 973)
• MTR Kwai Fong Station (Residents' Bus Route NR332)
• Times Plaza (TIL Causeway Bay - Shenzhen Bay Route)

Bus terminus

The main article of this section is Bus terminus.

All bus stops that are used as origins or destinations can be referred to as bus termini. Some bus termini are used only during peak hours, while others are temporary in nature and are used only on festive occasions or when special transport arrangements are in place.

In addition, the Government refers to some bus terminals that combine multi-modal stops as "public transport interchanges".

Facilities at bus stops

For the convenience of passengers waiting for buses, most of the bus routes that stop at the same bus stop for both bounds have their stops at different locations.

The bus companies will erect stop flags at bus stops to enable passengers to identify their waiting positions, and set up schedule holders at suitable locations on the stop signs for posting route information sheets for passengers waiting for buses to check the service details of the stopping routes. At bus stops with a large number of stopping routes and high passenger flow, the bus companies will install railings (排隊欄杆) and passenger signages at appropriate areas inside the stops to direct passengers to the correct location to wait for the bus.

KMB launched the newly designed bus stops in late 2012, with Mei Foo Station as the first pilot. After carefully analysing passengers' queuing habits, the new design removes the existing movable queuing barriers, draws yellow lines on the floor and displays clear signage to indicate the queuing position of each route, thus freeing up a large amount of space and making the bus stop environment more comfortable and spacious. In addition, a designated space has been set aside for priority boarding by the needy, such as the elderly and persons with disabilities, etc. Signages have also been placed at this location to remind passengers to be courteous and take care of the needy.

Covered bus stops

Some bus stops are equipped with bus stop shelters to protect passengers from the sun and rain while waiting for buses. As franchised bus companies have to bear the costs of installing and maintaining bus shelters, in order to reduce the operating costs of bus companies, the Government would not object to the installation of advertisement panels on bus shelters if the operators have already displayed a light box (燈箱) attached to the shelters and provided that the pedestrian flow and the operation of the nearby commercial tenants would not be affected.

Since 2013, the Government and KMB have implemented Area Approach rationalisation for bus routes by carrying out relatively large-scale enhancement works at five major bus stops along busy corridors in Kowloon (including Wong Tai Sin Station on Lung Cheung Road, Kowloon Central Post Office on Nathan Road, Lai Chi Kok Station on westbound Cheung Sha Wan Road, Millennium City on Kwun Tong Road and Regal Oriental Hotel on Prince Edward Road East), including the installation of waiting signs, large route information boards, real-time bus service information display panels, free wireless Internet access and, in some cases, vending machines.

Seats

Some bus stops are equipped with seats, mainly on the Airport island and at the bus stops of the New Lantao Bus on Lantau Island. At some bus stops in the rural areas, there are even enthusiastic people who bring the sofa or dining chairs discarded by neighbouring residents to the bus stops and place them there for use by passengers waiting for the buses.

Government subsidised installation of seats and bus information display panels at covered bus stops

At present, there are about 3 000 covered bus termini, bus stops and bus-bus interchanges in Hong Kong, of which only about 200 covered bus stops are installed with passenger seats. To benefit elderly or needy passengers waiting for buses, the Government will subsidise the franchised bus companies to install seats at covered bus stops which currently do not have passenger seats.

Meanwhile, franchised bus companies have gradually introduced the Real-time Arrival Information System. Since the launch of KMB's smartphone application to provide real-time bus arrival time information and the installation of frequency display panels to provide real-time arrival information at some of the bus stops which are covered and powered, the system has been generally well-received by passengers. Taking into account the high cost of installing display panels, which may exert pressure on bus fares, the Government has been subsidising franchised bus companies on a matching basis, i.e. for every display panel installed by a bus company at a bus stop with a bus shelter and an electricity supply system, the Government will subsidise the installation of a display panel at another bus stop with the same equipment. Priority will be given to the installation of display panels at bus stops in the vicinity of hospitals and those with a headway of more than 20 minutes, and the works are expected to be completed by 2019.

The Government has earmarked $88.27 million to subsidise the franchised bus companies to retrofit seats at a total of about 2,600 covered bus stops and to install frequency display panels on a matching basis at about 1,300 covered bus stops with electricity supply. The first phase of seat installation commenced in November 2017 and as at 25 June 2018, the installation has been completed at about 600 bus stops. As regards the installation of display panels, the first phase of the installation work commenced in late March 2018 and as at 25 June 2018, about 20 bus stops have been installed with the relevant display panels.

The whole Stage 1 installation work is expected to be completed in 2018. As for the remaining bus stop seating and display installation works, they will be carried out in two phases and are expected to be completed in 2019 and 2020.

Bus stop naming

History

As at October 1995, there were a total of 5,214 bus stops in Hong Kong, of which 125 were served by New Lantao Bus, 587 by Citybus, 788 by China Motor Bus and 3,714 by Kowloon Motor Bus. To facilitate passengers to know more accurately the location of individual bus stops, KMB started naming all the 4,000 bus stops on its routes from July 1999 onwards, with each bus stop being given a Chinese and English name and number.

Taking into account the permanence and uniqueness of the names of bus stops, KMB chooses names that are more familiar and easily recognisable to the public, such as streets, parks, schools, public organisations and government buildings, so that the public can be reminded of the surroundings of the bus stops through the names of the stops; together with the launch of the newly-designed Suckling Pig Sheet in September 2001, which lists out the names of all the stops that are passed by each route, and a new "You are here" sign on the route information sheets where passengers can know where they are at the bus stops. A naming ceremony was held on 19 October 2001 at the Jordan Road Ferry Bus Terminus to mark the naming of the 4,000 bus stops on all KMB routes.

Current situation

At present, the four franchised bus companies have named all their bus stops, and the most common naming methods are as follows:

• Following the official name: Some bus stops have official names given by the Government in the Gazette, which are commonly used at bus termini and public transport interchanges.
• Major buildings or facilities: This method is also common, e.g. "Tuen Mun Town Plaza" bus stop on Tuen Hi Road, Tuen Mun Town Centre.
• Neighbouring Junction: This is the most common naming method, e.g. "Soy Street" bus stop on Nathan Road, Mong Kok.
• Streets/roads they are on: This method is common for streets with only one bus stop, e.g. "Pedder Street" bus stop in Central; or streets with more than one bus stop but without any facilities in the vicinity of the bus stops that could be used as a source of naming for the bus companies, e.g. "Chung Hau Street" stop in Ho Man Tin and "Stanley Gap Road" stop in Stanley.

In some cases, the same name is used for bus stops on several different streets, e.g. there are "Mong Kok Station" bus stops on both Nathan Road and Argyle Street, and five bus stops in Sham Shui Po District named "Pei Ho Street". Even for the same location, different bus companies may have different names. For example, before the end of 2013, LWB called the bus stop on Chung Yan Road near Yat Tung Estate "Chung Yan Road", Citybus called the same en-route stop "Mei Yat House Yat Tung Estate", and Lantau Bus called it "Car Park No. 1". In recent years, different bus companies have started to standardise the naming of bus stops for the convenience of passengers and in the above example, the three bus companies have already named the stop "North Lantau Hospital" in 2014 to reduce confusion.

The only bus stop on Ching Shing Road was named after the Elegantia College located behind to it

[Stop flag]]s erected by NLB, Citybus and MTR Bus at one of the bus stops along Tin Shing Road in Tin Shui Wai showing different namings adopted by the three companies

The stop name for the bus stop located on the Bus Stop Loop on Catering Road East adopted by Citybus and LWB are the same, but was named "國泰空廚" by Citybus and "國泰航膳中心" in Chinese (August 2017)

Naming formats of different bus companies

Citybus always names bus stops in the format of "bus stop name, street where it is located" (the stop flag is displayed in alternate rows and the name of the street where it is located is displayed in smaller font), e.g. "HKU East Gate, Bonham Road" (if the name of the stop is the same as that of the street where it is located, then the name of the street where it is located will be omitted, e.g. Water Street).

In the early years of KMB, the criterion for naming bus stops was that only the name of the stop was given, without the name of the street on which it was located. For example, the bus stop on Nathan Road near Wing Sing Lane is named "Wing Sing Lane Yau Ma Tei", but the bus stop of the same name at Shanghai Street is named "Wing Sing Lane" instead of the name of the district; however, the name of this type of bus stops is usually ignored on the bus stop announcement system. To avoid confusion, KMB has arranged for some bus routes to stop at two consecutive bus stops of the same name on different streets by adding the name of the road in front of the stops to differentiate them. For example, KMB Route 296D stops at the two en-route stops all named Austin Station on Canton Road and Jordan Road towards Kowloon Station and therefore in January 2022, KMB arranged for the latter bus stops to have a road name in front of the original stop name. In addition, the names of some bus stops with district names do not match with the actual districts, e.g. the "Poplar Street Sham Shui Po" stop on Lai Chi Kok Road is located to the south of Boundary Street, and thus belongs to Mong Kok in the Yau Tsim Mong District. In addition, the English names of bus stops are all in upper case, except for "apm" in "apm Millenium City 5", which is in lower case, following the name of the shopping mall. Therefore, the mixing of upper and lower case names of the rest of the bus stops is only seen in the names of route information sheets, schedule holders, passenger signages and passenger notices.

The naming convention of LWB is also the same as that of KMB, except that the name of the street where the bus stop is located will be listed on the bus stop sign (unlike Citybus and NWFB, if the name of the stop is the same as that of the street where it is located, then the name of the street where it is located will still be listed, e.g. Po Tai Street), and the names of the bus stops are also mixed with upper and lower case letters, except that the route signs and bus stop annoucement systems are not included.

There are also bus stops named after streets that are far away from the actual streets, such as the Hill Road stop on Pokfulam Road, which is 400 metres away from the junction with Hill Road, which was called "Hill Road" by KMB, while Citybus and NWFB called this stop "Yam Pak Building" before August 2010, and then changed its name to follow KMB, which was criticised as not being true to its original name; the name of this stop was changed to HKU Centennial Campus in February 2022, ending the situation of naming the stop after roads that are far away from each other.

On the other hand, most of the KMB stops named after housing estates have only the names of the buildings on the stop flags, the route information sheets and the official websites, but the bus stop announcement systems always read out and display the names of the housing estates.

For NLB and MTR Bus, the names of the bus stops are not accompanied by the names of the streets where they are located, which is more or less the same as that of KMB. Since its establishment, NLB has not named all its bus stops systematically for many years, although some of its bus stops have stop names. It was not until July 2014 when the company renewed its route information sheets that it gradually named all its bus stops and listed all the stops on the sheets for the convenience of passengers' checking of route information, and the English names of the stops on the route signs and the stop flags are composed of upper case letters, while upper and lower case letters are used in a mixed manner in the rest of the bus stops. For MTR Bus, the names of the stops are inherited from the KCR Bus era. Although the KCRC lists all the stops, some of the names have not been changed over the years even though they have become obsolete. For example, there were six stops with the same name "Lung Kwu Tan Village" on Route K52 and it was not until the rail merger in 2007 that the KCRC renewed its route information sheets and solved these problems.

Stop flag numbers

To facilitate management, some bus companies assign serial numbers to their bus stops, which are called stop numbers or pole numbers (站柱編號, P/N).

KMB and LWB

The format of numbering for KMB and LWB stop flags is "AAxx-D-xxxx-x", which was completed in October 2001 together with the naming of bus stops, and the coding method is as follows:

• Group 1: Abbreviations of road names or terminus names. The letters are taken from the first two letters of the street or terminus name, while the numbers are separated from other similar names. KMB's bus stop codes are arranged in the order of the English names of the roads, starting from 01, e.g., Nathan Road is "NA06". Starting from 01, for example, Nathan Road is "NA06", the same code is shared with LWB, while those used by LWB only start from 70, e.g. Tat Tung Road is "TA70". However, the codes for streets or termini used by LWB before KMB are handled independently, e.g. Tai Po Tau Bus Terminus is "TA71" (for LWB) and "TA16" (for KMB). Note that road or terminus codes are treated independently and can be repeated, e.g. "TS13" is the code for both Tsui Ping Road and Tsui Lam Bus Terminus. For details, please refer to the article "List of KMB and LWB street codes".
• Group 2: The second group represents the direction of travel as follows:

N	N	S	Southbound
E	Eastbound	W	Westbound
A	Anti-clockwise	K	Clockwise
T	Terminus (regardless of direction)	C	Close

• Group 3: Serial numbers, usually starting from 1000 (except for Sau Ming Road and Island Eastern Corridor, which start from 3000 and 2000 respectively) and extending in the direction of travel. If there is a new bus stop in the opposite direction of travel, it will be arranged in reverse order. Normally, each increment and decrement is 50, and when a new stop is inserted between two existing stops, the number in the middle is used.
• Group 4: Bus companies to which they belong, with "0" representing KMB and "2" representing LWB. However, as some bus stops of LWB routes share the same bus stops with KMB, the fourth group of numbers is "0" used by KMB. For example, YOHO Mall I (CA07-N-5465-0) is shared by KMB and LWB.

Another example is "Joint Street" stop on Lai King Hill Road (LA05-S-1000-0):

• LA05: Representing the road where the bus stop is located (Lai King Hill Road);
• S: Representing southbound direction
• 1000: Denotes the first bus stop on that road and in that direction, in this case the northernmost bus stop on Lai King Hill Road
• 0: Denotes that the bus stop set up by KMB

It should be noted that bus stop numbering is based on stop columns. Even if the bus stops are located at the same place, the stop columns scattered at different locations within the bus stops are assigned individual stop column numbers. For stops on Hong Kong Island of routes jointly operated with Citybus and NWFB, although they do not have physical stop posts, they are also assigned with numbers by the same logic.

To facilitate the display of arrival times for special services, KMB has assigned distinct numbers to certain bus stops shared with the main route for the Route 40X special service (Wu Kai Sha Station → Kwai Fong (South) ●) from October 2024. The first two sets of digits in the code match those of the main route bus stops. The third set is the main route stop number incremented by one, while the fourth set will be the digit "9". For example, the main route bus stop number for "Kam Chun Court" is MA02-S-1200-0, while the special route stop number is MA02-S-1201-9. Subsequently, in December of the same year, KMB assigned the 40X special route's bus stop numbers to the stops of Route 89D special service within Ma On Shan area.

In the early years, KMB printed the stop post number on the top right corner of the nameplate of the bus stop flag (or on the second beam below the cover if it is made of aluminium); while the new type of stop flag (i.e. the name of the bus stop is printed directly on the sign) prints the number directly on the bottom right corner of the stop flag.

Currently, the bus stop with the largest serial number is "St. Peter's Church" bus stop (AB01-E-1000-0) on Aberdeen Main Road (AB01), and the last one is "Mun Tung Estate" (YU70-W-1100-2) on Yu Tung Road (YU70). The bus stop with the largest serial number is located at Precious Blood Hospital (CA07-S-8000-0), while the smallest one is located at Shatin Central Bus Terminus (SH05-T-0100-0).

Stops for Sun Bus and Hong Kong Tramways

KMB has also included the stops of five Sun Bus residents' bus routes, six daytime routes Pet Buses, four nighttime routes for Pet Buses, one route for Leisure Bus and the Hong Kong Tramways, with the following differences in the logic of the numbers assigned:

• The first group is made up of the initials "SB" for Sun Bus or the first two letters "TR" for Tram, together with the two digits of the route.

First group numbers	Corresponding route(s)
SB11	Residents' Bus Route NR917 (Fan Kam Road ↔ Wan Chai ●)
SB12	Residents' Bus Route NR918 (Lam Kam Road ↔ Wan Chai ●)
SB13	Residents' Bus Route NR945 (Yuen Long (Fung Cheung Road) → North Point (Java Road) North Point (Java Road)→Yuen Long On Lok Road ●)
SB14	Residents' Bus Routes NR331 (Ma Wan ↔ Tsuen Wan Station ●) and NR331S (Ma Wan ↔ MTR Tsuen Wan West Station ●)
SB15	Pet Bus Route PB1 (YOHO Mall I ↺ Tsuen Wan Station (Sai Lau Kok Road)), PB2 (Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) ↺ Central (Star Ferry)), PB3 (Tai Po Mega Mall ↺ Tsuen Wan Station (Sai Lau Kok Road)), PB4 (Tuen Mun Station ↺ Tsuen Wan Station (Sai Lau Kok Road)), PB5 (Yuen Wo Road ↺ Sai Kung North), PB6 (Tseung Kwan O (The Wings) ↺Central (Star Ferry)), PN17 (Mong Kok (MOKO) ↺ Tsim Sha Tsui East), PN18 (Stanley ↺ Wan Chai Promenade), PN19 (Sai Kung ↺ Tsim Sha Tsui East) and PN20 (Kwai Chung ↺ Wan Chai Promenade) Leisure Bus Route LB1 (Tuen Mun Road BBI ↔ Ha Pak Nai)
TR01	Westbound trams (Shau Kei Wan → Kennedy Town, Shau Kei Wan → Happy Valley, Happy Valley → Kennedy Town)
TR02	Eastbound trams (Kennedy Town → Shau Kei Wan, Kennedy Town → Happy Valley, Happy Valley → Shau Kei Wan)

• The second group is the direction of travel. Residents' bus routes NR331 and NR331S are circular routes in operations and the direction of travel from Ma Wan is defined as northbound "N"; Pet Bus routes are defined as northbound "N" irrespective of the direction of travel; and tram stops at the Happy Valley section are defined as westbound "W" according to the actual direction of travel.
• The third group:
  • Stop serial numbers for residents' bus routes NR917, NR918 and NR945 start from 1000 and extend in the direction of traffic, with serial numbers increasing or decreasing by 10 at a time.
  • Stop serial numbers for residents' bus routes NR331 and NR331S are extended in the direction of NR331S in the general direction of traffic, starting from 1000 and increasing by 10 each time, except for the following bus stops:

Stop number	Bus stop name	Route(s) served
SB14-N-1000-0	Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road)	NR331
SB14-N-1015-0	Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road)	NR331S
SB14-N-1025-0	Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) (Alighting stop)	NR331 and NR331S
SB14-N-1100-0	MTR Tsuen Wan Station	NR331

• • There are no special rules for the allocation of stop numbers for Pet Bus and Leisure Bus routes.

List of bus stops for Pet Bus and Leisure Bus routes

Stop no. Bus stop name Route(s) served SB15-N-0100-0 Tsuen Wan Station (Sai Lau Kok Road) PB1, PB2, PB3 and PB4 SB15-N-0120-0 Central Harbourfront PN18 and PN20 SB15-N-0200-0 Austin Road West PB2, PN17 and PN19 SB15-N-0250-0 Banyan Garden PB2 SB15-N-0300-0 Central Ferry Piers PB2 and PB6 SB15-N-0310-0 Tong Chun Street PB6 SB15-N-0320-0 LOHAS Park Station PB6 SB15-N-0330-0 City Garden PB6 SB15-N-0340-0 Harbour North PB6 SB15-N-0500-0 Tuen Mun Road BBI LB1 SB15-N-0505-0 Lau Fau Shan Main Street LB1 SB15-N-0510-0 Ap Tsai Hang LB1 SB15-N-0515-0 Ha Pak Nai (Keung Kee Store) LB1 SB15-N-0520-0 Ap Tsai Hang LB1 SB15-N-0525-0 Tuen Mun Road BBI (Kowloon bound) LB1 SB15-N-0600-0 YOHO Mall (Yuen Long) PB1 SB15-N-0610-0 LR Ginza Stop PB1 SB15-N-0620-0 Golden Beach PB1 SB15-N-0630-0 Tuen Mun Station (V City) PB4 SB15-N-0635-0 Goodview Garden PB4 SB15-N-0640-0 Tung Chung Station PB4 SB15-N-0645-0 Goodview Garden PB4 SB15-N-0650-0 Disneyland (Magic Road) PB4 SB15-N-0800-0 Tai Po Mega Mall (Tai Wo Road) PB3 SB15-N-0805-0 Wan Tau Tong Estate PB3 SB15-N-0810-0 Pak Shek Kok (Fo Yin Road) PB3 SB15-N-0820-0 Sha Tin Town Hall PB3 and PB5 SB15-N-0830-0 Bayshore Towers PB5 SB15-N-0840-0 GO Park Sai Sha PB5 SB15-N-0855-0 Sai Kung North (Sai Kung Police Station) PB5 and PN19 SB15-N-1000-0 Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) PB2 SB15-N-1110-0 Mong Kok (MOKO) PN17 SB15-N-1120-0 Hung Hom (Shung King Street) PN17 SB15-N-1130-0 Tsim Sha Tsui East PN17 and PN19 SB15-N-1150-0 Stanley (Carmel Road) PN18 SB15-N-1160-0 Repulse Bay PN18 SB15-N-1170-0 Wan Chai (Golden Bauhinia Square) PN18 and PN20 SB15-N-1180-0 Kai Tak (Muk Yuen Street) PN19 SB15-N-1190-0 Kwai Chung (Hing Fong Road) PN20 SB15-N-1200-0 Mei Foo (Mei Lai Road) PN20

• • The westbound serial number starts from 1000 (Shau Kei Wan Terminus) and the eastbound serial number starts from 1101 (North Street), and extends in the direction of traffic, but the serial number of the tram stops increases and decreases by 2 each time, and the last two digits of the serial number are the same as the station number of the tram stop. The serial number of the tram stops along Happy Valley section starts from 1105 (Foo Ming Street) and decreases by 1 each time, with the last three digits of the serial number corresponding to the tram stop number. Kennedy Town Terminus (serial number 2104) and Happy Valley Terminus (serial number 2108) are both formed by adding 1000 to the serial number of the previous stop.
  • The fourth group of numbers is always "0".

Citybus and NWFB

The bus stop numbers of Citybus (and NWFB) are arranged according to the order of the bus stop columns and there is no special street demarcation. The bus stop number consists of 4 digits, and each bus stop post is numbered by adding a letter starting from A at the end of the bus stop number. The stop number is usually affixed near the top of the bus stop pole near its top. For routes jointly operated with KMB, the stops in Kowloon or the New Territories do not have physical bus stops, but they are assigned with stop numbers by the same logic.

In the early 2000s, Citybus' bus stops were numbered with two letters plus four digits, with the letters being abbreviations of the districts and the subsequent digits roughly adopting the alphabetical order of the road. Take the Victoria Park Tennis Court bus stop as an example, it was numbered ED0056, where ED stood for Eastern District and 0056 was the serial number of the bus stop in the district.

In November 2003, Citybus reformed its stop numbering system by abolishing the abbreviation of zones and directly adopting the 4-digit numbering system, using the letters of the original zones in descending order. The station number of Victoria Park Tennis Court was changed to 0251.

From , bus stops previously used exclusively by Citybus or jointly by both bus companies were renumbered by adding 1000 to their original numbers, resulting in numbers ranging from 1001 (The Centrium) to 2730 (Peace Avenue). Stops previously used exclusively by NWFB were renumbered from 2731 (Universal Trade Centre, now discontinued) to 3191 (Shek Kip Mei Shopping Centre). Stops numbered 3192 (Hung Kiu) and above represent new bus stops added by both bus companies following this renumbering exercise and these numbers were generally assigned in sequence according to the date of stop establishment. At this time, the Victoria Park Tennis Court stop was renumbered as 1251.

At the same time, a letter of the alphabet is assigned to each pole at each stop. The alphabetical arrangement is based on Citybus first (using the letter "A"), followed by NWFB. For example, NWFB routes 2X and 8 at the Victoria Park Tennis Courts are lettered 1251D instead of 1251A because there are three Citybus poles (A to C) at the stop, and Citybus and NWFB would normally use the same pole number if they use the same poles in their stop flags. If only the original NWFB poles are used after the merger, the abandoned Citybus poles at the end of A will no longer be used.

The Citybus stop having the smallest stop number is "The Centrium, Arbuthnot Road" in Central and Western District with the number 1001A, while the stop having the largest stop number is "Tak Sun School, Jordan Road" in Yau Tsim Mong District with the number 3906A.

MTR Bus

MTR Bus follows the practice of KCR Bus in that they only have stop signs and do not have bus stops numbered on poles. However, the bus stop shelters of MTR Bus are KCRC assets and follow the KCRC asset numbering.

NLB

NLB has been using the new route information sheet format since July 2014, and has been introducing stop pole numbers for bus stops, mainly at those stops where the stop flags have been replaced recently. Generally, the numbering is located at the upper right corner of the bus stop sign, but some stops are also shown in the timetable box.

Discovery Bay Transit Services (DBTSL)

Starting from August 2025, DBTSL has been marking bus stop numbers on its route information sheets.

Stop codes and platform numbers

KMB and LWB

To make it easier for passengers to grasp the location of bus stops and route information, KMB added platform numbers consisting of letters and numbers to bus stops at Sheung Shui Interchange and Wong Tai Sin Interchange in mid-2013 and late 2015, and from September 2020 onwards, platform numbers have been added to bus stops at Kwun Tong Road, Lei Yue Mun Road and Tseung Kwan O Tunnel Interchange, and later extended to Lung Cheung Road, Shatin Pass Road, Wong Tai Sin Station, Tuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Tunnel Interchange, Kai Tak Tunnel Interchange, Nathan Road, along Castle Peak Road - Yuen Long (west of Fung Cheung Road), the West Kowloon Cultural District, and the Fanling Station Interchange.

Starting from April 2025, KMB has been gradually adding a new batch of platform numbers to its bus stops, which are affixed to the nameplates of stop flags or hung on stop poles. The new platform numbers on the bus stops are posted on the name plates of the bus stops or hung on the bus stop pillars. The new platform numbers on the bus stop pillars also provides a 2D code to enable passengers to check the location of other bus stops in the vicinity of the bus stops as well as the bus stop information using mobile devices. The new platform numbering consists of two capital letters and three digits. The letters correspond to the districts where the bus stops are located, e.g. ED is Eastern District, ST is Sha Tin, and the three digits have no specific arrangement except for the digits starting with "8" and "9" which are the bus termini. If there is a new bus stop appearing between two numbered stops, it will be indicated by a smaller number with a lower case letter. For example, the westbound bus stop of "Jordan Road West Kowloon Station" opposite to The Austin is numbered as "YT674a".

The new platform numbering is only assigned to bus stops served by KMB or LWB routes only and no new platform numbering is added to bus stops on Hong Kong Island for jointly operated routes. The new platform numbering does not replace the platform numbering of bus stops which are bus-bus interchanges and therefore some bus stops which are bus-bus interchanges will have two platform numbers.

Area codes for KMB and LWB platform numbers

Area code Name/Source of coding and areas applicable AN Anderson (On Sau Road, Anderson Road Quarry Site) CW Central and Western District ED Eastern District FT Fo Tan HH Hung Hom KA Kai Tak KC Kowloon City KT Kwun Tong KU Kwu Tung (including Kwu Tung Road) KW Kwai Chung LT Lam Tin and Yau Tong MA Ma On Shan and A Kung Kok Street MK Mong Kok, Prince Edward and Tai Kok Tsui ND Northern District (excluding Kwu Tung and Fan Kam Road) PA Pak Shek Kok and Science Park RT Route Twisk SA San Tin, Castle Peak Road (between Tung Shing Lei and San Tin Public Transport Interchange), San Tam Road, Lok Ma Chau Road and Lok Ma Chau Station SK Sai Kung (including Sai Sha Road and excluding Tseung Kwan O) SS Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai Chi Kok ST Sha Tin (including north of Lion Rock Tunnel, Cheung Shue Tan on Tai Po Road, University Station, south of Shek Mun Interchange and additionally including Lion Rock Tunnel Road) TA Tai Wai (including north of Ching Cheung Road and south of Lion Rock Tunnel Road, excluding Lion Rock Tunnel Road) TK Tseung Kwan O TP Tai Po (including north of Chek Nai Ping on Tai Po Road, Ho Ka Yuen on Tai Wo Service Road West, south of Luk Keng and excluding Sai Sha Road) TW Tsuen Wan TY Tsing Yi WC Wan Chai WT Wong Tai Sin YT Yau Ma Tei and Tsim Sha Tsui

Citybus

Citybus has introduced new stop flags after the merger of the franchise with NWFB in 2023, with platform numbers marked in numerals or alphabets at some of the major bus interchanges and bus termini to make it easier for passengers to identify the location of the platforms.

Bus stops with special functions

Compulsory stops

The main article of this section is Compulsory stop.

On some steep roads, bus companies will set up compulsory stops to ensure road safety.

All buses are required to stop at the compulsory stops and remain there for a certain period of time before they are allowed to continue their journeys.

Alighting stops

The main article of this section is Alighting stop.

At some busy bus termini or bus-bus interchanges, bus companies will provide alighting stops to facilitate crowd control.

Wheelchair User Pick-up Point

The main article of this section is Wheelchair User Pick-up Point.

At some bus termini, bus companies have provided "Wheelchair User Pick-up Points" to facilitate wheelchair users.

Temporary bus stops

In case of festivals, major events, sudden incidents, etc. that affect bus operation, as well as imminent cancellation or diversion of routes, bus companies may set up temporary bus stops for the relevant routes.

The design of stop signs at temporary bus stops is not very different from that of ordinary bus stops. However, most of the route information is printed by computer and then laminating, instead of using paint or stickers to display the information, and the name of the bus stop may only be displayed on the stop flags as "Temporary Bus Stop" instead of "Bus Stop".

Related articles

Facilities associated with bus stops Alighting stop Bus terminus Compulsory stop Public transport interchange Bus lane Wheelchair user pick-up point Stop flag Route information sheet Schedule holder Passenger signage Bus stop shelter Bus stop advertisement Solar-Powered Informative Bus Shelter List of KMB and LWB bus stop codes List of Citybus and NWFB bus stop codes List of NLB bus stop codes Minibus stop

Compartment facilities associated with bus stops Door Bell Stop announcement system Bus information display panel Motion Bus Stop Display Panel Estimated Time of Arrival system Wheelchair ramp Low-floor bus

References

External links

• Great scenery along the way: Exhibition of street scenes at bus stops on Hong Kong Island in the 1970s, Government Records Service

Edit category page

To facilitate quoting and enquiries, the following redirect page(s) will direct to this page:

Bus stops, Bus Stop, Bus Stops, En-route stop, En-route stops, En-route Stop, En-route Stops, Intermediate stop and Intermediate Stop