Citybus Route 701

Route 701 observes Sham Mong Road
Route information
Terminus	Hoi Lai Estate ↺ Mong Kok ●
via	Nam Cheong Station, (Tai Kok Tsui←)
Distance	8.4km
Travelling time	45mins
Commencement date	16 December 2003
Operational information
Current operator	Citybus
Former operator	NWFB (Commencement until Jun 2023)
Main Vehicle	4020-4039/41000-41019, 4040-4091, 45XX/420XX, 5200-5224/520XX, 5518-5582/51155-51208, 5583-5599, 5601-5851
Fare information
Full fare	$5.0
Service hours
Origin service time	05:45 - 00:15
Headway	10-20mins

The Kowloon Urban Bus Route 701 is operated by Citybus. It runs circular between Hoi Lai Estate and Mong Kok.

The "West Kowloon Line" Route 701 passes through the MTR Nam Cheong Station, before taking the West Kowloon Corridor to Mong Kok, then turning back after serving Mong Kok Road, Sai Yee Street and Argyle Street, and returns to Nam Cheong Station and the West Kowloon New District via Tai Kok Tsui (The Long Beach).

History

• 16 December 2003: The NWFB West Kowloon Route 701 commenced service to tie in with the commissioning of the KCR West Rail on 20 December, circulating between the WR Nam Cheong Station and the ER Mong Kok Station, via Tung Chau Street, Metro Harbourview, Olympic Station, Island Harbourview and Mong Kok Road to the Mong Kok KCR Station of East Rail, and then returning to the WR Nam Cheong Station via Argyle Street, Island Harbourview, Chui Yu Road and Hai Tan Street:
  • West Rail and East Rail passengers using Octopus cards could enjoy $1 fare concession when interchanging with this route, which was to be reviewed after a six-month trial period ;
  • Express trips were available during morning peak hours, departing from WR Nam Cheong Station and heading directly to Mong Kok Road after arriving at Olympic Station, without passing through Island Harbourview.
• 22 August 2004: Due to the meandering routing which resulted in severely low patronage, with a record low of seven passengers per bus, NWFB implemented the following drastic changes:
  • Launched the first "Free Bus-Rail Interchange Concession Scheme" with KCRC, whereby West Rail and East Rail passengers using Octopus cards could make free interchanges to this route for six months, which was subsequently extended several times;
  • The route was diverted via West Kowloon Corridor and Shanghai Street directly to Mong Kok Road andArgyle Street, and then return to WR Nam Cheong Station via Hoi Fai Road and Sham Mong Road, instead of bypassing Sham Shui Po inner streets and Mong Kok KCR Station, so as to shorten the journey time;
  • The original service from Island Harbourview to Mong Kok was replaced by a new short journey section fare on Route E21.
• 13 June 2005: Extended from WR Nam Cheong Station to Hoi Lai Estate to tie in with the occupation of the housing estate.
• 24 October 2007: Additional stop at "Aquamarine" at Sham Mong Road was added for Mong Kok direction.
• 1 December 2007: Interchange concession with the KCR West Rail was cancelled.
• 29 September 2012: In response to the permanent closure of the Nam Cheong Station Public Transport Interchange:
  • After reaching the junction of Tonkin Street West along Sham Mong Road eastbound, Mong Kok-bound buses were changed to turn right to Tonkin Street southwestbound, via Lin Cheung Road, Yen Chow Street West and Sham Mong Road westbound, then return to the original routing at Tonkin Street northwestbound;
  • The original stop at Nam Cheong Station Public Transport Interchange was cancelled and replaced by "Fu Cheong Estate" bus stop at Sham Mong Road westbound.
• 22 December 2014: An additional bus stop at "Chui Yu Road" on Sham Mong Road was added for Hoi Lai Estate direction.
• 15 December 2017: "Next Bus" Arrival Time Inquiry Service was introduced on this route.
• 1 July 2023: Changed to be operated by Citybus following the Citybus and NWFB Franchised Bus Network Merger.

Historical route information

Details of the past service hours and headways, fares and other route information of this route are set out in the "Historical route information" sub-page of this article.

Service hours and headways

The latest update is on 7/2022, please refer to the link below for the official route information.

from Hoi Lai Estate
Service Hours	Headways (mins)
Mondays to Fridays
05:45 - 06:05	20
06:05 - 06:50	15
06:50 - 08:30	10
08:30 - 08:41	11
08:41 - 09:05	12
09:05 - 17:05	15
17:05 - 21:05	12
21:05 - 22:15	14
22:15 - 00:15	15
Saturdays
05:45 - 16:00	15
16:00 - 17:00	12
17:00 - 20:00	10
20:00 - 21:00	12
21:00 - 00:15	15
Sundays and Public Holidays
05:45 - 15:00	15
15:00 - 16:00	12
16:00 - 18:00	10
18:00 - 19:00	12
19:00 - 00:15	15

This route provides "Next Bus" Arrival Time Enquiry Service.

Fares

Journey/Boarding Stop	Fares
Full Fare	$5.0

Fare Remarks

Half-fare for children aged below 12 and senior citizens aged 65 or above; the remainder of the fare after half-fare will be counted as 10 cents. Elderly persons aged 65 or above using Senior Octopus Cards or Personalised Octopus cards, Hong Kong residents aged 60 to 64 using JoyYou Card, and eligible persons with disabilities using Personalised Octopus cards with "Persons with Disabilities Status" can enjoy a flat fare of $2.0 per journey under the $2 Concessionary Fare. If the concessionary fare for eligible persons with disabilities aged below 12 and senior citizens aged 65 or above is less than $2.0 after a 50% discount from the regular fare, the beneficiary is only required to pay the original concessionary fare; if the original full fare for Hong Kong residents aged 60 to 64 or eligible persons with disabilities is already less than $2.0, the beneficiary is also only required to pay the original full fare. Passengers are required to tender exact fare by cash or by Octopus card when boarding. No exact change will be given. Passengers may also use AlipayHK "EasyGo", Alipay, QuickPass, BoC Pay "RideCode", WeChat Pay HK or WeChat "Ride Code", Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay cards with inductive payment capabilities, as well as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Huawei Pay mobile payment platforms for fare payment. Passengers using the above payment method can only enjoy the interchange concessions with other Citybus solely-operated routes or the Citybus departures of the jointly-operated routes, and cannot enjoy the "Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme" nor the "Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities". This route has no section fares.

Octopus Interchange Concessions

Passengers using the same Octopus card to interchange to the designated route after this route within a specific time, or transfer from the designated route to this route can enjoy an interchange concession. The details are as follows: (Half discount for children and senior citizens.) Template:Citybus Route 701 Interchange Concession Scheme

Bus Deployments

The route is served by six double-decker buses; the main vehicles are Enviro500 11.3/12m (4020-4039/5518-5582), MMC 11.3/12m (4040-4091/5583-5599, 5601-5851) and Volvo B9TL 11.3/12m (4500-4529/5200-5224).

In August 2021, this route was approved for the use of 12.8m buses.

Routing

The distance of this route is approx. 8.4km, and the journey time is approximately 45mins. (The average speed is 11.2km/h.)

Via: Sham Mong Road, Tonkin Street West, Lin Cheung Road, Yen Chow Street West, Sham Mong Road, Tonkin Street West, Tung Chau Street, West Kowloon Corridor, Prince Edward Road West, Lai Chi Kok Road, Shanghai Street, Mong Kok Road, Sai Yee Street, Argyle Street, Cherry Street, Cherry Street tunnel, Cherry Street, Hoi Fai Road, roundabout, Hoi Fai Road, Sham Mong Road and Hoi Lai Street

Citybus Route 701 (Hoi Lai Estate ↺ Mong Kok)
No.	Area	Road	Bus stop name	Remarks
1	Sham Shui Po West		Hoi Lai Estate
2		Sham Mong Road	Aquamarine
3			Hoi Tak Court	Near Fat Tseung Street West, West Kowloon Law Courts Building
Lin Cheung Road
4	Sham Shui Po West	Sham Mong Road	Nam Cheong Station	Near Fu Cheong Estate
West Kowloon Corridor
5	Mong Kok	Shanghai Street	Bute Street	Circular route return point
6		Mong Kok Road	Fa Yuen Street Market	Near Mong Kok Road
7		Argyle Street	Tung Choi Street	Near Sin Tat Plaza, SKYPARK
8			Yau Tsim Mong District Health Centre	Near Mong Kok Market
9	Tai Kok Tsui	Cherry Street	Ming Kei College	Near Olympian City 3
Cherry Street tunnel
10	Tai Kok Tsui West	Hoi Fai Road	The Long Beach	Near Island Harbourview
11	Sham Shui Po West	Sham Mong Road	Chui Yu Road	Near Metro Harbourview
12			Nam Cheong Park
13			Nam Cheong Station	Near Fu Cheong Estate
14			Hoi Tat Estate	Near Tonkin Street West, West Kowloon Law Courts Building
15			Hoi Lai Estate

Ridership

In the early years of Route 701's operation, patronage was recorded as low as 7 passengers per bus due to its circuitous routing. With the diversion of the outbound journey via the West Kowloon Corridor in 2004 and the occupation of Hoi Lai Estate in 2005, the patronage gradually increased since then.

According to the information submitted to the Government by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), the average daily number of passengers who benefited from the "Bus-Rail Free Interchange Concession Scheme" during the period from 22 August 2004 to 1 December 2007 is as follows:

• 2004: 4,900 passengers
• 2005: 6,800 passengers
• 2006: 10,100 passengers
• 2007: 9,900 passengers

Related Incidents

Traffic Accidents

• 17 May 2014: At around 0000 hours, a Dennis Trident (1072/HY2330) heading towards Hoi Lai Estate crashed into a motorcycle in front of it at Sham Mong Road near Hing Wah Street West traffic lightpole in Cheung Sha Wan, causing minor injuries to three people.
• 13 October 2014: At 8:30am, a Mong Kok-bound Enviro500 MMC (4048/SL1271) was travelling on Mongkok Road near Shanghai Street in Mongkok when it collided slightly with a Mercedes-Benz saloon car, which left on its own after the incident, while the bus driver felt sick and needed to be sent to hospital.
• 2 November 2018: At around 7:00 a.m., an Enviro500 MMC (5718/UG6571) from Hoi Lai Estate was hit by a Mong Kok Cross-Boundary Express coach when it was travelling opposite to the Mong Kok Fire Station on Prince Edward Road West. The right side of the bus was slightly damaged, and the 25 passengers on board were not injured and were arranged to transfer to other vehicles to continue the journey, and the bus was then returned to the depot for inspection.

"Occupy Central"

• 29 September 2014: In the early hours of the morning, during the outbreak of the "Occupy Central" movement, a Dennis Trident (1117/HZ936) heading towards Hoi Lai Estate was surrounded by protesters on Mong Kok Road. Five hours later, when some protesters wished to board the bus to take a rest, they were dissuaded by four youths, who then found police sealing tapes and sealed the unlocked drop-off door, and sat down in front of the door to guard the bus on their own initiative. The bus was later used as a "drawing board" for the public to express their demands, and could not be towed away by an engineering vehicle until 3 October.

Gallery

Volvo Olympian (VA) was once the main model used on Route 701

Route 701 observes Mong Kok Road

A bus on Route 701 was turning left from Sham Mong Road into Hoi Lai Street back to the terminus

More pictures, photos and related information about this article are available in the following Gallery Page:

Citybus Route 701 (Edit)

Related Articles

• KMB Route 18
• Citybus Route 701A
• Citybus Route 701S

External Links

• Citybus Official Route Information: 701 (to Mong Kok)
• Citybus Official Route Information: 701 (to Hoi Lai Estate/Nam Cheong Station)
• Timetable approved by Transport Department