The Hong Kong Island Urban Bus Route 720X is operated by Citybus. It runs one-way from Grand Promenade to Central (Rumsey Street), via MTR Sai Wan Ho Station, Yiu Tung Estate, Shau Kei Wan, Island Eastern Corridor and Central - Wan Chai Bypass directly to Central, with only two trips operating during morning peak hours on Mondays to Fridays.
To tie in with the commissioning of the Central - Wan Chai Bypass, the Transport Department and NWFB proposed in the 2018-2019 Bus Route Plan to divert buses from Route 720 to operate a brand new Route 720X, which would start from Yiu Hing Road (near Tung Yan Court), pass through Hing Tung Estate, Yiu Tung Estate and Shau Kei Wan Bus Terminus, and then go through the Island Eastern Corridor, the Central - Wan Chai Bypass, Fenwick Pier Street, Harcourt Road and Connaught Road Central to reach Central directly, and would terminate at Central (Rumsey Street) and was proposed to depart from Yiu Hing Road at 07:25 and 07:55 on Mondays to Fridays.
After discussion at the Traffic and Transport Committee of the Eastern District Council, the Transport Department revised the proposal to change the first stop to Grand Promenade, return to Yiu Hing Road via Tai On Street and Shing On Street and the original proposed rouing, with the departure time advanced by five minutes accordingly, and the proposal was endorsed.
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 1/2019, please refer to the link below for the official route information.
From Grand Promenade
Mondays to Fridays
07:20, 07:50
No service on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
This route provides "Next Bus" Arrival Time Enquiry Service.
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".
Bus deployments[]
This route is served by two double-decker buses, with Enviro500/MMC 12m (5518-5582/5583-5599, 5601-5851, 515XX), Enviro500 MMC 12.8m (6100-6209) and MAN A95 (ND323F) 12.8m (69000) as the main models.
Routing[]
The distance of this route is approx. 11.9km, and the journey time is approximately 40mins. (The average speed is 17.9km/h.)
Via: Tai On Street, Shing On Street, Yiu Hing Road, Yiu Tung Estate Bus Terminus, Yiu Hing Road, Nam Hong Street, Shau Kei Wan Road, Aldrich Street, Nam On Street, Shau Kei Wan Bus Terminus, unnamed road, Nam On Lane, Island Eastern Corridor, Island Eastern Corridor link, Central - Wan Chai Bypass, Convention Avenue, Fenwick Pier Street, flyover, Harcourt Road, Connaught Road Central, Man Kat Street access and Man Kat Street
Citybus Route 720X (Sai Wan Ho (Grand Promenade) → Central (Rumsey Street))
Section fare begins here Near The Cenotaph, City Hall, City Gallery
14
Pottinger Street
15
Wing Wo Street
16
Sheung Wan
Central (Rumsey Street)
Trivia[]
This is a new route to tie in with the opening of the first phase of the Central - Wan Chai Bypass. On the inaugural day, apart from bus fans, some journalists also took this route to compare it with Route 720 which passes through Gloucester Road, so that they could publish reports on the comparison between the Bypass and Gloucester Road. [3][4][5][6]
Gallery[]
Route 720X was operated with two Enviro500 MMCs bought from Citybus, with 5720 being one of them
Route 720X enters Tai On Street after leaving Grand Promenade
NWFB set up a new promotional signage on this route, with the photo taken at Shau Kei Wan Bus Terminus (March 2019)
↑"【中環灣仔繞道．實測】巴士720 VS 720X 行舊路定繞道往中環快?" ([Central - Wan Chai Bypass test] Route 720 vs 720X - is it faster to access Central via old road or Bypass?), HK01, 21 January 2019.
↑"【中環灣仔繞道】巴士迷專程大埔過海搭新巴士線 實測會否塞車" ([Central - Wan Chai Bypass] Bus fans specially take new route far away from Tai Po to test if congestion happens), HK01, 21 January 2019.
↑新巴經繞道720X新線投入服務 首班車全程30分鐘 (NWFB New Route 720X via Central - Wan Chai Bypass entered service: total travelling time 30mins for first trip), RTHK Video News facebook page.
Italic - service during specified days/periods only; → - Outbound service only; ← - Inbound service only Remark: On and before 31 December 2015, Victoria Park and Causeway Bay to its east were situated in Eastern District and was delineated into Wan Chai District on 1 January 2016, which can be referenced to the District Council Constituency Area Boundary Map; ($) Outbound starts at Sha Tin District, return trips end at Tai Po District
Italic - service during specified days/periods only; → - Outbound service only; ← - Inbound service only; (@) - Outbound trips terminate at Central and Western District, return trips start at Wan Chai District; (&) - Return trips start at Central and Western District, outbound trips terminate at Wan Chai District; ($) - Running one-way to Central and Western District during weekday AM peak hours, and running to-way to and from Wan Chai District during other times; (#) Terminates at Central and Western District for outbound service, while inbound services start from Eastern District
Island Eastern Corridor, Central - Wan Chai Bypass; Harcourt Road Flyover
