A Special Service Arrangement is now in effect on this route until further notice.
A Special Timetable is in effect for Route A21 until further notice.
Special Service Arrangements may vary according to actual road conditions. please remove this template when service is restored to normal or officially cancelled.
12 December 1999: Airport-bound service was re-routed to Tsing Kwai Highway via Hoi Fai Road (Island Harbourview) and Lin Cheung Road, omitting Sham Mong Road; while Hung Hom Station-bound service was re-routed from Sham Mong Road to Lai Chi Kok Road and Nathan Road via Tonkin Street West and West Kowloon Corridor, omitting Tai Kok Tsui. [3]
16 August 2005: Octopus interchange concession with Route R8 was introduced. [4]
22 August 2005: One-way section fare from Sham Mong Road to Hung Hom Station was reduced to attract residents of Hoi Lai Estate to take this route to Yau Tsim Mong District. [5]
20 December 2005: Airport direction was detoured via AsiaWorld-Expo and Octopus Interchange concessions with a number of airport routes, and at the same time introduced a new section fare of $4.0 from AsiaWorld-Expo to Ground Transportation Centre (GTC), so that passengers leaving AsiaWorld-Expo can make use of the Octopus interchange concessions at the GTC to interchange with airport routes heading towards the urban area. [6][7]
16 July 2007: Resumed using Sham Mong Road and Lai Po Road to Tsing Kwai Highway after passing through Hoi Fai Road for Airport direction. [8]
5 December 2007:
Airport direction was detoured via Terminal 2, with an additional en-route stop outside the vehicular entrance of the Coach Terminal;
No longer via Airport AsiaWorld-Expo Terminus when heading towards the Airport, except for departures a few hours before designated major events, services to/from there are replaced by new free Octopus Interchange concessions with Routes E11, E21, E22, E22A; [9]
The section fare of $4.0 was changed to take effect from Terminal 1;
AsiaWorld-Expo return service to the urban area was extended from AsiaWorld-Expo to Ground Transportation Centre after the designated major programmes. [10]
15 February 2009: Changed to stop at departure level of Terminal 2 at Sky Plaza Road.
4 March 2013: Last bus towards Airport was advanced to 23:00.[11]
As the vast majority of departure flights depart before 01:30 and passengers need to arrive at the Airport two hours before flight departure, i.e. at 23:30 or before, for check-in, this resulted in low patronage of the Airport-bound trips towards the late-night period.
1 July 2013: To tie in with NWFB's franchise extension, Octopus interchange concession with NWFB Route 702 was introduced. [12]
15 August 2016: A new en-route stop at "Chui Yu Road" on Sham Mong Road was added towards the Airport. [13]
April 2017: With the commencement of service of Route A20 on 20 March of the same year, the original arrangement of providing additional special trips after the closing of designated large-scale programmes at AsiaWorld-Expo was cancelled, and the route was replaced by this route to be responsible for the after-the-event special trips.
24 October 2018: To tie in with the commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the service hours were extended and the routing was changed:[14][15]
For Airport bound, the first bus time was advanced to 05:15, and the last bus time was delayed to 00:00; from 8:30 a.m. on the same day, after following the original routing and stopping at "Airport (Terminal Two)" stop on Sky Plaza Road and arriving at Airport South Interchange, the route was rerouted via Cheong Lin Road, Sky City Interchange, Chek Lap Kok Road, Shun Fai Road, Shun Wui Road, Chek Lap Kok Road, Sky City Road and Cheong Lin Road return to Airport South Interchange. An additional stop at "HZMB Passenger Terminal Building" was provided at Shun Fai Road in between;
For Hung Hom Station bound, the first bus departure time was advanced to 05:30, and after reaching Airport South Interchange at 9:00 am on the same day according to the original routing, the route was rerouted via Cheong Lin Road, Sky City Interchange, Chek Lap Kok Road, Shun Fai Road and Shun Wui Road, with an additional en-route stop at HZMB Hong Kong Port Public Transport Interchange, and then return to Airport South Interchange by the same routing.
Trial of three special departures from the AsiaWorld-Expo to Tsim Sha Tsui directly after Hong Kong Port of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and terminating at Salisbury Road "East Tsim Sha Tsui Station" stop were operated on Fridays to Sundays until 31 August of the same year [19];
Short-haul trips from the Airport (Ground Transportation Centre) or HZMB Hong Kong Port to Lai Chi Kok Road (near Nathan Road) are no longer provided. [20]
1 September 2019: Trial period of special departures were extended to 29 December, and was changed to depart from Airport (Ground Transportation Centre), no longer observing AsiaWorld-Expo, with the service time changed to 11:15, 12:10 and 12:55 on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays. [21]
29 November 2019: Due to the expansion works at the Airport Terminal 2, buses on the Airport direction no longer detoured via Sky Plaza Road and the "Airport (Terminal Two)" bus stop was cancelled. [22][23]
31 December 2019: Trial run of special trips terminated, with the last service date on 29 December.
15 December 2020: After reaching Shun Wui Road according to the original routing for Airport direction, the route was rerouted via Chek Lap Kok Road, Tung Wing Road, Airport Road, Airport South Interchange and Cheong Lin Road return to Ground Transportation Centre Bus Terminus. [24]
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.
Frequency will be slightly adjusted according to the demand.
Outside the service hours of this route, passengers can take routes N11, N21, N21A, N23 or NA20.
This route provides "Next Bus" Arrival Time Enquiry Service.
AsiaWorld-Expo Major Event Special Arrangements[]
When major events are held at AsiaWorld-Expo, the following arrangements will be made for this route as appropriate and individual service details will be announced by Citybus and AsiaWorld-Expo:
Usually before the event, buses towards the Airport will detour via AsiaWorld-Expo after passing through the Passenger Terminal Building, to facilitate passengers travelling from the urban area to the AsiaWorld-Expo;
Occasionally, after the event, additional short-haul trips will be operated from AWE to the Ground Transportation Centre to facilitate passengers to interchange to Cityflyer routes to the city. The fare of the short-haul trips are $4.2, which is the same as the section fare of the regular trips. There is also an interchange concession, whereby passengers who use the same Octopus card to interchange to any Cityflyer route to the city will receive a rebate of the first trip 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".
Passengers can also tender Pre-paid Return Tickets into the coin box in lieu of fares. For more on the purchase of Pre-paid Return Tickets, see the section below.
Pre-paid Return Tickets[]
Pre-paid Return Tickets are priced at $60.0 and are valid for three months from the date of purchase. They are valid for any journey on this route, A20, A22, A23 or A25 to the city and to the Airport.
Passengers can purchase pre-paid tickets at Citybus Customer Service Centres, Citybus eShop shopping platform or designated travel agents.[25]
Same-day Return Discount[]
Passengers using an Octopus card or e-payment device to travel on Cityflyer to and from the Airport/HZMB Hong Kong Port/Lantau Link Bus-Bus Interchange and the urban area on the same day can enjoy half-fare concession on the return trip. To be eligible for the half-fare return trip, passengers must pay both the onward and return fares with the same Octopus card or the same e-payment device within the same service day (i.e. between the first and last bus service hours). The return journey discount is applicable to any Cityflyer daytime route.[26]
Bus-Bus Interchange Concessions[]
Passengers using the same Octopus card or account of the same electronic payment instrument 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 A21 Bus-Bus Interchange Concessions
Lantau Link BBI Bus Interchange Concessions[]
Template:Citybus Lantau Link BBI Interchange Concessions
Airport Staff Concessionary Travel Scheme
Eligible Airport and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) staff holding a Personalised Octopus or Personalised Octopus for Airport Staff recorded and approved by Citybus can travel on this route at a concessionary fare of $24.1 ($17.7 for Lantau Link Bus-Bus Interchange to Airport/HZMB Hong Kong Port). Passengers are required to present the front of their registered "Authorised Employee Status" Octopus Card to the bus captain upon boarding, and pay the fare with the card upon confirmation by the bus captain without having to wait for the Octopus fare adjustment.[27]
Bus deployments[]
At present, this route is served by at least 25 air-conditioned double-decker buses in the morning, of which one is required to support Route E21X during peak hours on Mondays to Saturdays, and at least 27 air-conditioned double-decker buses in the afternoon. The main vehicle is Enviro500 MMC 12m luxury version (80XX) and 12.8m (68XX, 638XX), which is part of the Cityflyer fleet.
During holidays and peak periods, Citybus operates additional special trips from the HZMB Hong Kong Port to the urban area, mainly using vehicles with Enviro500 MMC 12m normal version (8507-8524) and 12.8m (6501-6588) with luggage racks, which are not always available. However, as the number of travellers using the HZMB for customs clearance has dropped, these special trips have been reduced, and ordinary buses are not often used.
Routing[]
To Airport (Ground Transportation Centre)[]
To Airport: The distance of this route is approx. 44.8km, and the journey time is approximately 90mins. (The average speed is 29.9km/h.)
Via: Cheong Wan Road, Chatham Road South, Salisbury Road, Nathan Road, Argyle Street, Cherry Street, Cherry Street tunnel, Hoi Fai Road, Sham Mong Road, Lai Po Road, Tsing Kwai Highway, Cheung Tsing Tunnel, Cheung Tsing Highway, North West Tsing Yi Interchange, Lantau Link, North Lantau Highway, Airport Road, Cheong Hong Road, Airport Road, Airport South Interchange, Cheong Lin Road, Sky City Interchange, Chek Lap Kok Road, Shun Fai Road, Shun Wui Road, Chek Lap Kok Road, Sky City Interchange, Cheong Lin Road, Airport South Interchange and Cheong Lin Road
To Hung Hom Station: The distance of this route is approx. 36.3km, and the journey time is approximately 82mins. (The average speed is 26.6km/h.)
Via: Cheong Lin Road, Airport South Interchange, Cheong Lin Road, Sky City Interchange, Chek Lap Kok Road, Shun Fai Road, Shun Wui Road, Chek Lap Kok Road, Shun Long Road, North Lantau Highway, Lantau Link, North West Tsing Yi Interchange, Cheung Tsing Highway, Cheung Tsing Tunnel, Tsing Kwai Highway, Lai Po Road, Sham Mong Road, Tonkin Street West, Tung Chau Street, West Kowloon Corridor, Prince Edward Road West, Lai Chi Kok Road, Nathan Road, Salisbury Road, Chatham Road South, Cheong Wan Road and On Wan Road
near Eaton Hong Kong Hotel, Novotel Nathan Road Kowloon Hong Kong, Hotel Stage, Largos Hotel, Hotel Rainbow Hong Kong, Hotel Madera Hong Kong, Saigon Street
12
Tsim Sha Tsui
Prudential Centre
near Prudential Hotel, Shamrock Hotel, BP International House, Tak Shing Street
near The Peninsula, Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers, Holiday Inn Golden Mile, The Kowloon Hotel, The Salisbury - YMCA of Hong Kong, Chungking Mansions
near Victoria Dockside, InterContinental Hong Kong
17
Chatham Road South
Mody Road
near Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Shangri-La, The Royal Garden, Regal Kowloon Hotel, Guangdong Hotel, Hotel Panorama By Rhombus, Xi Hotel
18
Granville Road
near Park Hotel, Best Western Plus Hotel Kowloon, InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong, New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel
19
Hong Kong Science Museum
near Stanford Hillview Hotel, Empire Hotel Kowloon - Tsim Sha Tsui
near Harbour Plaza Metropolis 如Please proceed to taxi stand at Hung Hom Station for taxi
Nearby hotels are listed according to the stop reporter.
Ridership[]
This route passes through Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, where there are many shopping hotspots and hotels along the route. After detouring via the HZMB Hong Kong Port, the patronage has increased, and Citybus has once introduced additional express services directly to Tsim Sha Tsui.
According to the Bus Route Planning Programme and other documents, the patronage of this route is as follows:
2012: The average daily patronage was 5,020, and the total number of passengers carried after 22:30 in the Airport-bound direction was 3, i.e. an average of about 1 passenger per trip, before the last bus time to the Airport was advanced.
2017: About 4,300 passengers, or 90% of the total number of passengers, picked up and dropped off at Yau Tsim Mong District in the urban direction each day, and about 500 passengers also used the Metropark Hotel en-route stop in Mong Kok for picking up and dropping off. [28]
2018: The overall passenger amounts of 9 franchised A Routes, including this route, Routes A11, A22, A29, A31, A33X, A35, A36 and A41, were: 910,000 thousand (September); 110,300 (October); 138,300 (November). [28]
2019: After detouring via the HZMB Hong Kong Port, the peak hour patronage rate to the airport/border crossing and the urban area is 61% and 47% respectively. [29]
27 August 2001: At about 3:00 p.m., an Airport-bound Dennis Trident (2121/HS8500) collided with a construction vehicle at the Kap Shui Mun Bridge. The construction vehicle was hit by a 180 degree head-on reversal and crashed into a private car which was parked at the roadside due to a malfunction, resulting in a total of 1 death and 11 injuries. [31][32]
7 July 2006: At about 11:00 am, an Airport-bound Dennis Trident (2153/HT9364) was dodging a lorry that suddenly cut across the lane when it turned right into Salisbury Road south of Chatham Road and lost control of the vehicle and spun onto the pavement; no one was injured in the incident. [33]
21 August 2006: At about 8:00 a.m., a Hung Hom Station-bound Dennis Trident (2112/HS6637) collided with four vehicles in the Cheung Tsing Tunnel, killing the bus captain and injuring 25 people, see 2006 Five-vehicle Collision in Cheung Tsing Tunnel. [34][35][36]
1 November 2017: At around 4:00 pm, an Airport-bound Enviro500 MMC (8023/SF4453) hit a 19-year-old female tourist from Guangzhou, China when turning left at the junction of Argyle Street and Nathan Road in Mong Kok, and the girl's right foot was crushed near the ankle and had to be amputated to save her life. [37][38] The Citybus bus captain involved pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm and was sentenced on 13 February 2019 to 11 months' imprisonment, a two-year licence suspension and a driving improvement course. For details, see 2017 Citybus Accident in Mong Kok[39]
24 May 2019: At 6:41 a.m., when an Airport-bound Enviro500 MMC (8021/SE2416) was travelling on Shun Fai Road flyover towards the HZMB Passenger Clearance Building, a part-time off-duty NWFB driver was suspected to have an argument with the bus driver over the route, during which someone swung his fist and attacked the driver, and the two sides then had a big fight and beat each other up with their fists, before a few moments later, the bus crashed into the rock curb, damaging the left side of the front end. The Police arrested the two persons on suspicion of fighting in a public place. After further investigation, the incident was reclassified as common assault and traffic accident with injuries (damage to Government property), the NWFB driver was arrested on suspicion of common assault, while the Citybus driver was released unconditionally. [40]
The NWFB driver subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on 21 April of the following year and was sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment on 8 May. [41][42]
Anecdotes[]
January 2015: Citybus listed on its official website that the travelling distance towards Hung Hom Station is 40 kilometres (even lower for Airport). Some netizens quoted the scale of fares, pointing out that the maximum fare of Airport routes ("A" routes) under 40km is $30, and the full fare of this route ($33) exceeds that level. Subsequently, the bus company conducted another trial and revised the travelling distance to 41.2km in the Airport direction in mid-February of the same year to meet the standard. [43]
Passenger and Bus Captain Incidents[]
11 December 2015: At about 8:00 a.m., three passengers travelling on a MAN NL262 (1568/JL6936) single-decker bus bound for Hung Hom Station found their luggage missing from Nathan Road near Middle Road, suspected to have been stolen. [44]
2 May 2017: A 67-year-old bus driver was suspected to have collected fares from two passengers and kept them for himself. After receiving a complaint and investigating, Citybus sent its staff to pretend to be passengers and travelled on the bus. After boarding the bus, the bus driver collected the fares from them and did not put the fares into the cash box, and when the bus arrived at the Airport, the staff of Citybus reported to the police. [45][46] The bus driver pleaded guilty to one count of theft and was sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment, suspended for two years, in early July of the same year. [47]
10 March 2019: At around 1:00 pm, a female bus captain driving an airport-bound Enviro500 MMC lost control of her emotions after an argument with a passenger who had placed his luggage in the wheelchair parking area, and parked the bus at the Bowring Street Sub-station on Nathan Road and called the police, which aroused dissatisfaction of the passengers on the bus. In the end, all passengers had to transfer to another bus to continue their journey. [48]
Gallery[]
Dennis Trident coach version (21XX) was once common on Route A21 before retirement
Whole-new Enviro500 MMC (80XX) buses joined Route A21 from April 2013
↑HKSARG, "配合新機場啟用的交通運輸及道路系統" (Traffic and Transport Arrangements and Road System to tie in with the opening of the New Airport) [Press Release], 4 July 1998.
↑"有關港珠澳大橋開通後的交通情況的提問" (Questions on the traffic situation after the commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB)), Islands District Council, March 2019
↑Yau Tsim Mong District Council Secretariat, "2020至2023年度油尖旺區議會 交通運輸及房屋事務委員會 第十次會議記錄（第34點）" (Yau Tsim Mong District Council Traffic, Transport and Housing Committee Minutes of the 10th meeting held in 2020-2023 (Point 34)), April 2023.
↑"壞車候援司機被撞 屍掛欄杆" (Driver of private car hit while waiting for assistance, body hung over railings), Ming Pao, 28 August 2001.
↑"巴士跣胎鏟行人路" (Bus ran onto pavement after tire blown out), Apple Daily, 8 July 2006.
↑"城巴剷起貨車夾死車長" (Citybus shovelled up lorry and killed the bus captain), Oriental Daily News, 22 August 2006.
↑"長青隧道5車相撞25傷 城巴鏟起貨車車長遭夾死" (25 injured after 5 vehicles collided in Cheung Tsing Tunnel: Citybus bus captain stuck between bus and shovelled-up lorry and killed), Apple Daily, 22 August 2006.
↑"【蘋民直擊】旺角少女捱巴士撞 右腳慘遭扯斷" (Young woman hit by bus and had her right leg ran over), Apple Daily, 1 November 2017.
↑"【旺角城巴輾斷腳】少女交通黑點過馬路 城巴貼欄轉彎 司機被捕" ([Mong Kok Bus Accident] Woman crossed road at traffic black spot; Citybus made turn close to railings, bus captain arrested), HK01, 1 November 2017.
↑"內地女遊客馬路旁遭城巴輾斷腳掌 車長認危駕判監11個月" (Female mainland tourist had right leg ran over by Citybus beside the road: Bus captain admitted to dangerous driving and imprisoned for 11 months), Apple Daily Breaking News, 13 February 2019
↑"新巴車長要求飛站遭拒 與城巴司機互毆釀撞車同被捕" (NWFB driver demanded skipping stop but refused, later fought against Citybus captain causing accident, both arrested), Oriental Daily News, 24 May 2019.
↑"新巴車長坐城巴毆司機 釀撞車認罪遭還押" (NWFB bus captain hit Citybus captain while onboard leading to accident; NWFB driver admitted guilty and remanded), Oriental Daily News, 21 April 2020.
↑A21車費超出收費等級表上限？！ (Fare of Route A21 exceeds upper limit of scale of fares?!), HKBF.
↑"搭機場巴士遇竊賊 3遊客被偷行李旅程受阻" (Thieves on an Airport bus: 3 tourists had luggage stolen and disturbed their trip), Oriental Daily News, 11 December 2015.
↑"涉吞70蚊車資 拘城巴車長" (Suspected to have stolen $70 fares from passengers: Citybus captain arrested), Oriental Daily News, 3 May 2017.
↑"城巴派員放蛇 揭A21車長偷袋70元車資 報警拉人" (Citybus staff pretended to be passenger, revealing Route A21 captain stole $70 fares then called police), HK01, 2 May 2017.
↑"法庭：私吞車資 城巴車長判監緩刑" (Courts: Citybus captain who stole fares sentenced to imprisonment with suspension),Oriental Daily News, 5 July 2017.
↑"與乘客因行李擺放問題起爭執 城巴女車長情緒崩潰致乘客要轉車" (Quarrels arose over luggage placing issues: Citybus female captain lost control of emotions causing passengers to transfer to another bus), Apple Daily, 10 March 2019.
Remarks: (#) MTR Sunny Bay Station, Penny's Bay (Hong Kong Disneyland Bus Terminus) and Ma Wan are all located in Tsuen Wan District, please refer to the District Council constituency boundary map. Italic - service during specified days/periods only; → - Outbound service only; ← - Inbound service only
V · D · E✈️ Airport bus routes/Airbus Routes (shown below are destination districts)
<To/from Eastern District>A11T← • P12 <To/from Kwun Tong District>A26P← <To/from Tai Po District>A47 <To/from Sai Kung District>A29P <Within Islands District>P22
<To/from Tsuen Wan District>A31P • NA30 (1st generation)→ <To/from Tuen Mun District>A33P← <To/from Yuen Long District>NA34
Italic: Routes with specified service hours/Non-whole-day route
.JPG "2143----citybus Flyer A21 (2015 03 04).JPG (374 KB)")
.JPG "8006@A21(0617).JPG (1.24 MB)")
