KMB Route 40

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A Special Service Arrangement is now in effect on this route until further notice.

Due to the road works at Kwun Tong Ferry Bus Terminus, Route 40 will not enter Kwun Tong Ferry Pier for Tsuen Wan direction, and will be changed to call at "Tsun Yip Street, Kwun Tong" stop at Wai Yip Street until the works is completed. ^[1]

Special Service Arrangements may vary according to actual road conditions.
please remove this template when service is restored to normal or officially cancelled.

A bus on Route Route 40 was passing through Kwun Tong Road

Route Info

Terminus

Tsuen Wan (Belvedere Garden) ↔ Laguna City ●

via

Kwai Chung, Mei Foo, Wong Tai Sin, Diamond Hill, Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong

Distance

To Laguna City: 24.0km
To Tsuen Wan: 24.9km

Travelling time

To Laguna City: 95mins
To Tsuen Wan:

Morning: 85mins
Afternoon: 99mins

Commencement date

1968/5/9

Operation Info

Current operator

KMB

Current depot

Lai Chi Kok Depot (L), Lai Chi Kok Depot (Tsing Yi Sub-depot) (L)

Former depot

Kowloon Bay Depot (K)

Main Vehicle

ATENU

Fare Info

Full fare

$9.7

Number of Fare Sections

To Laguna City: 1
To Tsuen Wan: 2

Service Hours

Origin service time

05:40 - 00:20

Terminus service time

05:45 - 00:20

Headway

10 to 25 minutes

Special Departures

Tsuen Wan (Belvedere Garden) → Laguna City (via Cheung Sha Wan Cheung Lai Street)●

The New Territories Bus Route 40 is operated by Kowloon Motor Bus. It runs between Tsuen Wan (Belvedere Garden) and Laguna City via Chai Wan Kok, Tsuen Wan Town Centre, Kwai Chung, Mei Foo, Cheung Sha Wan Business Area (←), Wong Tai Sin, Diamond Hill, Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong Town Centre, Kwun Tong Business Area.

This route takes Ching Cheung Road and Lung Cheung Road, providing service to two satellite cities of Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong ^{[Remark 1]}, as well as the express service from Mei Foo to Kwun Tong, and is also the first bus route from Kwun Tong District to the New Territories West.

History[]

Satellite towns led to route creation[]

After the Second World War, the Hong Kong Government focused on building satellite towns in the periphery of the urban areas to alleviate the shortage of living space in the urban areas, which became the prototype of today's new towns, with Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan being the first two satellite towns to be developed. Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan were the first two satellite cities to be developed. As both cities were divided into public housing and industrial sites, the need to commute between the two places was inevitable. However, there was no direct public transport link between the two cities at that time, and external transport was mainly to the developed areas in Kowloon.

In view of the inconvenience of having to change buses at the Jordan Road Ferry for travelling between Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung and Kowloon East, the Administration drafted a bus route between Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong in late 1966. ^[2] However, shortly after the plan was proposed, the 1967 riots occurred, and the plan for additional routes was delayed for a long time. Eventually, the new route named 40 came into operation on 9 May 1968, with its terminus at Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong Ferry ^[3], both of which were the major transport hubs of the region at that time.

The introduction of this route was a great innovation, as there had never been a bus route from Kowloon East to the western part of the New Territories before. In addition, "40" was the largest KMB route in terms of number when it was first introduced. ^{[Remark 2]}

At that time, Tsuen Wan New Town (including Kwai Chung, Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi district were not separated from Tsuen Wan until the 1980s) was connected to urban Kowloon only by Castle Peak Road (now Castle Peak Road - Kwai Chung), so this route was adopted as a matter of course when it was first introduced. However, on 29 October 1968, only five months after the opening of the route, Kwai Chung Road and Lai Chi Kok Bridge were opened to traffic, and the route was changed to use this new route to travel to and from Tsuen Wan on the following day. In addition, this route passed through the inner streets of Sham Shui Po, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon City, etc., and indirectly took up part of the function of the original Route 2D between Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong, which was truncated as a result of the 1967 Riots.

Opening of MTR turning from boom to bust[]

Change of tactics and diversion via Lung Cheung Road and Ching Cheung Road[]

Route change history[]

Service hours and headways[]

Fares[]

Bus deployments[]

Routing[]

Ridership[]

Related incidents[]

Gallery[]

Remarks[]

↑ "Satellite towns" are the predecessors of today's "new towns", and Tsuen Wan was also later officially became "Tsuen Wan New Town".
↑ It was not until the opening of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in 1972 that Routes 101, 102 and 103 were launched, and it was not until 1973 that KMB started to draw up route numbers according to the districts served by the routes, so that the numbering of non-cross-harbour routes broke the "40" barrier for the first time.

References[]

↑ Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Ltd., "33, Route 40 T277 Temporary Diversion and Bus Stop Temporary Relocation" [Passenger Notice], February 2024.
↑ "荃灣至觀塘咸田九巴計劃闢新線" (KMB plans new routes linking Tsuen Wan and Ham Tin in Kwun Tong), Ta Kung Pao, 24 November 1966.
↑ "港九巴士新綫　五號Ｂ灣仔碼頭至西環　四十號觀塘至荃灣碼頭" (New bus routes in HKI and Kowloon to be launched: 5B from Wan Chai to Central, 40 from Kwun Tong to Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier), Wah Kiu Yat Po, 9 May 1968.

External links[]

Template:Ref-KMB

[2] "Satellite towns" are the predecessors of today's "new towns", and Tsuen Wan was also later officially became "Tsuen Wan New Town".

[5] It was not until the opening of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in 1972 that Routes 101, 102 and 103 were launched, and it was not until 1973 that KMB started to draw up route numbers according to the districts served by the routes, so that the numbering of non-cross-harbour routes broke the "40" barrier for the first time.

[1] Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Ltd., "33, Route 40 T277 Temporary Diversion and Bus Stop Temporary Relocation" [Passenger Notice], February 2024.

[TKP19661224-3] "荃灣至觀塘咸田九巴計劃闢新線" (KMB plans new routes linking Tsuen Wan and Ham Tin in Kwun Tong), Ta Kung Pao, 24 November 1966.

[WKYP19680509-4] "港九巴士新綫　五號Ｂ灣仔碼頭至西環　四十號觀塘至荃灣碼頭" (New bus routes in HKI and Kowloon to be launched: 5B from Wan Chai to Central, 40 from Kwun Tong to Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier), Wah Kiu Yat Po, 9 May 1968.

[1]

[Remark 1]

[2]

[3]

[Remark 2]