KMB Route 5C

The Kowloon Urban Bus Route 5C is operated by Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB). It runs between Tsz Wan Shan (Central) and Star Ferry, via Fung Wong San Tsuen, San Po Kong (Choi Hung Road), Ma Tau Wai, To Kwa Wan (Lower Road), Hung Hom and Tsim Sha Tsui East (Chatham Road South).

History[]

Initial Days of Service[]

1 May 1972: Route 5C commenced service between Tsz Wan Shan (South) and Star Ferry.
- This route was originally scheduled to commence service on 23 April 1972, but was delayed as the Government had not yet given permission for this route to use the Star Ferry Bus Terminus stop until that date.
1 October 1975: No longer observed Po Kong Village Road for Star Ferry direction, and buses were diverted via Yuk Wah Crescent, Wan Wah Street, Shung Wah Street and Sheung Fung Street to serve Fung Wong San Tsuen area.
Starting from 2:00 pm on 15 April 1976: Both directions were detoured via Hung Hom KCR Station.
15 September 1982: Due to the permanent closure of the junction of Lung Cheung Road and Shatin Pass Road, the return journey was diverted via Po Kong Village Road Flyover between Fung Wong San Tsuen and San Po Kong.
26 September 1982: To tie in with the implementation of the "Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan Public Transportation Priority Scheme Phase II", westbound Wuhu Street could no longer diverted to turn left to Gillies Avenue South. Tsim Sha Tsui-bound buses were therefore diverted via Taku Street, Bulkeley Street, Ming On Street and Baker Street to Gillies Avenue South.
27 January 1999: Add Air-conditioned bus service was introduced on this route.

After the Millenium[]

12 June 2000: Upgraded to full air-conditioned service.
31 December 2000: Extended from Tsz Wan Shan (South) to Tsz Wan Shan (Central).
23 December 2001: Interchange concessions with Route 3B was introduced.
10 February 2003: To introduce 11-metre bus service, the route was diverted via Metropolis Road, Hung Lai Road, Hung Hom South Road, Hung Ling Street and Cheong Wan Road back to the original routing at Gillies Avenue South when heading to Tsz Wan Shan (Central), and no longer turning left to Cheong Wan Road directly from On Wan Road.
10 November 2004: The new intermediate stop at "Hung Lai Road" was added for Tsz Wan Shan (Central) direction.
27 December 2004: Tsim Sha Tsui-bound buses were diverted via Bulkeley Street directly turning left to Gillies Avenue South and no longer observing Ming On Street and Baker Street, with the intermediate stop at "Bulkeley Street" added in place of the "Ming On Street" stop.
31 December 2015: Estimated Time of Arrival Enquiry System was introduced on this route.
12 March 2018: Departures for Tsz Wan Shan (Central) at 09:00 on Mondays to Fridays were directed to the terminus after stopping at Tsz On Court with the "Ching Fai House" bus stop at Tsz Wan Shan Road cancelled.
3 August 2019: To tie in with the completion of Choi Hung Road project, starting from 10:00 onwards on that day, the stop at Choi Hung Road Playground for Tsim Sha Tsui direction was resumed, and no longer stopping at Yin Hing Street stop.
14 February 2020: To tie in with the commissioning of MTR Tuen Ma Line Phase I, a $1 interchange concession with MTR was introduced, with the designated interchange stations at Kai Tak Station and Hung Hom Station.
2 January 2022: The interchange concession with MTR was cancelled.

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 8/2023, see here for the referenced link

from Tsz Wan Shan (Central)
Service Hours	Headways (mins)
Mondays to Fridays
05:30 - 06:30	10
06:30 - 08:30	8
08:30 - 09:20	10
09:20 - 12:10	8／9
12:10 - 13:40	10
13:40 - 16:40	9
16:40 - 17:40	12
17:40 - 23:40	15
Saturdays
05:30 - 07:10	10
07:10 - 14:30	8
14:30 - 16:00	9
16:00 - 17:40	10
17:40 - 18:40	12
18:40 - 22:40	15
22:40 - 23:40	20
Sundays and Public Holidays
05:30 - 07:30	12
07:30 - 17:40	10
17:40 - 20:40	12
20:40 - 23:40	15

from Star Ferry
Service Hours	Headways (mins)
Mondays to Fridays
The following departures enter the terminus directly after Tsz On Court, omitting Ching Fai House stop
06:20 - 08:26	18
08:26 - 09:00	17
The following departures resume original routing
09:12 - 14:00	12
14:00 - 15:39	10
15:39 - 17:55	8
17:55 - 18:40	15
18:40 - 19:40	12
19:40 - 21:00	8
21:00 - 22:30	9
22:30 - 23:30	12
23:30 - 00:30	15
Saturdays
06:20 - 11:05	15
11:05 - 12:05	12
12:05 - 14:56	9
14:56 - 18:40	8
18:40 - 21:00	10
21:00 - 23:00	8
23:00 - 23:30	10
23:30 - 00:30	12
Sundays and Public Holidays
06:20 - 07:20	15
07:20 - 09:20	12
09:20 - 18:40	10
18:40 - 20:00	8
20:00 - 22:30	10
22:30 - 00:30	12

Special Departures[]

Yuk Wah Street → Star Ferry ● Special trips depart from "Koon Wah Lane", with same stopping arrangements as normal trips afterwards
Monday to Friday School Days
07:20, 07:40
No service on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and school holidays

This route provides Estimated Time of Arrival Enquiry Service.

Fares[]

Journey/Boarding Stop	Air-conditioned Fare
Full Fare	$6.4
Section fares (to Tsz Wan Shan)
from Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School	$5.6

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 can also pay their fares through a variety of electronic payment tools (e-payment system), including using contactless VISA, JCB Card, MasterCard, UnionPay, American Express, Discover Card, Diners Club International Credit Card, UnionPay Credit Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, AlipayHK "EasyGo" and UnionPay "QuickPass", BoC Pay "Ride Code" and WeChat Pay HK or WeChat "Ride Code". Passengers using this payment method are not eligible for the interchange concessions with non-KMB/LWB routes, nor are they eligible for the "Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme" and "Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities".

Bus-Bus 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:KMB Route 5C Bus-Bus Interchange Concession Scheme

Kowloon City BBI Interchange Concessions[]

Template:Kowloon City BBI Interchange Concessions

LWB A Routes and KMB Interchange Concessions[]

LWB Airport Routes ("A Routes") and KMB Interchange Concession Scheme
1st leg	Direction	2nd leg	Direction	Discount for 2nd leg	Time limit
A30, A31, A32, A33, A33X, A34, A36, A37, A38, A41, A41P, A42, A43, A43P *, A46, A47X	to Urban	KMB Solely-operated Routes	Any	$6.0 or Actual Fare of KMB leg (Ones with lower fare comes first)	120mins
KMB Solely-operated routes	Any	A30, A31, A32, A33, A33X, A34, A36, A37, A38, A41, A41P, A42, A43, A43P *, A46, A47X	to Airport		120mins
Note: Passengers are required to use the same Octopus card/credit card or the same mobile payment tool account (KMB/LWB "e-payment system") to enjoy the interchange discount. Passengers can enjoy the above interchange discount at any bus stop where they can connect to a second route. KMB journeys are not applicable to tourist routes (i.e. R-tail routes), unconventional special routes, racecourse routes and MTR Feeder Bus routes. Passengers heading towards the urban area will not be able to enjoy the "Inter-route Interchange Discount" on the KMB route immediately after interchange after enjoying this interchange discount. Airport-bound passengers who enjoy the "KMB Inter-route Transfer Concession" between the first and second journeys may still enjoy the interchange discount on the third immediately following the LWB route A at $6.0 or the second KMB route minus the concession fare, whichever is lower; if the second KMB route is a free interchange (including free journeys with KMB Monthly Pass) or the first two journeys are both If the second KMB route is a free interchange (including free journeys with KMB Monthly Pass) or the first two journeys are both KMB routes with interchange concessions, the interchange concession will not be offered. Routes R8, S64 series, Long Win Bus Lantau Link BBI, Tuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Tunnel bus routes and all interchange schemes with other companies cannot be used consecutively with this interchange concession. 50% discount for children under 12 years old; for passengers benefiting from the Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities when interchanging from LWB A Routes to KMB, the KMB one-way fare is the lower of the discounted concessionary fare (or 50% discount in the case of elderly or eligible persons with disabilities under 12 years old) and $2.0, therefore some interchange combinations may not be available. When interchanging from KMB to LWB A Routes, passengers may get back the actual fare paid for the first journey (i.e. the lower of the original fare (50% discount for elderly or eligible persons with disabilities under 12 years old) and $2.0). ＊: For interchanging from KMB Route B1 (Tin Tsz direction) to LWB Route A43P ( Airport direction), the actual fare paid for the first journey will be refunded for the next journey, except that the interchange concession cannot be enjoyed for the first journey of Route B1, otherwise, only the normal (i.e. maximum $6.0) interchange concession will be offered; for interchange from LWB Route A43P (Luen Wo Hui direction) to KMB Route B1 (Lok Ma Chau direction), passengers will be offered a free interchange concession for the second journey, but no interchange discount will be offered for the first journey of route A43P and no other interchange concession will be offered for route B1 thereafter. This special offer is not applicable to other LWB A routes (including Routes A36, A37 and A43). Edit

Bus Deployments[]

A total of 19 double-decker buses were assigned as licensed buses for this route, with the following model distribution:

14 Enviro500 MMC 12m (ATENU)
5 high-capacity version Volvo B9TL 12m (AVBWU)

In addition, vehicles on this route will be deployed on Routes 3D, 5P, 5X, 91P, and 116, with orders from routes 3D and 116.

List of buses on Route 5C
Fleet No.	Plate No.	Depot
ATENU289	ST5648	Kowloon Bay Depot (K)
ATENU310	SU7768
ATENU324	SW5910
ATENU325	SW6025
ATENU409	TE3319
ATENU511	TK2540
ATENU513	TK3061
ATENU522	TK4426
ATENU533	TL1055
ATENU563	TL6249
ATENU566	TL8464
ATENU640	TN8248
ATENU719	TR5585
ATENU1123	UG8226
AVBWU514	UU5146
AVBWU519	UU7569
AVBWU611	UY3949
AVBWU647	UZ9874
AVBWU666	VB1552

The above list of scheduled buses are as of September 2023, forwarded from hk2007.buscess website (Chinese only). The above buses might not be listed according to running orders.
The related content is for reference only and will be updated according to fleet changes (check update list). To check scheduled bus changes, refer to detailed information on hk2007.buscess website.2923

Bus Deployment Evolution History[]

Routing[]

To Tsim Sha Tsui: The distance of this route is approx. 10.8km, and the journey time is approximately 68mins. (The average speed is 9.5km/h.)

Via: Wai Wah Street, Wan Wah Street, Tsz Wan Shan Road, Yuk Wah Crescent, Wan Wah Street, Shung Wah Street, Sheung Fung Street, Fung Tak Road, Po Kong Village Road, Choi Hung Road, Prince Edward Road East, Prince Edward Road West, Ma Tau Chung Road, Mok Cheong Street, To Kwa Wan Road, Ma Tau Wai Road, Wuhu Street, Taku Street, Bulkeley Street, Gillies Avenue South, Cheong Wan Road, Chatham Road South and Salisbury Road

Kowloon Motor Bus Route 5C (Tsz Wan Shan (Central) → Star Ferry)
No.	Area	Road	Bus Stop Name	Remarks
1	Tsz Wan Shan		Tsz Wan Shan (Central) Bus Terminus
2		Tsz Wan Shan Road	Ching Fai House
3			Ching Hong House
4			Tak Oi Secondary School
5		Yuk Wah Street	Koon Wah Lane	Starting point of special departures
6		Yuk Wah Street	Lok Moon House
7		Shung Wah Street	Shung Wah Street
8	Chuk Yuen (Fung Wong San Tsuen)	Sheung Fung Street	Kam Fung Street Sitting-Out Area
9	Chuk Yuen (Fung Wong San Tsuen)	Fung Tak Road	Mei Tak House
10	San Po Kong	Choi Hung Road	Wong Tai Sin Police Station
11			Choi Hung Road Playground
12			Ning Yuen Street San Po Kong
13	Ma Tau Chung	Ma Tau Chung Road	Kowloon City BBI - Sung Wong Toi Park‎‎ (C3)
14	Ma Tau Wai	Ma Tau Chung Road	Sung Wong Toi Road
15	To Kwa Wan	Mok Cheong Street	Pak Tai Street
16		Mok Cheong Street	The HK Society for the Blind
17		To Kwa Wan Road	Grand Waterfront
18			Kwei Chow Street
19			Lok Shan Road
20			Hung Fook Street
21	Hung Hom	Ma Tau Wai Road	Bailey Street Hung Hom
22		Ma Tau Wai Road	Man Yue Street Hung Hom
23		Bulkeley Street	Bulkeley Street
24		Gillies Avenue South	Gillies Avenue South
25		Cheong Wan Road	Hung Hom Station
26	Tsim Sha Tsui East	Cheong Wan Road	Hong Kong Museum of History
27		Chatham Road South	Hong Kong Science Museum
28		Chatham Road South	Mody Road Tsim Sha Tsui
29	Tsim Sha Tsui	Salisbury Road	East Tsim Sha Tsui Station
30	Tsim Sha Tsui		Star Ferry

to Tsz Wan Shan (Central)[]

To Tsz Wan Shan: The distance of this route is approx. 11.2km, and the journey time is approximately 68mins. (The average speed is 9.9km/h.)

Routing	Roads observed
① Regular	Salisbury Road, Chatham Road South, Cheong Wan Road, On Wan Road, Cheong Wan Road, Metropolis Drive, Hung Lai Road, Hung Hom South Road, Hung Ling Street, Cheong Wan Road, Gillies Avenue South, Wuhu Street, Ma Tau Wai Road, To Kwa Wan Road, Ma Tau Kok Road, Ma Tau Chung Road, Prince Edward Road West, Prince Edward Road East, Choi Hung Road, Po Kong Village Road, Tsz Wan Shan Road, Wai Wah Street, Wan Wah Street, Tsz Wan Shan Road and Wai Wah Street
②* Weekday AM departures omit Ching Fai House	..., Choi Hung Road, Po Kong Village Road, Tsz Wan Shan Road and Wai Wah Street

Kowloon Motor Bus Route 5C (Star Ferry → Tsz Wan Shan (Central))
No.	Area	Road	Bus Stop Name	Remarks
1	Tsim Sha Tsui		Star Ferry
2		Salisbury Road	East Tsim Sha Tsui Station
3		Chatham Road South	Mody Road Tsim Sha Tsui
4		Chatham Road South	Granville Road
5	Tsim Sha Tsui East	Cheong Wan Road	Hong Kong Polytechnic University
6	Hung Hom	On Wan Road	Hung Hom Station
7	Hung Hom Bay	Hung Lai Road	Hung Lai Road
8	Hung Hom	Gillies Avenue South	Gillies Avenue South
9		Ma Tau Wai Road	Ka Wai Chuen Hung Hom
10			Pak Kung Street
11	To Kwa Wan		Shek Tong Street
12		To Kwa Wan Road	Chi Kiang Street
13		To Kwa Wan Road	Sheung Heung Road
14		Ma Tau Kok Road	China Gas Company
15	Ma Tau Wai	Ma Tau Kok Road	Jubilant Garden
16		Ma Tau Chung Road	Ma Tau Kok Road
17		Ma Tau Chung Road	Argyle Street Playground
18	Kowloon City	Prince Edward Road East	Kowloon City BBI - Regal Oriental Hotel (A2)
19	San Po Kong	Choi Hung Road	Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School	Section fare begins here
20			Tai Tung House
21			Wong Tai Sin Police Station
22	Chuk Yuen (Fung Wong San Tsuen)	Po Kong Village Road	Fu Yau Building
23	Tsz Wan Shan		Po Tsz Lane
24			Po Hang Lane
25		Tsz Wan Shan Road	Tak Oi Secondary School
26		Tsz Wan Shan Road	Tsz Man Estate
27		Wai Wah Street	Tsz On Court
28 *	Tsz Wan Shan	Tsz Wan Shan Road	Ching Fai House	Not applicable to weekday AM departures using Routing ②
29	Tsz Wan Shan		Tsz Wan Shan (Central) Bus Terminus

Ridership[]

This is a circuitous route via the To Kwa Wan lower road, which has a longer journey time as it passes through a number of busy traffic sections. KMB needs to operate routes 5P and 5X during peak hours to secure patronage.

According to the Bus Route Planning Programme and other documents, the ridership of this route is as follows:

2013: The occupancy rate was 73% during the busiest hour and 38% during the off-peak hours; about 1,600 passengers were travelling between 6:00p.m. and 8:00p.m. in Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan, accounting for about 13% of the total patronage.
2015: The occupancy rate during the busiest hour was 70%.
After the opening of the Kwun Tong Line Extension: The average occupancy rate during the busiest half-hour dropped from 81.8% from January to March 2016 to 69% in November 2016, and in February 2017 it even dropped to 59.2%.

Related Incidents[]

Traffic Accidents[]

10 November 1993: At 6:35p.m., a Tsz Wan Shan-bound bus hit a 70-year-old woman and rolled her underneath the bus when it reached Pau Chung Street. The driver did not notice the accident and did not stop the bus until a passer-by in the market stopped him. He then got out of the bus to check the situation and found that the old woman had crawled out from underneath the door in the middle of the neighbourhood, and she was not injured.
5 July 2010: At around 12:00 noon, a Dennis Trident (ATS) heading towards Star Ferry was hit by a bamboo drying stick on Ma Tau Wai Road and pierced through the roof of the vehicle, no one was injured in the incident.
1 November 2020: At 11:00pm, a war of words broke out between two men at Ming On Street near Bulkeley Street. One of the men was so agitated that he pushed the other man out of Bulkeley Street with both hands. At that time, an Enviro500 MMC (ATENU876/TW6063) travelling on this route to Star Ferry arrived, the man who was pushed fell next to the left front wheel of the bus and was almost run over by the bus; when the bus braked sharply, a passenger in the middle of the lower deck rushed forward and fell to the ground.

Falsified Headways[]

KMB was ordered by the Hong Kong Government to improve its services because of a high lost trip rate of 7%, with this route having a lost trip rate of over 10%. In order to "make the lost trip rates look better" within a short period of time, KMB has arranged for bus captains to run buses from several intermediate stops in front of the terminus to return to the terminus, and to treat these very short trips as one complete trip, with this route's D01 running order specially designed for window dressing. This running order has several trips during morning and evening periods starting from "Fu Yau Building" stop on Po Kong Village Road, running for a few stops then return to Tsz Wan Shan (Central), and there are only five intermediate stops along the route.

As there are more "window dressing buses" on this route, and most of these trips were assigned with 12-metre double-decker and single-decker buses that could not be used in 2012 due to vehicle restrictions, disregarding the road conditions of Sheung Fung Street that the normal trips faced, it attracted a lot of bus fans to take photographs and discuss the issue. The phenomenon was eventually reported on 16 June 2012, and some netizens created "Please Excuse Us" posters to satirise the behaviour.

On 21 June 2012, Apple Daily reported on KMB's window dressing incident, in which the newspaper's reporter witnessed empty buses without passengers repeating the last nine bus stops of the route. Subsequently, the Transport Department ordered KMB to resubmit information on routes suspected of having tricky schedules in the past year, and did not rule out the possibility of fines or even cancellation of franchises for non-compliant routes.