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This text is about overview of the former Kai Tak Airport and Bus Terminus:
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The Kai Tak Airport Bus Terminus (啟德機場巴士總站), known as the "Airport Bus Terminus" (機場巴士總站) before its closure, was once the transport terminus for the Kai Tak Airport and was located on Dakota Road, accessible from Sung Wong Toi Park and Olympic Road. With the demolition of Kai Tak Airport, the bus terminus has disappeared.
History[]
"The name "Kai Tak Airport" originated in 1910 when then Legislative Council member Ho Kai and businessman Au Tak established the Kai Tak Business Company Limited to develop the Kai Tak Bund (啟德濱), a residential development on the Kowloon Bay waterfront. The reclamation work was carried out in three phases, with the first phase starting in 1916 and taking four years to complete in 1920. The Kai Tack Motor Bus Co., Ltd. was established in 1923 to pioneer the provision of residents' bus services. In February 1924, Harry Abbott, an American, leased a portion of the reclaimed land from Kai Tak to operate a flying school. The following January 24 was the first recorded date of flight at Kai Tak. Subsequently, the Kai Tak Company had financial difficulties and was unable to complete the remaining two phases of reclamation, and construction came to a complete halt in 1926, while the Government confirmed the suitability of the site for airport use and began to prepare funds for the construction of the airport.[1]
For the defence of Hong Kong, the Royal Air Force set up a base at the Kai Tak Reclamation in March 1927, which was the former Kai Tak Airport, and then moved to the eastern part of Kai Tak in 1933, with the newly completed Royal Air Force Base Headquarters building, which is now on either side of the bus stop at Kwun Tong Road near Kai Yip Estate. The first civil aircraft landed at Kai Tak Airport on 24 March 1936, marking the beginning of a new era of civil aviation at Kai Tak. The first civilian aircraft landed at Kai Tak Airport on 24 March 1936. In 1939, the first formal runway of 457 metres in length was completed at the present location of San Po Kong.
After the Second World War, Kai Tak Airport was severely damaged and the remaining part of Sung Wong Toi was razed by the government to rebuild the airport. On 16 June 1954, the Government approved the Airport Development Master Plan (ADFP), which included a 150-acre runway reclamation area[2]. Four years in the making, the 2,529-metre-long new runway was completed in 1958, and this east-west runway has since been recognised by international organisations as one of the most dangerous in the world[3]. The temporary passenger terminal building was opened on 21 September of the following year[4] and Kai Tak Airport was officially named the Hong Kong International Airport (香港國際機場).
The new passenger terminal and car park at Kai Tak Airport were opened in 1962 and the control tower was relocated to the new terminal, while the temporary passenger terminal building was demolished in 1965.
Bus Services[]
In 1975, the runway was extended to 3,390 metres to meet the long-haul needs of the 31 airlines flying in Hong Kong at the time. KMB operated three routes, 25, 200 and 201, of which 200 and 201 were served by luxury buses. The terminal for both routes at Kai Tak Airport was located in the public car park at the western end of the Terminal Building, at a digital distance from the pick-up lounge. The Transport Department has proposed to relocate the two-line terminal outside the pick-up lounge, but this was found not feasible.[5]
In the mid-1980s, the Civil Aviation Department started the Phase 5 expansion of the airport, which involved the construction of a 14,000-square-metre public transport terminus for taxis, green minibuses, taxis and buses at a cost of HK$8 million at the site of the public car park to the west of the Kai Tak Airport Terminal Building. Construction of the new terminal started in April 1984 and it was opened on 4 July 1985. The new terminal has a covered waiting area and is connected to the passenger terminal building, so that passengers can walk from the pick-up lounge to the bus terminal without having to suffer from the sun and rain.[6]
Airbus Services[]
The standard of bus services at Kai Tak Airport was upgraded on 6 November 1986 when KMB reorganised its existing routes 200 and 201 into "Airbus" routes A1, A2 and A3, introducing 20 Denis Falcon single-deck air-conditioned buses with luggage racks to provide luxury bus services to visitors. Later on, KMB also introduced the Toyota Coaster to serve routes A5 and A7, which have lower patronage. Although KMB had a number of bus routes that stopped at Prince Edward Road East opposite Kai Tak Airport, the "Airbus" was able to penetrate deep into the Kai Tak Airport Terminal Building, and with all the facilities in the bus compartment for the convenience of passengers, it had a good patronage, with as many as eight routes in its heyday.[7][8]
To improve traffic conditions at Kai Tak Airport, the bus terminal was relocated to the south of Tak Ko Road on 17 October 1992, and the original station was used as an extension to the taxi pick-up area[9]. In the following year, KMB purchased 24 Dennis Lance single-decker air-conditioned buses, 12 of which were single-door buses with luggage racks, 41 luxurious velour seats and 18 seats, plus Dennis Darts, to replace the retired Dennis Falcon and Toyota Coaster buses on routes A2 and A3.
In 1994, the Airbus Centre (「通天巴士中心」) at the Airport Bus Terminus was opened to provide service information and coin exchange services to passengers. China Motor Bus CMB finally joined the fray on 17 September 1995 with the introduction of the only airport route, the A20. Due to the design of the passenger terminal at Kai Tak Airport, double-decker buses could not go up to the departure hall floors, and both KMB and CMB were only able to operate single-decker routes on the Airbus routes.
At 00:02 on 6 July 1998, the last Cathay Pacific flight CX251 departed from Kai Tak Airport for London, UK, and at 01:16, the then Director of Civil Aviation, Richard Siegel, said "Goodbye Kai Tak, and thank you!" when closing the runway lights of Kai Tak Airport, marking the closure of Kai Tak Airport; the KMB and CMB Airport Bus Services also came to an end at the same time.[10] The new airport at Chek Lap Kok, which operates 24/7, replaced all former Kai Tak Airport Airbuses with a total of 27 "A", "E", "N" and "S" bus routes operated by Citybus and Long Win Bus (LWB) to and from all parts of Hong Kong.
Following the closure of Kai Tak Airport, the bus terminal was decommissioned and later demolished. The 80,000 square metre Passenger Terminal Building was not immediately demolished and housed the offices of 20 government departments, including the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the Census and Statistics Department, the Buildings Department, the Immigration Department and Radio Television Hong Kong. Other private tenants include a car show venue, a bowling alley, an amusement game centre and a billiard room, etc., making the old Terminal Building a popular place for leisure and entertainment during holidays.[11][12] However, to cope with the excavation of the relics and the advance work of the SCL project, the Terminal Building was demolished at the end of 2003 and the current site became Lot 2A of the New Development Area.
Design of Terminus[]
The bus terminus is U-shaped, with the pick-up area located to the south of the terminus, just after the U-turn.
KMB had set up an "Airbus Centre" at this station for the sale of Airbus tickets and information, while CMB has set up a ticket counter for its Route A20.
Bus Route Information[]
Franchised Buses[]
| List of Bus Routes once terminating at Kai Tak Airport | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Route No. | Destination at that time | Terminus changed to | Date no longer using this terminus |
| The following routes use the terminus at Dakota Road | ||||
| KMB | 200 | Central | Route discontinued | 6 November 1986[13] |
| KMB | 201 | Star Ferry | Renumbered as A1 | 6 November 1986[13] |
| KMB | A1# | Star Ferry↺ | Route discontinued | 6 July 1998 |
| KMB | A2# | Central (Macau Ferry) | Route discontinued | 6 July 1998 |
| KMB | A3# | Causeway Bay↺ | Route discontinued | 6 July 1998 |
| KMB | A4 | Macau Ferry | Route discontinued | 1 May 1995 |
| KMB | A5# | Taikoo Shing↺ | Route discontinued | 6 July 1998 |
| KMB | A7# | Kowloon Tong MTR Station | Route discontinued | 6 July 1998 |
| KMB | A8[14] | Prince Edward Railway Station | Route discontinued | 14 February 1995 |
| KMB | A9[15] | Kowloon Tong MTR Station | Route discontinued | 12 June 1991 |
| CMB | A20# | Central (Exchange Square) | Route discontinued | 6 July 1998 |
| Citybus | 757 | Tsuen Wan (Panda Hotel) | Route discontinued | End of 1992 |
| The following routes use the bus terminus at Concorde Road | ||||
| KMB | 5A | Star Ferry | Kowloon City (Shing Tak Street) | 16 June 1975 |
| KMB | 25 | Star Ferry | Kai Tak Airport (Cargo Terminal) | 5 January 1976 |
| Note: # These routes remained in operation until the closure of the terminus. | ||||
Green Minibuses (GMBs)[]
| List of Green Minibus (GMB) Routes once terminating at Kai Tak Airport | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Route No. | Destination at that time | Terminus changed to | Date no longer using this terminus |
| Lok Wah Public Light Bus | 14 | Lok Fu | Route discontinued | 11 March 1990 |
Related Incidents[]
Incidents of Bus Captains getting into wrong roads[]
- 3 July 1998: Three days before the relocation of the airport, at around 6am, a CMB Volvo Olympian (VA63/HR2439) running om Route A20 drove into the Departure Hall Passage (Departures Circuit) of this terminal, where only single-deck buses can operate, and the roof of the upper deck was immediately cut off, leaving no one injured.[16]
Gallery[]
Related Articles[]
- Hong Kong International Airport
- Kai Tak Airport (Cargo Terminal) Bus Terminus
- Regal Oriental Hotel (Prince Edward Road East)
- Regal Oriental Hotel (Prince Edward Road West)
Notes and References[]
- ↑ 125 Years of Hong Kong Aviation, James Ng, Chung Hwa Book Co.
- ↑ Seventy Years of Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department
- ↑ 香港記憶：傳奇的啟德13/31跑道 (Hong Kong Memories: The Legendary Runway 13/31 at Kai Tak)
- ↑ Seventy Years of Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department
- ↑ 面臨停辦 最後一招：機場巴士減收票價（Last resort before facing cancellation: Airport bus fare reduction) , Ta Kung Pao, 29 December 1975.
- ↑ 機場公共交通總站 今天開始正式啟用 (Airport Public Transport Terminus officially opened today), Ta Kung Pao, 4 July 1985.
- ↑ HKiTalk: 問九龍城及前啟德機場巴士線 (About bus routes in Kowloon City and the former Kai Tak Airport)
- ↑ 香港巴士論壇: 問九巴前通天巴士有無 A4 , A8 , A9 線 (Was there Routes A4, A8 and A9 routes in the ex-KMB Airbus services)
- ↑ "New Airport Bus Terminal to be opened tomorrow", Hong Kong Government Press Release, 1992-10-16
- ↑ Franchises for Airport and North Lantau bus routes are acquired by Long Win Bus, Citybus and New Lantao Bus. Although Long Win Bus (LWB) is a subsidiary of KMB Holdings (now Transport International), it is administratively and financially independent of KMB and should be regarded as a separate company.
- ↑ 蘋果日報：地下埋南宋歷史 將進行鑽探工程 啟德客運大樓年底拆卸, (Apple Daily: Southern Song history buried underground, drilling works to be carried out: Kai Tak Terminal Building to be demolished by end of year) 9 February 2003
- ↑ 太陽報：拆大樓建車站再別啟德 (Sun Post: Demolishing the Terminal for Station Construction: Goodbye to Kai Tak), 21 February 2003
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 KMB 94&99 BUS-PAGE - 巴士博物館：1979年九巴路線資料 (KMB 94&99 BUS-PAGE - Bus Museum: 1979 KMB Route Information)
- ↑ This route is a special holiday service.
- ↑ This is a temporary bus route.
- ↑ 中巴A20雙層巴士撞毀車頂 (3/7/1998), YouTube
External Links[]
Template:List of Defunct Bus Terminus in Kowloon