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NLB Route 39M

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The North Lantau Bus Route 39M is operated by New Lantao Bus (NLB). It runs circular between Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus and Mun Tung Estate.

History[]

Commencing background[]

The public housing estate in Tung Chung Area 39, opposite Wong Ka Wai in Tung Chung West - Mun Tung Estate - was scheduled to be completed and ready for intake in the fourth quarter of 2018. The Transport Department proposed in its 2017-2018 Bus Route Planning Programme to introduce a new route operating whole-day between Mun Tung Estate and Tung Chung MTR Station, to facilitate residents of the estate and those near Yu Tung Road in Yat Tung (i) Estate to and from Tung Chung Town Centre and MTR Tung Chung Station.

In the original proposal, this route was intended to replace Route 38X, which has a similar route but slightly lower fares, and would include special morning services on school days, operating circular between Chung Mun Road (YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College, Caritas Charles Vath College[Remark 1]) and MTR Tung Chung Station, with the route to Tung Chung Station detouring via Chung Yan Road.[1] However, the proposed special services and the cancellation of Route 38X were not implemented when this route commenced operations.

Route change history[]

  • 9 November 2018: Route 39M entered service.[2]
    • The original proposal was for the route to depart from Tung Chung MTR Station and pass through a section of Tat Tung Road opposite Fu Tung Plaza.[1] When the route entered service, it was changed to turning left from Mei Tung Street onto Tat Tung Road and returning to Shun Tung Road, omitting Fu Tung Plaza, which is the same as Route 38.
  • 18 February 2019: The service hour was extended to 06:10-00:10.[3]
  • 27 April 2019: Changed to circular operation between Tung Chung MTR Station and Mun Tung Estate.[4]
  • 3 June 2019: Service was enhanced:[5]
    • The last bus time was delayed from 00:10 to 00:20:
    • One-way special services were added, departing daily at 05:40, 05:55 and 06:10 from Mun Tung Estate to Tung Chung Town Centre.
  • 1 December 2020: Special services from Mun Tung were enhanced to 6 trips, with new departure times being 06:26, 06:41 and 06:55.[6]
  • 10 October 2022: Octopus interchange concessions with routes 37M and 38 were introduced.[7]
  • 27 September 2023: The Same Day Return Discount Concession Scheme was introduced on this route, where passengers travelling on Route B6 towards HZMB Hong Kong Port between 05:00 and 23:45 daily and using the same Octopus card to travel on Mun Tung-bound trips of this route can enjoy fare concessions.[8]

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 5/2025, see here for the referenced link

From Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus
Service hours Headways (mins)
Mondays to Fridays
06:10 - 08:02 7
08:02 - 08:10 8
08:10 - 08:50 10
08:50 - 14:50 15
14:50 - 16:50 12
16:50 - 19:20 10
19:20 - 00:20 15
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
06:10 - 08:20 10
08:20 - 00:20 15

Special trips[]

Mun Tung Estate → Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus ●
Mondays to Fridays
05:40, 05:55, 06:10, 06:26, 06:41, 06:55
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
05:40, 05:55, 06:10
This route provides Estimated Time of Arrival enquiry service.

Fares[]

Journey/boarding stop Fares
Full fare $3.9
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 use AlipayHK "EasyGo" and WeChat QR Code Payment to pay the fares. Passengers using this form of payment cannot enjoy the "Public Transport Fare Subsidy" nor the "Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities".
  • Holders of "Lantau Pass" valid on that day should show their ride pass to bus captain upon boarding for free rides.
  • This route has no section fares.

Octopus 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.)

Interchange concessions related to Route 39M (Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus ↺ Mun Tung Estate)
Interchanging from Route 39M to other routes
2nd leg route Destination Concession Interchange location Time limit Remarks
37M Ying Tung Estate Reduce $1.0 Tung Chung Station 60mins
38 Yat Tung Estate
Interchanging from other routes to Route 39M
1st leg route Origin Concession Interchange location Time limit Remarks
37M Ying Tung Estate Reduce $1.0 Tung Chung Station 60mins
38 Yat Tung Estate
Details of NLB Tung Chung Town Centre Interchange Concessions
＼ Corresponding to　(: Concession applies to)
Description 37 37A 37H 37M 37P N37 38 38X N38 39M
Interchanging from Citybus routes heading to Airport/SKYCITY
E11/E11A/E11B/E21/E21D/E22/E22A/E23/E23A
(Concession is only applicable to passengers who pay $14 or above for the first journey)
Interchanging from LWB routes heading to Airport/SKYCITY
E32/E33/E33P/E36/E36P/E36S/E37/E41/E42
(Concession is only applicable to passengers who board before Lantau Link BBI or Tuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Tunnel BBI)
The time limit for the above interchange is 150 minutes (counting from the time of tapping on the first journey)
Interchanging to Citybus routes from Airport/SKYCITY
E11/E11A/E11B/E21/E21D/E22/E22A/E23/E23A
Interchanging to LWB routes from Airport/SKYCITY
E32/E33/E33P/E36/E36P/E36S/E37/E41/E42
The time limit for the above interchange is 90 minutes (counting from the time of tapping on the first journey)
Interchanging from MTR Tung Chung Line after exiting the gate at Tung Chung Station
Interchanging from NLB Routes to MTR Tung Chung Line after tapping card on the former
The time limit for the above interchange is 90 minutes
Interchanging to Routes B6/B6S to HZMB Hong Kong Port Reduce $2.2 Reduce $2.2 Reduce $2.2 Reduce$3.6 Reduce$2.2
Interchanging from Route B6 from HZMB Hong Kong Port Reduce $2.2 Reduce $2.2 Reduce $2.2 Reduce $3.6
The time limit for the above interchange is 60 minutes　

Points to note:

  • Passengers using the same Octopus card to interchange between designated public transport modes after travelling on a designated NLB routes (in the same direction as the journey to Tung Chung Station) or from a designated public transport mode to a designated Lantau bus route (in the same direction as the journey from Tung Chung Station) within a specified period of time can enjoy a $1.0 discount on the second trip (concession amount discounted by 50% for senior citizens aged 65 or above, or children aged below 12).
  • For passengers who benefit from the Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities, the second journey fare is the lower of the above second journey concessionary fare (50% discount for elderly aged 65 or above or eligible persons with disabilities aged below 12) and $2.0, therefore, there may be some combinations of interchanges without interchange concessions.
  • Connections to MTR are only applicable to passengers using Adult Octopus (on all above Lantau routes) or Personalised Octopus with "Persons with Disabilities Status" (except NLB routes 39M and N37) to travel on MTR fare-charging journeys.
  • The "HZMB Hong Kong Port Employee Travel Scheme" of NLB cannot be used in conjunction with this interchange concession.

Official website:

Same Day Return Discount Concession Scheme[]

Template:NLB Route B6 Same Day Return Discount Concession Scheme

Bus deployments[]

According to the Transport Department's Schedule of Services, this route is served by four double-decker buses.

When this route first started, it mainly used MAN NL273 (MN30-39) single-decker buses. As residents gradually moved into Mun Tung Estate, starting at the end of April 2019, NLB switched to using MAN A95 (MD, MDR) double-decker buses to meet passenger demand.

Routing[]

  • Regular trips: The distance of this route is approx. 4.7km, and the journey time is approximately 21mins. (The average speed is 13.4km/h.)
  • Special trips: The distance of this route is approx. 2.4km, and the journey time is approximately 10mins. (The average speed is 14.4km/h.)

Via: Tat Tung Road, Shun Tung Road, Yu Tung Road (westbound), U-turn, Yu Tung Road (eastbound), Shun Tung Road and Tat Tung Road

New Lantao Bus Route 39M (Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus ↺ Mun Tung Estate)
No. Area Road Bus stop name Remarks
1 Tung Chung Town Centre Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus
2 Shun Tung Road Yu Tung Court
3 Tung Chung West Yu Tung Road Mun Tung Estate Circular route return point
Special trips begin here
4 Fuk Yat House Yat Tung Estate
5 Yung Yat House Yat Tung Estate
6 Tung Chung Town Centre Shun Tung Road Tung Chung Fire Station
7 Tat Tung Road Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal
8 Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus

Ridership[]

According to District Council documents, the ridership of this route is as follows:

  • 2021: Between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., one bus had an occupancy rate of 90%, while the remaining buses maintained an occupancy rate of 5-60%.[9]
  • 2024: The occupancy rate of departures between 7:30am and 8:20am from Mun Tung Estate was about 70-80%.[10]

Controversies[]

When Route 39M was first launched, it was similar to the current routes 37M and 38, with housing estates serving as the termini and Tung Chung Town Centre as the circular point. Since routes 3M, 11 and 23 already operate full-day services to Tung Chung Town Centre along Tung Chung Road (near Mun Hong House Mun Tung Estate and Joysmark), the section fare on weekdays was cheaper than the full fare for this route, and it also provides Estimated Time of Arrival enquiry services; Furthermore, Mun Tung Estate Bus Terminus has a smaller area and cannot accommodate more bus routes and thus NLB changed the terminus of this route to Tung Chung Town Centre on 27 April 2019, making it the only route currently operated by NLB that departs from Tung Chung Town Centre and serves housing estates as a circular route.

However, these routes take time to depart from South Lantau, and the buses may already be full by the time they reach Tung Chung Road, making them unable to accommodate passengers in the Mun Tung Estate area and many residents of the estate still prefer to take this route. Following the changes, the bus stop at Mun Tung Estate became an en-route stop, resulting in delayed arrival times and long queues during the morning rush hour. Additionally, at the time, the route primarily used single-decker buses, leaving many residents unable to board, causing significant inconvenience.[11] NLB eventually extended the service hours of this route on 3 June of the same year, while also adding three special morning services running one-way from Mun Tung Estate to Tung Chung Town Centre[5] and fully switched to double-decker buses for the route.

Related incidents[]

Gallery[]

More pictures, photos and related information about this article are available in the following Gallery Page:
NLB Route 39M (Edit)


Remarks[]

  1. ↑ Now renamed as Caritas Wu Cheng-chung College.

Related articles[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Transport Department HKSARG, "2017-2018年度離島區巴士路線計劃" (2017-2018 Bus Route Planning Programme in Islands District), January 2017.
  2. ↑ New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited, "New Route Operation - 39M" [News Release], 7 November 2018.
  3. ↑ New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited, "NLB Enhances Service of Route 39M" [News Release], 13 February 2019.
  4. ↑ New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited, "The terminal points of NLB Route 39M will be relocated" [News Release], 24 April 2019.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited, "NLB Enhances Service of Route 39M" [News Release], 27 May 2019.
  6. ↑ New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited, "NLB Enhances Service of Route 39M" [News Release], 27 November 2020.
  7. ↑ New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited, "Introduction of new BBI Discounts of NLB Routes 37M 38 39M" [News Release], 7 October 2022.
  8. ↑ New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited, "NLB introduce Same Day Return Discount Concession Scheme" [News Release], 26 September 2023.
  9. ↑ "離島區議會交通及運輸委員會巴士路線工作小組第二次會議紀錄" (Minutes of the Second Meeting of the Working Group on Bus Routes of the Traffic and Transport Committee of the Islands District Council), point 11.
  10. ↑ "離島區議會交通及運輸委員會會議紀錄" (Minutes of the Traffic and Transport Committee Meeting of the Islands District Council), point 10b.
  11. ↑ "39M巴士突然搬站 滿東邨百人長龍等巴士 街坊：失晒預算" (Sudden relocation of Route 39M terminus resulted in long queues at Mun Tung Estate, residents complained about the inconvenience), HK01, 29 April 2019.
  12. ↑ "東涌巴士總站2巴士相撞 至少11人傷" (At least 11 injured as 2 bus collided at Tung Chung bus terminus), on.cc, 29 August 2019.

External links[]

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