NWFB Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon

Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon (將軍澳九龍專線) was a series of non-cross harbour bus routes operated by New World First Bus (NWFB) serving Tseung Kwan O South and the Town Centre. This is the first time since the introduction of the district franchise system on 11 June 1933 that a bus company other than Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) has operated routes in Kowloon and the New Territories (non-cross-harbour and North Lantau).

Since the 2010s, NWFB has seldom mentioned the name "Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon" in its official information.

History

It had been the Government's intention to open up the franchised bus market to bring in more competitors to operate different routes. Following the introduction of open tender for bus routes on Hong Kong Island, the Airport and North Lantau, the Transport Department (TD) invited the existing franchised bus companies on 19 July 1999 to bid for the right to operate two groups of bus routes serving Tseung Kwan O South and Tin Shui Wai North NDAs respectively.

The Tseung Kwan O South group consists of seven routes and has to be operated by about 70 buses by 2002. In view of the small number of bus routes and the need to rationalise bus services following the commissioning of the MTR Tseung Kwan O Extension, the Government only invited applications from existing franchised bus companies. This was the first time that the Government invited open tenders for bus routes in Kowloon and the New Territories, rather than directly from KMB.

On the closing date of the tender on 30 August 1999, there were two bidders for the Tseung Kwan O South section. KMB, which had been operating bus services in Tseung Kwan O, only bid for the franchise for the Tin Shui Wai North route. Three months later, the Transport Department announced the tender results on 30 November, and NWFB was awarded seven routes in Tseung Kwan O South, including:

• 796 - Tiu Keng Leng to Hang Hau
• 796A - Tiu Keng Leng to Ngau Tau Kok MTR Station
• 796B - Tiu Keng Leng to Yau Yat Chuen
• 796C - Tseung Kwan O Town Centre to Lai Chi Kok
• 796M - Tseung Kwan O Town Centre to Lam Tin MTR Station
• 796X - Tseung Kwan O Tong Tak Street to Kowloon Station
• 796S - Tseung Kwan O Town Centre to Ngau Tau Kok MTR Station

The Managing Director of NWFB described this as NWFB's first step to break out of Hong Kong Island, a "construction site" where HK$200 million would be invested to build a new depot and 70 buses would be deployed from Hong Kong Island to operate seven routes at the request of TD to alleviate traffic congestion on Hong Kong Island. TD also pointed out that upon the commissioning of the MTR Tseung Kwan O Line in 2002, it would operate Route 797M to and from the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate to provide feeder services to the MTR, and that the original network would be adjusted to take into account changes in patronage after the commissioning of the railway.

Gradual commencement of Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon

Among the seven routes won by NWFB, Route 796X was the only existing route, i.e. Route 296X operated by KMB at that time. NWFB split it into two routes, namely, Route 796X to/from Hung Hom Ferry Pier and Route 705M between Hung Hom Ferry Pier and Kowloon Station at a fare of $4. Subsequently, NWFB twice proposed to introduce feeder route 705M to facilitate passengers of Route 796X travelling to Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei and Kowloon Station, but KMB objected to the proposal to the Transport Department (TD), resulting in NWFB's failure to do so.

Eventually, Route 796X commenced service on 1 February 2000, with 12m Volvo Super Olympian low-floor air-conditioned buses (50XX-51XX) deployed, and a new route, 796M, to and from Lam Tin MTR Station, with the terminus of both routes in Tseung Kwan O located at Sheung Tak (Tong Tak Street).

In order to capture the market as soon as possible before the commissioning of the MTR Tseung Kwan O Extension, NWFB applied to the Transport Department (TD) for an early launch of the remaining five new routes within 2001. NWFB's General Manager (Operations), Mr Choi Pak-wing (蔡柏榮), pointed out that the early introduction of bus routes was mainly due to the significant increase in the number of passengers in Tseung Kwan O. The patronage of the two routes, 796M and 796X, which were introduced in 2000, exceeded the projected patronage by 40%, reflecting that there was a certain level of demand for bus services in the Tseung Kwan O area.

On the other hand, the fare of Route 796C between Tseung Kwan O and Lai Chi Kok was $9 according to the tender, but the fare of KMB Route 296C between Sheung Tak and Sham Shui Po was only $7.2. NWFB had conducted an internal review and proposed to adjust the fare level by dropping the high fare approved by the tender. As a result, Route 796C was put into service on 10 September 2001 between Tseung Kwan O (Bauhinia Garden) and So Uk, and the fare was only $7.5, which was slightly more expensive than that of Route 296C.

Development afterwards

In addition to the seven routes specified in the tender, NWFB operated in Tseung Kwan O new routes 792 (2001, renumbered 792M the following year), 797M (2002), 797R (2006, discontinued), N796 (2005) and 798 (2010). Routes 796C and 796X were split into the auxiliary route 796E and express route 796P respectively. The "Tseung Kwan O - Sha Tin Express" Route 798 was also split into branch routes 798A, 798B (2015), 798P and 798X (2022).

In 2022, NWFB operated more express routes between Tseung Kwan O South and urban Kowloon. Early in the year, NWFB first introduced express routes 795P and 795X between Tseung Kwan O and Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Mei Foo via Route 5. The latter was converted to a whole-day service in the same year, replacing the express route 796C connecting Tseung Kwan O and Mong Kok when routes 796C and 796E were merged to form the new whole-day Route 793 which observed Kowloon Bay Business Area. At the end of the same year, Tseung Lam Highway was opened to traffic, and on the following day, LOHAS Express Routes 790 and 795 commenced service, passing through LOHAS Park and then onto the new road to Laguna City, and then travelling to and from Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok and Mei Foo respectively.

After years of development in Tseung Kwan O Town Centre and the southern part of Tseung Kwan O, among the seven routes commissioned by NWFB at that time, Routes 796, 796A, 796B, 796C and 796M ceased operations, while Route 796S was reduced to four trips late at night and early in the morning, and only Route 796X has been providing a whole-day service so far.

Route List

Current Routes

Following the Citybus and NWFB Franchised Bus Network Merger, all current routes are operated by Citybus.

Existing "NWFB Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon" routes
Operator	Route No.	Origin	Destination	Service Mode
Citybus	790	Oscar By The Sea	Tsim Sha Tsui (Mody Road)	Outbound service Mondays to Fridays during Morning Peak Hours ●
		Tsim Sha Tsui (Mody Road)	Oscar By The Sea	Inbound service Mondays to Fridays during Afternoon Peak Hours ●
Citybus	792M	Tseung Kwan O Station	Sai Kung	Service daily, formerly 792 ●
Citybus	793	Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate	So Uk	Service daily ●
Citybus	795	Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate	Cheung Sha Wan (Hoi Tat)	Outbound service Mondays to Fridays during Morning Peak Hours, via Tseung Lam Highway ●
		Cheung Sha Wan (Hoi Tat)	Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate	Inbound service Mondays to Fridays during Afternoon Peak Hours, via Tseung Lam Highway ●
NWFB	795R	HSR West Kowloon Station Loading and Unloading Area	→ LOHAS Park	Only during dismissal at the designated events in West Kowloon Cultural District
Citybus	795X	Oscar By The Sea	So Uk	Service daily ●
Template:CTB 796P doesn't exist!
Citybus	796R	Hong Kong Coliseum	→ LOHAS Park	Only during dismissal at the designated events at Hong Kong Coliseum
Template:CTB 796S doesn't exist!
Template:CTB 796X doesn't exist!
Template:CTB 797 doesn't exist!
Citybus	798	Tiu Keng Leng Station	Fo Tan (Chun Yeung Estate)	Service daily ●
Citybus	798A	Tseung Kwan O (Hong Sing Garden)	Sha Tin Station	Outbound service Mondays to Fridays during Morning Peak Hours ●
		Sha Tin Central	Tseung Kwan O (Hong Sing Garden)	Inbound service Mondays to Fridays during Afternoon Peak Hours ●
Template:CTB 798B doesn't exist!
Template:CTB 798P doesn't exist!
Template:CTB 798X doesn't exist!
Template:CTB N796 doesn't exist!
NWFB	R796	LOHAS Park	→ Tsim Sha Tsui (Mody Road)	Only available on Standard Chartered Marathon Race Days
Citybus	X797	Tiu Keng Leng Station	Fire and Ambulance Services Academy	Only available during the open days at Fire and Ambulance Services Academy

Ex-NWFB routes serving Tseung Kwan O South but not part of "Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon"

Ex-NWFB routes serving Tseung Kwan O South but not part of "Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon"
Operator	Route No.	Origin	Destination	Service Mode
Citybus	694	Tiu Keng Leng Station	Siu Sai Wan Estate	Service daily ●
Citybus	694S	Tiu Keng Leng Station	Siu Sai Wan Estate	Outbound service Mondays to Fridays during Morning Peak Hours ●
		Siu Sai Wan Estate	Tiu Keng Leng Station	Inbound service Mondays to Fridays during Afternoon Peak Hours ●
Template:CHT N691 doesn't exist!

Cancelled Routes

"Tseung Kwan O Routes in Kowloon" that ceased operations
Operator	Route No.	Origin	Destination	Service Mode
NWFB	792X	Hang Hau Station	HKUST	Only available during HKUST Admission Information Day
NWFB	796	Tiu Keng Leng MTR Station	Hang Hau (North) ↺	Daily service
NWFB	796A	Tiu Keng Leng MTR Station	Ngau Tau Kok MTR Station↺	Daily service
NWFB	796B	Tiu Keng Leng Station	Festival Walk (Yau Yat Chuen)	Daily service
NWFB	796C	Oscar By The Sea	So Uk	Daily service
NWFB	796E	Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate	So Uk	Monday to Friday peak hour service
NWFB	796M	Tseung Kwan O (Bauhinia Garden)	Lam Tin MTR Station↺	Daily service
NWFB	797R	Tiu Keng Leng MTR Station	Clear Water Bay	Service during swimming season holidays only
NWFB	797X	Tseung Kwan O MTR Station	Chun Yat Street	Service only on 5 January 2003
NWFB	798R	Tiu Keng Leng Station	Fo Tan (Shan Mei Street)	Service only on Lunar New Year's Eve
The following route was cancelled after the Citybus and NWFB Franchised Bus Network Merger
Citybus	797M	Tseung Kwan O Station	Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate ↺	Daily service

External Links

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