The New Territories Residents' Bus Route NR331S is operated by Sun Bus (Passenger Service Licence (PSL) No. 8675A) under commission by Ma Wan Rural Committee. It runs between Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) and MTR Tsuen Wan West Station, passing through Ma Wan Main Street Village, Tin Liu New Village and MTR Tsuen Wan Station
As a special departure of Route NR331, Route NR331S mainly facilitates the villagers of Ma Wan Village to travel to Tsuen Wan West, and at the same time carries tourists travelling to Noah's Ark and Ma Wan Park. Among the many Ma Wan residents' bus routes, only NR331 and NR331S are permitted to use double-decker buses, and was the only set of residents' bus routes using a mix of high-floor coaches and double-decker buses, however the use of coach buses is just a special sight currently.
This route is officially a circular route as listed in the according to Transport Department's Schedule of Services, but under any circumstances, all passengers must alight after the vehicle has arrived at MTR Tsuen Wan West Station, therefore it belongs to a fake circular route.
History[]
Commencing background[]
In early 2012, Park Island Transport Company Limited (PITCL) proposed to replace the loss-making ferry service to and from Tsuen Wan with an additional bus service. [1]
The cessation of the ferry service became a cause of dissatisfaction amongst the residents of Park Island, who were concerned that after the cessation of the ferry service, residents with pets and bicycles would not be able to take buses, and these residents could only take the ferry service to and from Central when they went out, which was very inconvenient. [2] Some residents even criticised Perk's long-term monopoly of the island's public transport services, with the fares of ferry and bus services increasing by more than two and three times respectively from 2005 to 2012. [3] The Owners' Committee of Park Island even passed a motion to stop supporting the continuation of PITCL's operation of bus routes for residents on the island, and proposed the introduction of franchised bus services; PITCL proposed three options for the co-existence of bus and ferry services in order to appease the residents' anger in September. [4]
PITCL finally decided to permanently cancel the ferry service between Park Island and Tsuen Wan on 14 December 2012, and enhance the service of Route NR331, with the Transport Department granting approval for urban taxis to travel to and from Ma Wan 24 hours a day. [5]
PITCL and the Ma Wan Rural Committee then applied for a bus route to and from Tsuen Wan West, while Tai Fung Coach, together with the Ma Wan Community Association, also applied for the right to operate such a route. The Transport Department eventually approved the proposals of Rural Committee and PITCL, and adjusted the transport arrangements on 8 June 2013, including resumption of the ferry service between Tsuen Wan and Tsuen Wan with three trips each day during non-peak hours, and the introduction of the New Residents' Bus Route NR331S[6]. As with Route NR331, the operator is required to pay an administrative fee of $60,000 per month to the Ma Wan Rural Committee for the 2019-2022 tender requirements. [7]
Service changes[]
- 8 June 2013: Route NR331S commenced service between Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) and MTR Tsuen Wan West Station, operating as a circular route and as a special departure of Route NR331 under the establishment of Transport Department.
- 15 October 2016: The last bus time was delayed from 22:15 to 23:15 from Ma Wan and from 22:40 to 23:40 from Tsuen Wan, and the headways at some time slots were increased.
- 1 November 2016: "Intra-island Bus Service Interchange Discount for Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities" was introduced. A $2.0 section fare for this route on Ma Wan Island is waived when connecting from Routes NR330, NR332 and NR334 to this route or Route NR331S between 10:00-00:50.[8]
- 15 December 2019: Park Island Transport gave up operations and was taken over by Sun Bus after tender. At the same time, the fare was also increased.[9]
- 5 January 2020: Due to the improvement of the pedestrian crossing island at the junction of Pak Lam Road and Ma Wan Rural Committee Road, the route was diverted towards Tsuen Wan MTR Station and would stop at stations along the way towards Ma Wan.[10]
- 1 February 2021: Resident Octopus fare was reduced from $9.4 to $9.0.[11]
- 1 March 2021: New interchange concessions with 41 KMB routes was introduced.[12]
- 1 September 2022: Improvement works to the pedestrian crossing island at the junction of Pak Lam Road and Ma Wan Rural Committee Road was completed and the pre-5 January 2020 routing, i.e. clockwise via Fong Yuen Road, Ma Wan Rural Committee Road and Pak Lam Road, were reinstated towards Tsuen Wan.[13]
Service Hours and Headways[]
The latest update is on 12/2019, please refer to the link below for the official route information.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detailed Timetable |
|---|
|
Residents' Bus Route NR331S/Detailed Timetable |
- This route provides Estimated Time of Arrival Enquiry System via KMB & LW Smartphone App (APP 1933).
Fares[]
| Fares | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident[14] | Visitor | ||
| Full Fare | $9.4 | $14.3 | |
| Fare Remarks |
|---|
|
| Historical Fares | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Interchange Concession Schemes[]
Template:KMB and Sun Bus Interchange Discount Scheme
Bus Deployments[]
The regular buses used on this route and are Wrightbus Streetdeck originally from KMB's orders and second-handed Volvo B7RLE. Some high-floor coaches may occasionally be deployed to support passenger demand.
| List of Buses on Routes NR331 and NR331S | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Plate No. | Model | Company before selling off | Remarks |
| PF2531 | Volvo B7RLE | KMB | Single-decker buses |
| PF3320 | |||
| RD7861 | |||
| RD7996 | |||
| XD8994 | Wrightbus StreetDeck | KMB[15] | Double-decker buses |
| XH3328 | |||
| XH7857 | |||
| XS1685 | |||
| XS2022 | |||
This section was last updated on 7/2024202407
Bus deployment evolution history[]
When Sun Bus took over this route, it was operated by four single-deck buses, two of which were second-hand buses purchased from the Huang Bus; another two were MAN RR8 and Volvo B7R coaches respectively, in which the MAN RR8 coach was then replaced by 3 Daewoo BH117L coaches. In January 2020, three second-handed Dennis Trident 12m double-decker low-floor buses from KMB were added to the fleet.
At the end of March 2020, two more MAN NL323s from Lok Ma Chau-Huanggang Shuttle were added to replace the existing high-floor buses.
In August 2020, two more MAN NL323s from Lok Ma Chau-Huanggang Shuttle were added to replace the existing low-floor buses on this route group.[16]
In view of the non-renewal of Euro III diesel commercial vehicle licences on or after 1 July 2020, the Dennis Trident buses for this route were retired by the end of December 2020. Thereafter, only single-deck buses would run on two routes for about three months until the inaugural service of the Wrightbus StreetDeck buses on Route NR331S originally intended for KMB, on the afternoon of 24 March 2021.[17]
In September 2023, after KMB invited tenders for the sale of eight Volvo B7RLEs, there were rumours that the buses would be transferred to Sun Bus for service, but these were never confirmed. In late March 2024, the first cross-grade bus, RD7861 (ex-AVC41), was found at the Ma Wan depot. The original KMB logo was removed and replaced by a non-franchised bus licence with the Passenger Service Licence Certificate of Sun Bus (Passenger Service Licence no. 8675A) and a Passenger Service Licence plate at the rear of the bus, commonly known as the "Red and Green Licences", as well as a $2 concessionary fare sticker for the elderly at the front of the bus. The vehicle, which was spotted on a trial run at Ma Wan on 30 March, will be used on route NR332A to provide low-floor bus service for the Park Island Transport during the transition to single-decker buses. The bus first carried passengers on Route NR331 in the evening of 31 March and made its maiden trip on route NR332A in the morning of 2 April.
Routing[]
To MTR Tsuen Wan West Station[]
Via: Pak Yan Road, Pak Lai Road, Fong Yuen Road, Ma Wan Heung Sze Wui Road, Pak Lam Road, Ma Wan Road, Lantau Link, Tsing Yi North Coastal Road, Tsing Tsuen Road, Texaco Road, Texaco Road North, Tsuen Kam Interchange, Tai Ho Road North and Tai Ho Road
| Residents' Bus Route NR331S (Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) → MTR Tsuen Wan West Station) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Area | Road | Bus stop name | Remarks |
| 1 | Ma Wan | Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) | near Noah's Ark | |
| 2 | Ma Wan Rural Committee Road | Ma Wan Rural Committee Road (South) | ||
| 3 | Ma Wan Rural Committee Road (North) | |||
| 4 | Pak Lam Road | Kei Wai Primary School | ||
 Tsing Ma Bridge; Tsing Yi North Coastal Road, Tsing Tsuen Road, Texaco Road North
| ||||
| 5 | Sai Lau Kok | Tai Ho Road North | Tsuen Wan Station  |
Alighting only |
| 6 | Tsuen Wan West | Tai Ho Road | MTR Tsuen Wan West Station |
Outside Nina Tower Bus Terminus |
to Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road)[]
Via: Sai Lau Kok Road, Tai Ho Road, Castle Peak Road - Tsuen Wan, Castle Peak Road - Kwai Chung, Kwok Shui Road, Texaco Road, Tsing Tsuen Road, Tsing Yi North Coastal Road, Lantau Link, Ma Wan Road, Ma Wan Road, Pak Lam Road, Ma Wan Rural Committee Road, Fong Yuen Road, Pak Lai Road and Pak Yan Road
| Residents' Bus Route NR331S (MTR Tsuen Wan West Station → Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road)) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Area | Road | Bus stop name | Remarks |
| 1 | Tsuen Wan West | Tai Ho Road | MTR Tsuen Wan West Station |
Outside Nina Tower Bus Terminus |
| 2 | Sai Lau Kok | Tai Ho Road North | Tsuen Wan Station |
|
| Texaco Road North, Tsing Tsuen Road, Tsing Yi North Coastal Road; Tsing Ma Bridge
| ||||
| 3 | Ma Wan | Pak Lam Road | Kei Wai Primary School | |
| 4 | Tin Liu New Village | |||
| 5 | Ma Wan Rural Committee Road | Ma Wan Rural Committee Road (South) | Alighting Only | |
| 6 | Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) | near Noah's Ark | ||
Ridership[]
Route NR331S is in high demand as it facilitates Ma Wan residents to travel to the MTR Tsuen Wan West Station to interchange with franchised buses or railways, or to travel to the neighbouring shopping malls and Yeung Uk Road Market to meet their daily needs. The buses were already operating with full passengers during the operation of the Park Island Transport, and double-decker buses were deployed to serve the route after Sun Bus took over the operations.
According to the related documents, this route, together with the other residents' bus routes in Ma Wan (NR330, NR332, NR334 and NR338), had an average daily ridership of 23,000 in 2013, with an overall average occupancy rate of about 80%. In addition, this route and NR332 are the two most popular bus routes serving Ma Wan.[18]
Controversies[]
Omitting Park Island Bus Terminus[]
The Ma Wan Rural Committee applied for this route, and the Owners' Committee of Park Island requested that the route be diverted to pass through the Park Island Bus Terminus, which was rejected by the Rural Committee. [19] Even so, the Rural Committee refused the request of the PITCL to change the route to its own route or even to a franchised bus service, but the Transport Department refused to do so. As a result, the Owners' Committee complained to the Office of the Ombudsman and the Competition Commission at one point;[20] and proposed to PITCL to operate a brand new bus route to/from Tsuen Wan West, which would be linked to the fare adjustment proposal at the owners' meeting. In November 2019, PITCL issued a letter to this effect, criticising the Owners' Committee's approach as inappropriate. [21]
Operator required to pay route admission fee to Rural Committee[]
In late November 2018, the Ma Wan Rural Committee posted a notice to invite tenders for the operation contract of this route and Route NR331 from 2019 to 2022, and the tender would be closed on 31 January 2019. It was stated on the front page of the tender document that "an administration fee of not less than HK$60,000 per month shall be paid to the Ma Wan Rural Committee for the duration of the contract", and a form is provided for the contractor to fill in the amount of the administration fee. The chairman of the Ma Wan Rural Committee, Mr. Chan Chung Yip (陳祟業), said that the administration fee is used by the rural committee to sponsor or organise a series of activities for the residents, including the Tin Hau Festival and elderly banquets, etc., which benefit the local residents. He also stressed that apart from the amount of administrative fee, he would also consider the operator's response to the closure of the Tsing Ma Bridge and the concessions offered to residents. Mr Lun Chi-wai (倫智偉), a member of the Park Island Owners' Committee, said that the residents of Park Island have also applied for a number of residents' bus routes for the entire Ma Wan area, including residents of neighbouring villages, but have not asked for an administration fee. A spokesman for the Park Island Transport Company Limited said he had no comment on the content of the tender. Labour Party organiser Chiu Yan Loy (趙恩來) pointed out that the fares were in the public interest but the Transport Department should follow up on the issue.[22]
Related Incidents[]
Traffic accidents[]
- 17 January 2015: A PITCL Dennis Dart (116/LU2001) struck a man driving a bicycle in Ma Wan (Pak Yan Road) at about 4:00 p.m. He was taken to hospital where his death was delayed until the 20th. [23]
- 27 September 2020: A Sun Bus Dennis Trident (KU6395) collided with a Volvo B8L (V6B93/WG7574) travelling on route 234A on Tai Ho Road, causing minor damage to both vehicles.[24]
Other incidents[]
- 4 February 2023: According to an announcement made by the Ma Wan Rural Committee, due to an emergency glass repair required for a low-floor bus on that day, four trips of this route were reassigned to Sun Bus's 65-seater coaches on that day without any fare required.[25]
Gallery[]
.JPG "KU5428@NR331S(0106).JPG (3.13 MB)")
.JPG "XD8994@NR331S(0325).JPG (4.91 MB)")
Remarks[]
Related Articles[]
References[]
- ↑ "馬灣至荃灣渡輪停辦 研以車代船" (Ferry between Ma Wan and Tsuen Wan to discontinue, planning to be replaced by bus), Oriental Daily News, 4 March 2012.
- ↑ "珀麗灣業主遊行 不滿停辦渡輪" (Park Island Owners' Committee protested against cessation of ferry service), Headline Daily, 25 June 2012.
- ↑ "交通被壟斷 市民負擔重 抗議新鴻基過橋抽板" (Transport monopolised, residents' burden increased: Strongly against SHKP pulling away planks), Civic Party, 12 July 2012.
- ↑ "馬灣的交通服務" (Transport Services on Ma Wan), Tsuen Wan District Council Paper No. 51/12-13, September 2012
- ↑ "渡輪停辦 的士准入馬灣" (Ferry service ceased, taxis allowed to enter Ma Wan), Oriental Daily News, 8 December 2012.
- ↑ Transport Department HKSARG, "Transport Arrangements for Ma Wan" [Traffic Notice], 3 June 201.
- ↑ "【居民巴士系列】營辦商月付六萬元予鄉委會 馬灣人擔心轉嫁乘客" ([Residents' Bus Series] Operator pays $60,000 a month to the Rural Committee and Ma Wan people are worried about passing it on to passengers), HK01, 29 January 2019.
- ↑ Park Island Transport Company Limited, "Interchange Fare Concession of Bus service for the Elderly and Eligible People with Disabilities" [Notice]
- ↑ Notice from Ma Wan Rural Committee, 3 Dec 2019. (Chinese only)
- ↑ Sun Bus Holdings Ltd., "Temporary Route Diversion & Bus Stops Relocation of NR331 /NR331S (Tsuen Wan bound)" (Archived notice screencap link: https://www.hkitalk.net/HKiTalk2/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1157688&highlight=NR331).
- ↑ "[服務調整] NR331/S 減價消息" ([Service Adjustment] NR331/S Fare Reduction), hkitalk.net.
- ↑ The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited, "KMB Expands Interchange Scheme Covering Ma Wan for the first time" [News Release], 25 February 2021.
- ↑ Sun Bus Related post from Sun Bus' Facebook page, 31 August 2022.
- ↑ Resident Fare is only applicable to residents whose status has been recognised and who pay the fare with a registered Octopus
- ↑ The original order was owned by KMB but was later changed to be owned by Sun Bus and was not ever served in KMB fleet
- ↑ "三部馬灣新力軍為各位服務🚍🚍🚍" ("3 more new Ma Wan buses to serve you all 🚍🚍🚍"), "Sun Bus 陽光巴士" Facebook page, 28 Aug 2020.
- ↑ 【是日巴士焦點 📸 ——【☀️陽光 首部 StreetDeck 今日首航🔴🚍】 ([Today's Bus Focus - [First Sun Bus Wrightbus Streetdeck enters service today]), "縱橫巴士綫．BusLanes" facebook page.
- ↑ Public Transport Services for Ma Wan Residents, Official Record of Proceedings of the Legislative Council, 28 May 2014.
- ↑ 珀麗灣客運交通重組方案 (PITCL transport reorganisation plan), hkitalk.net.
- ↑ "〈不滿珀麗灣巴士服務轉手後變差 居民求助" (Residents of Park Island asked for help after dissatisfaction after bus services changed hands), on.cc, 20 June 2016.
- ↑ Park Island Transport Company Limited, "有關：車費調整及通宵班次路線重組方案" (Re: Fare Adjustment and Overnight Departure Route Reorganisation Proposal), 25 November 2019.
- ↑ "【居民巴士系列】營辦商月付六萬元予鄉委會 馬灣人擔心轉嫁乘客" ([Residents' Bus Series] Operator pays $60,000 a month to the Rural Committee and Ma Wan people are worried about passing it on to passengers), HK01, 29 January 2019.
- ↑ "好爸捱車撞腦幹亡 妻女忍痛拔喉" (Good dad hit by bus and declared brain dead; wife and daughter pulled throat in pain), Oriental Daily News, 21 January 2015
- ↑ 九巴B8l同陽光躉擦撞意外 (Minor collision involving a KMB B8L and Sun Bus Trident), hkitalk.net.
- ↑ [臨時改動] 陽光巴士NR331S部份班次免費 ([Temporary change] Free of charge for partial trips of Sun Bus Route NR331S), hkitalk.net
External Links[]
Websites[]
- Official Route Information of Sun Bus: NR331S (PDF version route sheet)
- Official Route Information of Transport Department: NR331 and NR331S (effective 25 September 2022)
Past route information[]
- Transport Department's Schedule of Services
- Effective 2020-01
- Effective 2019-12
- Effective 2018-09
- Effective 2017-07-01
- Effective 2017-02
- Effective 2015-08
- Effective 2014-07
- Route sheets
| Residents' bus routes serving residential housings in Tsuen Wan District (shown below are destination districts) | |
|---|---|
| Hong Kong Island | |
| Kowloon | <Kowloon City District> NR322 <Kwun Tong District> NR35 • NR342 |
| New Territories | |
| Intra-district routes | <Sham Tseng and Tsing Lung Tau> NR319 • NR329 • NR336 • NR339 • NR340 • NR343 <Ma Wan> NR331 • NR331S <Tsuen Wan West> NR323 • NR326 • NR327 • NR328 • NR337 <Yau Kom Tau> NR320 • NR324 <Tso Kung Tam> NR333 • NR335 |
| Remark: (#) MTR Sunny Bay Station, Penny's Bay (Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Bus Terminus) and Ma Wan are all located in Tsuen Wan District, please refer to the District Council Constituency boundary map. | |