Special sight

Special sight (特見) is a bus fan term for a bus that should not (or does not often) appear on a particular route, derived from the name of the "Today's Special Sight" (今日特別所見) sub-section of the Hong Kong Bus Discussion Board.

Under the KMB and CMB dispatching systems, since each route has a scheduled bus or a scheduled order, when a scheduled bus is unavailable for service, there will be a replacement bus for that route and special sights are not often on KMB and CMB. Under the Citybus system, only a small number of vehicles (e.g. full-bodied advertising buses or alternative energy test vehicles) are designated to run on a particular route due to advertisers' requirements, monitoring performance, etc. Most of the routes have only designated vehicle models but no designated vehicles.

Types of special sights

The following photo examples have photo descriptions. Readers of this entry who are using a PC can view the explanations of the photo examples by placing their mouse over the examples (users of the mobile version should view the explanations of the photo examples in the photo description section after enlarging the photos).

Terminology (Chinese/English)	Content	Example(s)
Special deployment 用車特見/用車特	Refers to the deployment of buses other than scheduled buses or fixed bus deployments on routes using the fixed scheduling system (e.g. most KMB routes)
Special model 車型特見/車型特	Refers to the deployment of a model unusual on the route, used commonly on the similar special sights of Citybus.
Special advertisements 全廣特	Refers to the buses with full-body advertisements being deployed to routes other than their scheduled routes. This is considered out of the ordinary because advertisers sometimes contractually mandate the operation of the bus bearing a particular advert in a specific region of the country. Some bus fans specialise in these special sights, which can sometimes draw a large number of bus fans.
Cross-depot special 跨廠特	Refers to the depot of the replacement bus, not the depot of the route. As the depot emblems of LWB and Citybus are for operational management purposes only, "cross-depot specials" of the two bus companies are usually not counted, except for Citybus Siu Ho Wan Depot (T) franchised routes serving Hong Kong Island (except for the 629 series), and cross-harbour bus routes between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon or Tseung Kwan O (as two different franchises are involved). In addition, the presence of special bus models or retiring buses will attract a large number of bus fans to take photos.
Cross-company special 跨公司特	Refers to the replacement bus coming from other company. As Citybus' bus supply was very tight in the late 1990s, such special sights occurred when there was a sudden surge in patronage on certain routes, including Volvo Olympian and Leyland Olympian, which used KCR Buses on Route 629. As for LWB, it has borrowed KMB's vehicles temporarily on a number of occasions to operate its routes when there is a shortage of buses. In addition, from 23 April 2019 onwards, due to the maintenance of the Peak Tram, NWFB needed to increase the frequency of its bus services to and from the Peak, resulting in a significant increase in NWFB's demand for shorter buses, and therefore it has borrowed Enviro400s from Citybus to operate routes 9 and 14, so as to free up Enviro400 Euro Vs for Peak routes; from 7 December 2022 onwards, due to the shortage of single-decker electric buses for Citybus Route 22X, it was be necessary to borrow the same type of single-decker electric buses from NWFB until the Citybus and NWFB Franchised Bus Network Merger.
Special livery / Irochigai 色違	Refers to the replacement bus coming from another operation department. Due to the 2023 Citybus and NWFB Franchised Bus Network Merger, Citybus set up a new Operations Department to take charge of the original NWFB routes. The dispatching arrangement remained unchanged, and both the original and new paintwork remained different from the existing paintwork of Citybus, thus making it easier to identify the vehicles. However, routes operated by Citybus Wong Chuk Hang Depot (mainly Southern District routes) are not normally counted as they were shared by the two bus companies before the merger.
Very special sight / ultra special sight 激特/超激特	Refers to a particularly rare special sight with rarity usually being subjective.
"Demolition" 拆樓	Refers to the deployment of single-decker buses on routes not generally scheduled to use them; this is usually considered a very special sight.
"Raising the roof" 起樓	Refers to the deployment of double-decker buses on routes with no double-decker bus deployments. This may not be an ultra special sight as opposed to the former.
"Losing an axle" 拆轆	Refers to the deployment of two-axle double-decker buses on routes with regular tri-axle bus deployments.
Downgrading service 降級服務	Refers to the appearance of normal buses on Cityflyer routes, LWB A/NA routes, KMB First Class Service, HK City Sightseeing and KMB Route HK1 usually served by luxury buses.
Restriction breaking 破禁	This refers to the deployment of buses that contravene vehicle restrictions for any reason, such as dispatching a 12.8-metre bus on a route where only 12-metre buses are permitted, due to operational adjustments or exceptional circumstances.

Special sights difficult to be proven with photos

The following types of special sights are difficult to verify solely through photographs as being either a temporary operational regulation or overtiming. Photographers or other bus fans will typically supplement such images with relevant operational details, such as the departure time and the bus's running order.

• Special sights caused by changes in running orders (Running order special): Refers to the practice of deploying vehicles assigned to other route designations on a particular route operating under a vehicle scheduling system (such as most KMB routes) or with fixed dispatching arrangements. For example, using vehicles designated for the main route designation on a branch route designation.
• Diverted shifts: Refers to the practice of temporarily diverting buses from other routes to cover for service disruptions, vehicle breakdowns, or sudden surges in passenger numbers on a particular route. Buses deployed in this manner typically complete one or two trips before returning to their original service.
• Overtiming: A bus on a long-haul route, having not yet arrived at its scheduled departure time for the next journey but also not yet due for the departure time of the subsequent transfer, is therefore assigned to operate one or two trips on another short-distance route before returning to its original route.
• Hot dogs replacing air-conditioned services: Running orders of air-conditioned services being replaced by non-air-conditioned buses. Where a route is normally fully air-conditioned but operated by non-air-conditioned buses, this typically constitutes a very special sight, which can be clearly documented with photographic evidence. For example, the Leyland Victory II (G) operating on Route 234A in 1997.
• Air-conditioned buses replacing hot dog services: Running orders of non-air-conditioned services being replaced by air-conditioned buses. Where a route is normally fully non-air-conditioned but operated by air-conditioned buses, this typically constitutes a very special sight, which can be clearly documented with photographic evidence. For example, AL44/EX5154 operating on Route 83P.

Related articles

• Running order system
• Scheduled system
• Order
• Vehicle-hopping