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The Toyota Coaster is a small and medium-sized bus model produced by Toyota Motor Corporation, which is now commonly found on the roads of Hong Kong. It is used by all public light bus operators in Hong Kong, as well as some tour bus, school bus and nanny van companies, and also by a number of Hong Kong government departments and mobile Chinese medicine clinics. The Kowloon Motor Bus Company and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation have also purchased this model, creating a situation of ‘dominance by a single manufacturer’, which has led to criticisms in 2016 that the Transport Department (TD)'s policy is biased in favour of an individual vehicle manufacturer.[1][2][3][4][5]
The first generation of Toyota Coaster was introduced in 1969, which was a bus body mounted on a Dyna light goods vehicle chassis, where ‘Coaster’ was derived from "a vessel sailing between coastal harbours"[6]. This generation of buses was not widely used in Hong Kong. After Mitsubishi launched the Rosa air-conditioned minibus in 1983, Toyota launched the second generation Coaster in 1982, and the Coaster with air-conditioning was introduced to Hong Kong in 1984 in a bid to gain a foothold in the Hong Kong minibus market. The air-conditioned minibus was so popular that many minibus operators switched from the popular Nissan Echo minibus, which did not have air-conditioning, to air-conditioned minibuses. After years of eliminating the weak and retaining the strong, the Toyota Coaster has successfully gained the favour of the local market with its high reliability and economical maintenance, and many Chinese bus manufacturers have copied the Toyota Coaster's body design.
In view of the worsening air pollution problem in Hong Kong, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the Transport Department (TD) jointly launched the Alternative Fuel Light Bus Trial Scheme in 2000 to study the reliability of alternative fuel light buses, with a view to phasing out the old diesel light buses and reducing the overall carbon emission. Four minibus manufacturers participated in the programme and sent a total of 15 alternative-fueled minibuses for testing, including eight Toyota Coasters, the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) version, which were the only ones to successfully enter the Hong Kong market after a series of tests, establishing its position as the ‘No. 1’ minibus in the public light bus market.[Remark 1]
Historic Toyota Coaster Public Light Buses in Hong Kong[]
(Please note that the so-called 1st to 7th generation is not a term used exclusively in the Hong Kong public light bus industry, but has been replaced by another term of convenience. Although these so-called terms are popular amongst Hong Kong transport enthusiasts, they may not make sense when spoken about by insiders. This classification can be applied to all Toyota Coasters in Hong Kong, but is generally only used when talking about public light buses or green minibuses, and is not used for Coasters used as resident buses or coaches).
1st generation (Square head, round light sign box)[]

A 1st generation minibus (DJ5447) was running on PLB Sheung Shui - Jordan Road Route (screen capture from ATV)
The first generation[Remark 2] of Toyota Coaster minibuses introduced to Hong Kong was produced between 1984 and 1987, model BB20, known in the trade as the ‘Square Head’. It featured four round headlamps, steel windows, and a small destination display (unlike the later electric one, which required the handlebars to be stirred to change the route plate).
When the minibus was first put into service, the glass window on the left side of the body near the front of the car was affixed with Chinese words "豐田冷氣‧清爽涼快" (meaning: Toyota Air Conditioning - Refreshing and Cool) and a penguin sticker to mark the installation of the original air-conditioning system on the new car, while a small-print "DIESEL" sign was affixed to the rear of the car underneath the door, and a "TOYOTA" iron sign was affixed to the ghost mask at the front of the car. The interior handrail posts are painted beige, unlike the later stainless steel handrails; the rear mirror is mounted on the emergency exit, unlike the later version which was mounted on the right hand side of the rear; and the handrail posts on the up and down doors are also lower than the later version.
This model of PLB was earlier fitted with 14 seats, but with the Government's increase in the maximum seating capacity of PLBs to 16 seats on 23 February 1988, all seats were increased to 16 seats on 23 February 1988.
This model of PLB was fully retired at the end of 2005, with the last one being DE2832 on New Territories GMB Route 68K. Only a few school buses and private coach companies continue to use it. The first generation Toyota Coaster disappeared from Hong Kong's roads in 2015 as a result of a government-funded programme to replace pre-Euro commercial vehicles.
2nd generation (Square light, small/large sign box)[]
The second-generation[Remark 2] Toyota Coaster minibus was produced from 1988 to 1993, and is known in the trade as "Sai Paai Seong" (lit. small sign box). The headlamps were four square headlamps, and the windows were made of iron window frames. When it first came into service, a sticker with Chinese words "豐田冷氣‧清爽涼快" (meaning: Toyota Air Conditioning - Refreshing and Cool) and a penguin were affixed to the glass window on the left side of the body near the front of the vehicle to mark that the new vehicle was fitted with the original air-conditioning system, a small-print "DIESEL" water plate was affixed to the bottom of the rear porthole, and a "TOYOTA" metal water plate was affixed to the ghost mask at the front of the vehicle, and the rear mirrors were installed on the rear of the vehicle, opposite to the rear window.
The second generation of minibuses came in two varieties, the 1988 model with a small destination display, a stirring handle to change the routing cloth and beige coloured handrails, and the March 1989 model with a large, easy-to-read destination display, commonly known as the "big box", an electric licence plate stirrer and stainless steel handrails, with a taller handrail on the lower door.
The early generation of this minibus was fitted with 14 seats, but with the Government's increase in the maximum seating capacity of minibuses to 16 seats on 23 February 1988, all seats were increased to 16 seats on 23 February 1988.
The second generation Toyota Coaster has now completely disappeared from Hong Kong's roads, and EC7798 was the last of the small-plate box PLBs to be retired at the end of February 2010[7]. The last red-topped, big-plate box minibus, EM512, was retired in mid-March 2011[8], and the last big-plate box green minibus, RB7626 (original registration number EK9319), which left the factory in 1990, was de-licensed in late November 2011 under Kwai Ching United Green Public Light Bus.
Most of them were was de-licensed in late November 2011. Only a small number of school buses and private coach companies continued to use it in the later years. They were all retired at the end of 2015 as a result of the government-funded programme to replace pre-Euro commercial vehicles.
3rd generation (Round lamp, bullet head, Euro I)[]
The third generation[Remark 3] Toyota Coaster minibus, model BB42R, was produced from 1993 to 1998, equipped with Toyota 14B four-cylinder Euro I engine, with the air-conditioning unit located at the front end, and a redesigned ‘bullet-head’ bodywork, with four round headlamps, and the headlamps were made of four round headlamps, and the windows were made of iron frames, hence the name ‘bullet-head with round lights’. The original rear of the car is covered with a ‘COASTER’ water plate in blue lettering. A very small number of 1998 Coasters were converted to Euro II engines, but still used the third generation bodywork rather than the fourth generation as described below, as a transition between the third and fourth generation Coasters.
The original third-generation Coaster had electric doors (with "AUTOMATIC DOOR" and "自動門" in white on the door glass windows, and electric door switches on the water-activated levers, with door buzzers sounding an alarm when the doors were opened/closed), a suede headliner and an air-conditioning dust filter located directly above the driver's seat. As the new equipment caused a lot of trouble in daily operation (the door buzzer sound would attract traffic wardens to issue a fine ticket), the plastic headliner was replaced in 1994 and the air-conditioning dust filter was located on the left side of the front of the vehicle, while the position of the original dust filter was closed. The third-generation Coaster for public and green minibuses reintroduced the use of manual levers to open and close the doors, with the white "AUTOMATIC DOOR" sticker on the door glass window, while the 16-seat standard Coaster for non-minibuses continued to be fitted with the original electric doors.
In 1997, Toyota moved the door opener to the left side of the gearbox on the new third-generation Coaster, with the intention of increasing the driver's leg room, but the design was so poorly received that the door opener was moved back to the right side of the gearbox.
The last third-generation Toyota Coaster minibus was Route 96A under Choi Lung, first registered in November 1998 as JG3977, which was de-licensed in June 2018[9]. Whilst a small number of school bus and private coach companies continue to use them, the third generation Toyota Coasters have all but disappeared from Hong Kong's roads between 2016 and 2017 (for Euro I) or 2018 (for Euro II), following the Government's subsidisation of owners to replace them with Euro I commercial vehicles.
4th generation (Turbo, square lamp, bullet head, Euro II)[]
5th generation (Euro III/Euro IV/LPG)[]
6th generation (Euro IV/Euro V/LPG)[]
7th generation (Euro V/Euro VI/LPG)[]
KMB[]
LWB[]
NLB[]
KCR Bus[]
DBTSL[]
PITCL[]
Big Bus[]
Other non-franchised bus companies[]
Remarks[]
- ↑ Its main competitor, the Mitsubishi Rosa, never released an LPG version of it.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 This model was categorised as second generation by Toyota, see description in the Toyota history website.
- ↑ This model was categorised as third generation by Toyota, see description in the Toyota history website.
Related articles[]
- Nissan Civilian
- Mitsubishi Rosa
- Vicmax Zen
- Sunlong SLK6770
- Golden Dragon XML6701J18
- GMI Gemini
- Wuzhoulong FDG6700EVG
Notes and References[]
- ↑ 運輸署不如直接改名皇冠車行市場策劃部啦 (What about renaming TD into Crown Motors Marketing Department?), Jacky Lim.
- ↑ 廈門金旅小巴更能證明豐田霸權係事實 (Golden Dragon minibuses further proved hegemony of Toyota), Jacky Lim.
- ↑ 豐田驗車唔係盡享特權真係搵鬼信 (It's unbelievable if Toyota vehicles don;t enjoy privileges in vehicle inspections), Jacky Lim.
- ↑ "議論勳云:劉國勳《19座小巴》", am730, 16 August 2017.
- ↑ 19座小巴 運吉署點樣搞到好事變壞事 (How TD turned 19-seater minibuses from good thing to a bad thing), MO's notebook 4G.
- ↑ History of Toyota on its official website
- ↑ 要影請快手, HKBF.
- ↑ [即日路過作]EM512, HKBF
- ↑ 最後三代,已經拆左車牌 (Last 3rd generation licence plate removed), hkitalk.net.
External links[]
- Toyota Motors (Hong Kong) website
- Crown Motors website
- 【屋村縱橫‧重出江湖】系列之一: 非常 Toyota Coaster (Chinese)
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