城巴 Citybus

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作為本港第二大專營巴士公司，城巴是建基於成立於一九七七年，由一群來自巴士、渡輪及電車的專業人士組成的交通運輪顧問服務公司，Passenger Transportation (Asia) Limited (PTS)，其中一位始創成員便是本地巴士迷尊稱為「阿爺」的李日新先生，李日新先生自一九七零年開始任職中巴交通經理，直到至一九八二年四月成為城巴董事總經理為止。PTS其中一個計劃是自行經營以一隊小型巴士營運的合約出租服務，並以城巴 (City Buses)作為公司名稱。

城巴首位客戶為香港聯合船塢，以一架曾用作樣板車的二手艾沙富豪B55前置引擎雙層巴士，自一九七九年開始為該公司提供員工接送服務，同時間城巴成為本港首家非專利巴士使用雙層巴士營運的公司。隨著業務擴展需要，城巴再從英國購入六架二手丹拿Fleetline巴士，當中兩架可以利用適當器材吊起上層車頂後，搖身一變成為開蓬巴士，開創本地巴士服務先河，由於相關開蓬巴士租貸服務大受歡迎，城巴索性全數六架Fleetline巴士改作開蓬巴士以滿足需求。礙於資金所限，城巴在擴展車隊時需要繼續從英國引進二手巴士，車款依舊以Fleetline為主，當中大部份是屬於由倫敦運輸局淘汰，車齡相對較短的DMS型號。

在營運兩個年頭之後，城巴英文名稱簡化成「Citybus」並沿用至今，同一時間城巴眼見位處香港仔的海洋公園對外交通服務不足，於是主動向園方提出開辦接駁海洋公園至金鐘及中環的專線巴士服務。自該服務開辦以來均受到前往海洋公園遊客所歡迎，並且成為城巴其中一條皇牌路線。另一邊廂，於同年落成入伙的大型私人屋苑沙田第一城，入伙初期同樣面對外交通服務不足的問題，於是屋苑邀請城巴開辦接駁九龍塘地鐵站的屋邨巴士服務602線，亦即日後家傳戶曉的62R，同時城巴透過此線涉足屋邨巴士服務。

在本地市場站穩陣腳之後，城巴有感隨著內地改革開放，本港與內地交往會日益頻繁，對往返兩地的過境交通需求將有所增加，於是自八十年代初開始與深圳當局洽談開辦往返港深兩地的過境巴士服務。經過漫長的談判過程，城巴於一九八五年元旦開辦有關過境巴士業務，隨後進一步擴展過境巴士服務版圖至東莞以及廣州。城巴營運跨境巴士服務初期以丹拿Fleetline DMS作主力，但在稍後時間便加入車隊首架雙層空調巴士，編號C51(DE4281)的三軸版利蘭奧林比安十二米客車。由於當年雙層空調巴士發展尚未成熟，故此除了增購同型三軸版奧林比安客車，城巴亦有加入其他英國二手巴士行走過境路線，直到一九八九年才逐漸以新一代奧林比安空調客車作為過境路線主力。到了一九九六年城巴更為過境路線加入全新的富豪B12雙層客車，除了全面提升自家服務水平，同時令到競爭對手爭相仿傚，引進歐洲製造客車，當中最大得益者莫過於一眾過境旅客。

自從經歷北海集團於一九八七年收購並成為最大股東後，城巴得以憑藉強大資本進行投資，更新車隊取代原有的二手巴士，透過一支年輕化車隊向大眾建立一個優質服務的鮮明形象，劍指專利巴士市場就是城巴下一個擴展業務目標。一九八九年十一月下旬，中巴勞資雙方就退休金問題談判破裂引發的罷工事件，嚴重影響整個港島區，尤其香港仔鴨脷洲一帶的公共交通服務。當時城巴透過開辦往返鴨脷洲的緊急駁路線疏導市民，隨後更正式在港島南區開辦屋邨巴士服務，全線採用空調巴士行走並深得居民歡迎。一九九零年十二月，北海集團從英國Ensignbus手上購入位於Dagenham的廠房及八十七輛巴士，並於稍後時間易名為首都城巴，從而打進英國首都巴士服務市場，有趣的是早年城巴曾經向Ensignbus購買來自倫敦運輸局的二手DMS巴士。最終首都城巴被公司管理層於五年後購入，隨後於一九九八年七月被第一集團收購，並於獨立營運一段時間後併入後者旗下的第一倫敦巴士公司。

經過中巴罷工事件加上其服務質素每況愈下，政府決定嘗試透過引入新經營者進行良性競爭，以改善港島區巴士服務質素，最終於一九九一年四月招標承投早年中巴取消的12A線。早於一九八九年，城巴已經向相關區議會及政府部門申請復辦12A線，在充足準備下城巴輕易擊敗其餘四位對手，於一九九一年九月十一日重新營辦12A線，並成為本港第四間專利巴士公司。當年城巴營運策略是利用全新空調雙層巴士，向乘客提供高質素巴士服務，隨著12A營運成功，城巴得到長江集團垂青，替其位於天水圍的大型屋苑嘉湖山莊提供屋邨巴士服務，成為城巴業務中的另一營運重心。基於中巴服務質素未有顯著改善，政府於一九九二年六月決定在其營運絡中選出二十八條路線作公開競投，最終經過三個多月投標程序，城巴擊敗來自英國的捷達巴士奪得相關路線專營權。城巴在投得專營權後隨即開展一連串準備功夫，包括訂購所需巴士及招聘相關人手，並將整個全新營運網絡包裝成「26新里程」。中巴專營權在兩年之後屆滿時雖然仍然獲得當局延長多三年時，再度遭削減十四條路線，並直接轉交城巴經營。於港島區市場站穩陣腳之後，城巴積極擴展營運網絡，藉著政府於一九九六年替新機場及東涌新市鎮路線公開招標時，競投相關路線並成功奪取連接港島及九龍市區路線。同年城巴亦響應政府傷健共融政策，從富豪車廠引進兩架B6LE超低地台單層巴士，成為本港首家提供低地台巴士服務的專利巴士公司。受惠於北海集團於一九九六年分拆出城巴集團有限公司於本地證券市場上市，得以籌集更多資金作發展用途。

北海集團受到一九九七年金融風暴影響，需要出售手上資產套現，當中香港中旅國際投資有限公司購入部份股份，令城巴因緣際會於中國開展業務，透過與北京市電車公司合作成立北京電車城巴客運有限公司，於同年十月下旬投入服務，相關合作一直維持到二零零四年年中為止。城巴於一九九八年三月二十四日宣佈最後一架利蘭Atlantean AN68巴士退役，標誌著城巴成為首間提供全空調巴士服務的專利巴士公司。到了同年七月六日，位於赤鱲角的新機場正式啟用，「城巴機場快線」亦於同日投入運作，其高規格車隊配置對每位使用過的旅客定必留下良好印象。隨著中巴專營權於一九九八年八月三十一日屆滿，城巴再從其手上接管十二條路線，同時開始了與新巴於港島區交鋒的日子。早年曾競投中巴路線的捷達巴士於一九九九年二月開始入股城巴，並於一個月後成為最大股東，隨後於同年七月將城巴私有化，從本地股票市場中除牌。新巴背後的第一集團為捷達巴士於英國的主要競爭對手，故此兩巴為了擴大市場佔有率，積極開拓路線及加開班次爭取乘客。隨著運輸當局加強規管之後，相關競爭引起的亂局才告平息。另外，由於競爭日趨激烈導致經營環境變得無利可圖，城巴最終於二零零一年三月二十六日停止營運中港過境巴士服務。

隨著政府以鐵路為主導的運輸政策，令到本港巴士營運前景變得不明朗，捷達巴士於二零零三年六月向周大福企業有限公司出售城巴。基於周大福集團乃新世界發展的大股東，故此城巴跟新巴便由競爭對手關係變成了姊妹公司。新世界發展在前一年的集團架構重組後，易名為新創建集團有限公司，而新創建與周大福集團成立及擁有相同股權的Merryhill Group Limited，亦於二零零四年三月九日成立，從此新巴及城巴同為該公司轄下的公共交通營運機構，到了同年十二月十四日，Merryhill Group Limited更改名稱為新創建交通服務有限公司。兩巴在成為新創建交通旗下成員之後，先透過路線重組使資源得以更有效運用，而自此之後在洽購新車時亦會採用同一車廂配置規格。到了二零一六年十二月，新創建從周大福手上收購其餘股份，自此便全資擁有新創建交通服務有限公司。隨著本港公共交通系統日益完善，昔日為城巴重要業務的居民巴士服務亦逐一完成其歷史使命，當中嘉湖山莊路線於二零零六年八月全數交由冠忠集團營運，而沙田第一城方面，最終只剩下61R及88R兩條路線行走。另一方面，城巴成功競投往返屯門及深圳灣口岸的路線，並於二零零七年七月一日香港回歸中國十週年的日子投入服務，隨後更發展出不同分支路線，成為繼機場路線後又一主要收入來源。

成為新創建集團成員之後，城巴先於二零一四年首先試用來自英國亞歷山大丹尼士的混合動力雙層巴士E50H，其後再透過環境保護處提供的資助購入六架分別來自中國的電動單層巴士作試驗。早於二零零一年還是捷達巴士公司主政的時代，城巴便透過改裝一架丹尼士巨龍十點四米雙層巴士，探討引進雙層無軌電車的可能性，只可惜最終計劃未有得到當局的祝福而失敗收場。二零一八年十月二十四日，城巴口岸路線再添一員，隨著港珠澳大橋通車，連接欣澳站的B5投入服務，加上四條城巴機場快線A11，A21，A22及A29一併為口岸旅客提供接駁服務，進一步增加城巴相關業務收入。城巴於二零一八年四月投得啟德發展區路線專營權，當中首條路線20於同年十月二十八日投入服務，成為城巴首條九龍市區專營路線。為隆重其事，行走20線的車輛更於營運首日，加設模仿當年「26新里程」的「Kai Tak 20新里程」特別路線牌顯示。

新創建集團於二零二零年八月二十一日公布，出售新巴及城巴業務予以Templewater Bravo Holdings Limited、漢思能源及Ascendal Group Limited的合營企業Bravo Transport Holdings Limited，當中Ascendal Group Limited持有的附屬公司亦曾經於英國倫敦及新加坡營運巴士業務。上述股權轉讓於同年十月十五日完成，同時Bravo Transport Holdings Limited改稱為Bravo Transport Services Limited，中文名稱為匯達交通服務有限公司。匯達交通接手新巴及城巴時，正值香港新冠肺炎疫情肆虐，經濟活動大受影響致乘客量大跌，為了改善營運情況以面對持續嚴峻經營情況，在得到行政長官會同行政會議批准後，新巴將於二零二三年七月一日於其專營權完結後合併入全新的城巴(市區及新界巴士網絡專營權)，意味著整個港島區巴士服務面貌將重回一九九三年之前，只有一間專利巴士公司為市民提供服務。

二零二一年十月，城巴引進全港首架純電動雙層巴士威馳騰WSD6121BR1EV，並隨於翌年二月作首次登記，並於六月十九日投入5B路線作試驗。在首架電動雙層巴士投入服務後兩日，新創建集團再從威馳騰引進一架WSD6121BR3FCEV氫燃料電池雙層巴士作公開介紹，但隨後未有留港開展測試而運往澳洲作示範行駛，再運返內地作技術評估。最終於二零二三年五月三日，氫能巴士目獲得特區政府原則上同意，待有關配套如加氫站落成後，氫燃料電池雙層巴士將可開展載客測試。時至今日隨著新冠疫情放緩，社會狀況逐步復常及香港恢復對外開放，同時隨著香園圍陸路口岸開放予陸路放客使用，早年城巴投得的「蓮塘快線」B7及B8亦正式投入服務，對其經營環境及業務發展相信都有正面作用。

The second largest franchised bus operator in Hong Kong, the Citybus (CTB) was first formed in 1977 as a transport consultancy services named as Passenger Transportation (Asia) Limited (PTS) by a team of highly professional bus, ferry and tram experts and one of the founder was Mr Lyndon Rees. Mr Lyndon was the Transport Manager of China Motor Bus between 1970 and 1982 before as the Managing Director of CTB. One of the PTS's vision was running contract service with a fleet of minibuses with "City Buses" as trading name.

The very first service operated by City Buses was providing shuttle service for the Hong Kong United Dockyard in Hung Hom with a second-hand Alisa Volvo B55 demonstrator since Aug., 1979 and City Buses was the first private bus operators running double deckers in Hong Kong. Further purchased of second-hand buses to meet the business expansions was made and a fleet of 6 Daimler Fleetline was introduced. Two of the batch featured with a convertible bodywork by MCW that had detachable roofs and could be operated as open top which was first in Hong Kong. As open-top bus hiring widely welcomed by public, all these Fleetline finally converted to permanent open top buses to suit the demand. Rapid growth of the business but with limit capital, City Buses can only can acquired more and more second-hand buses from UK, mainly composed of the DMS-class Fleetline abandoned by the London Transport. City Buses was then renamed as Citybus after two years of operation.

As public transport networks between Ocean Park in Aberdeen was insufficient at the early stage of the opening, CTB took this as an opportunity to provide shuttle bus service linking the park and Central which become one of the most profitable route in CTB until the MTR South Island Line started operation in the end of 2016. In addition, since the poor connection of City One Shatin and the city, CTB was invited to running bus service between the estate and Kowloon Tong MTR Station (known as route 602 and 62R afterwards) and saw a great success resulted in expansion of networks in the residential service sector.

CTB predicted there was a great demand in travelling between Hong Kong and the mainland China after it's reform and opening-up in 1978, the idea of direct bus service between Hong Kong and the mainland was proposed. After a long negotiation since early 1980s, a cross-boundary coach service between Hong Kong and Shenzhen was introduced on 1 Jan., 1985 with more destinations like Dongguan and Guangzhou were added later. A batch of second-hand Daimler Fleetline DMS was the mainstream of the cross-boundary service and then followed by the first air-conditioned coach, Leyland Olympian with ECW bodywork (C51/DE4281) entered service. More Olympian coaches were joined along with second-hand Olympian acquired from the West Yorkshire PTE, both were bodied by ECW. Finally, they were replaced by the brand new Olympian air conditioned coach with Walter Alexander bodyworks in 1989. In 1996, CTB took delivery of a batch of 5 Jonckheere bodied Volvo B12 coach and deployed on the Hong Kong and Guangzhou service and not only upgraded service standard, but also resulted in introduction of European coaches by it's competitors.

CTB was purchased by Tsui Tsin Tong's CNT Group in 1987 and with the financial support from the latter, CTB invested heavily in building a young and reliable fleet and most of the second-hand buses was phased out. Instead of expanding the non-franchised bus service networks, to be one of the franchised bus operator was the next goal of CTB.  On 29 and 30 November 1989, a massive strike by CMB employees started after the broken negotiations on their pension funds resulted in the bus service in the Island especially the Southern District was serious affected. CTB provided emergency service to and from Ap Lei Chau during the strike and such service become air-conditioned residential service afterwards and widely welcomed by the general public. In Dec., 1990. CNT Group purchased the Dagenham garage and a fleet of 87 buses from Ensignbus, the dealer of the second-hand DMS Fleetline acquired by CTB. The London tendered routes used to operate by Ensignbus was rebranded as Capital Citybus and it was eventually sold out in a buy-in management buyout in Dec., 1995. Capital Citybus was finally sold to First Group in Jul., 1998 and integrated into First London operations after a period of operating separately.

In response to the poor service standard of CMB, the Government tried to introduce a new franchised bus operator running bus service in Hong Kong Island and in Apr., 1991, route 12A which was originally operated by CMB and then cancelled in the 1980s was tendered. CTB was successfully won the tender and started operated route 12A since 11 Sep., 1991 and become the 4th franchised bus operator in Hong Kong. The use of brand new air-conditioned coach was the key element of high quality bus service provided by CTB and this was led to the invitation from CK Asset Holdings Limited to operate exclusive coach service to and from Kingswood Villas in Tin Shui Wai and this was once another core business of CTB. In Jun., 1992, the Transport Department tendered 28 routes from the existing CMB networks as a result of it poor performance and CTB successfully awarded the tender and came into operation as "Network 26" since 1 Sep., 1993. CTB further took over 14 routes from CMB in 1995 when the latter franchised was extended for 3 years. With the good foundation of the Island bus market, CTB further expand it networks by tendering bus routes linking the Chek Lap Kok Airport and Tung Chung New Town in 1996. At the same time, CTB launched the first super low floor bus service in Hong Kong by introducing a pair of Plaxton bodied Volvo B6LE. The spin-off of CTB form CNT Group listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange resulted in better fund raising for future development.

After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, CNT need to sell part of it's core business including CTB for further advance and part of the shares was purchased by CTS. CTB took this as a chance to expand business in the mainland China and in Oct., 1997, a joint venture Citybus (China) Limited was set up with local operator in Beijing but these was ceased operation in mid. of 2004. With the last Leyland Atlantean AN68 withdrawn from the fleet on 24 Mar., 1998, it become the first franchised bus fleet composed of fully air-conditioned buses. The new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok was opened on 6 Jul., 1998 and CTB launched the high specification airport coach service, the "Cityflyer" linking the city and the airport on the same day and every tourists choosing the "Cityflyer" should have a good impression on it. The franchised of CMB was finally came to an end on 1 Sep., 1998 and 12 of the routes used to operate by CMB were transferred to CTB and keen competition with NWFB was started. Stagecoach Group of Scotland purchased all CTB shares hold by CTS in Feb., 1999 and then to be the largest shareholders within a month. Privatisation was finally executed and CTB was delisting from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Jul. 1999.

First Group of NWFB was one of the main competitor of Stagecoach in UK and both operators keen in running additional headways to gain more market shares and led traffic chaos in the Island. As a result, strict regulations on bus service was further imposed by Transport Department as a solutions to this situation. As no more profit can be made from the stiff competition environment, the CTB cross-boundary service was finally fully terminated on 26 Mar., 2001.

The future of bus service business become doomed when the Government adapted the policy of using railways as the backbone of Hong Kong's public transport system, Stagecoach sold CTB to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Limited (CTFE) in Jun., 2003 and as CTEE was the main shareholder of NWS, CTB and NWFB were then become sister company from competitors. One thing should be mentioned, NWD was renamed to New World Services Holdings Limited (NWS) after the reorganization of New World Group in 2002. Both CTB and NWFB was under Merryhill Group Limited which was set up on 9 Mar., 2003 with equal shares was holding by NWS and CTFE respectively and Merryhill Group Limited was renamed into NWS Transport on 14 Dec., 2003. To utilize group resources effectively, different routes and networks rationalization was implemented among CTB and NWFB and when acquiring new buses, same compartment configurations was applied on both fleet. When all the Merryhill shares hold by CTFE sold to NWS in Dec., 2016, CTB and NWFB become wholly owned subsidiaries of NWS.

As the public transport networks getting improved, there was decrement in revenue from residential bus service and most of the routes was cancelled with all Kingswood Villas service transferred to Kwoon Chung Motor while only route 61R and 88R left for the City One Shatin. On 1 Jul., 2007, the 10th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China, CTB launched it service between Shenzhen Bay Port and Tuen Mun which become another main profit source beside the "Cityflyer".

Back to 2001 when still owned by Stagecoach, CTB converted a Dennis Baby Dragon to the world's first double decker air-conditioned trolleybus for evaluation but never approved by the Transport Department. With the sponsorship from Pilot Green Transport Fund offered by Environmental Protection Department, NWS took delivery of 3 Alexander Dennis Enviro500 Hybrid in 2014 and 2 of the prototype were allocated to CTB for evaluation. This was followed by a further 6 battery-powered single deckers from BYD and GDEV respectively. The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong Port was opened on 24 Oct., 2018 and CTB introduced a new route B5 linking and Sunny Bay Station together with route diversion of 4 "Cityflyer" routes, A11, A21, A22 and A29 to serve the port. Except HZMB Port, CTB also awarded Kai Tak Development Area routes with the first route 20 commissioned on 28 Oct., 2018. To celebrate the first Kowloon CTB routes entered service, a special route display "Kai Tak 20" based on "Network 26" design was shown on the bus served on route 20.

On 21 Aug., 2020, NWS made a public announcement about the sold of CTB and NWFB to Bravo Transport Limited which was a joint venture of Templewater Bravo Holdings Limited, Hans Energy and Ascendal Group Limited. The Ascendal Group was experienced in operating bus service through it subsidiary in UK and Singapore. The transfer of equity completed on 15 Oct., 2020 and Bravo Transport Holdings Limited was renamed as Bravo Transport Services Limited. During the taken over of Bravo Transport, both CTB and NWFB were serious affected by the epidemic of COVID and after the approval of the Chief Executive in Council, a new franchise of CTB (Franchise for Urban and New Territories Network) would take over NWFB after it franchised expired on 1 Jul., 2023. After NWFB ceased operation on 1 Jul., 2023, indicated the franchised bus service of the Island backed to the date before 1 Sep., 1993.

CTB revealed the Hong Kong's first electric double deckers Weisheit WSD6121BR1EV in Oct., 2021 and first registered in Feb., 2022. CTB deployed this electric double deckers on route 5B since 19 Jun., 2022 for revenue evaluation and just two days after it debut, a hydrogen fuel cell bus by Weisheit was shown to the public by NWS and this WSD6121BR3FCEV was then shipped to Australia for promotional use before backed to China for technical evaluation. The introduction of fuel cell bus was given green light by the Government on 3 May, 2023 and once the infrastructure for fuel cell bus ready, revenue evaluation can be started. As the epidemic of COVID over, society activities resumed normal and this will leave a positive impact on both operation environment and development of CTB.

最後更新 Last Updated : 6 May. 2023

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