新大嶼山巴士(1973)有限公司 New Lantao Bus

長久以來大嶼山的巴士服務由新大嶼山巴士提供,這個情況一直到一九九七年青嶼幹線通車才得以改變。東涌新巿鎮及機場對外巴士服務由龍運及城巴提供,但島內的接駁服務還是要倚賴嶼巴。應付這個改變,嶼巴除了不斷購進新巴士,也改變站牌設計。

新大嶼山巴士車隊在早期由英國小型巴士作主力,及後為應付假日大增的旅客人潮,先後購入十五架利蘭勝利二型雙層巴士,新車來源除了從英國購進新車,也有從九巴購進當時車齡尚輕的二手車。而之後,為了更新車隊,嶼巴向五十鈴購進單層巴士,在配以本地車身,投入服務,同時亦為建立一支五十鈴車隊作了一個開始。在嶼巴服役的五十鈴巴士,不管屬於那個世代,其外觀跟在島外的同款車身旅遊巴士分別不大,只是這些巴士多了一個路線牌箱而已。嶼巴在被冠忠集團收購後,除了車身色彩有一個一百八十度改變,車隊轉變更叫人感到精彩,更多的五十鈴空調巴士加入,但勝利二型則陸續退下火線,部份更於一九九三年被轉售到城巴服役。而於假日,更多屬冠忠集團的旅遊車被徵調至島上接載旅客。為了應付東涌新巿鎮落成及新機場開幕,嶼巴把經營重心由嶼南的梅窩遷移到嶼北的東涌,並且重新設計站牌及開辦新路線。除了在建立公司形象上下功夫,在車隊上也作出一些改變,就是積極購入新車,除了原有的五十鈴產品,也有專為機場路線而設的平治客車,以及丹尼士飛鏢低地台巴士,當中飛鏢巴士更是為嶼巴經營環境,而改用大馬力引擎及手動變速箱,而這也是嶼巴車隊中首款低地台巴士。同時,有四架三菱Rosa小型巴士,由冠忠巴士調派到嶼巴車隊中服役。

時至今日,冠忠巴士依然於假日對嶼巴提供協助,而嶼巴車隊較從前又有一些改變。非空調的五十鈴巴士陸續退役,原有Rosa小巴也被後期的同款小巴取代,而更多新款五十鈴空調巴士加入嶼巴車隊,當中不乏由母公司調來的巴士,飛鏢巴士則被調往行走東涌區內線,跟其他新購入及購自城巴的十二米德國猛獅單層低地台巴士,服務乘客。而最重要的是,嶼巴服務範圍再不局限於小島上,巿民可在假日直接乘坐嶼巴前往寶蓮寺遊覽。

二零零七年七月一日,是香港回歸中國十周年的日子,對嶼巴而言,還是一個重要里程碑,由這天開始,嶼巴經營首條完全不服務大嶼山地區的巴士路線─B2,往返元朗西鐵站及深圳灣口岸,同時,零七年亦有新巴士投入服務,包括也是來自城巴的富豪B6LE,以及,符合歐盟四型排放標準的德國猛獅新車。

The bus service on Lantao Island was provided by New Lantao Bus Co. until the opening of Lantau Link in 1997. Since 1997, people can travel between Tung Chung and Kowloon by public buses and taxis. Long Win Bus and City Bus started to provide external bus service to Tung Chung new town while NLB, still play a significant role on internal bus service. To cope with the change, NLB upgraded their fleet with more air-conditioned buses and change the design of the bus stop sign. 

Let's have a brief description of the NLB fleet. At the early stage, the fleet were composed of England made minibuses. 15 Leyland Victory MK II double-deckers from Leyland and KMB was joined NLB for the huge demand in public holidays. In mid 1980s, NLB started building their Isuzu fleet by purchased 4 Isuzu single-deckers with local made bodies. The appearance of the Isuzu buses in NLB fleet was very similar to the coach outside the island, the most significant differences was all of them had a route indicator box.

After merging with Kwoon Chung Motors, the livery of NLB was changed together with the alternation of fleet. More and more Isuzu air-conditioned buses were delivered and the Victory withdrawn from the fleet. Some of the Victories started their new life in City Bus. To solve the problem of dramatically increased demand in holiday, Kwoon Chung deployed some coaches on the island to support the fleet.

The Tung Chung New Town and New airport development project gave the chance for NLB to develop. More resources were deployed on North Lantau area. The changes of the fleet were together with building a new image of the company. 4 Mercedes Benz coach and 3 Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer bodworks were joined the fleet for the airport route. The Dart was the only Dennis Dart fitted with manual gearbox in Hong Kong. Kwoon Chung also transferred 4 Mitsubishi Rosa minibuses to NLB for route 34. 

Kwoon Chung still deploy coaches on Lantau on holidays to meet the demand of the Tung Chung and Ngong Ping routes. In addition, the fleet of NLB got some changes, the non air-con Isuzu single-decker were replaced by other Isuzu air-con buses (some of them were transferred from Kwoon Chung). Dennis Dart was serving the Tung Chung internal routes together with the brand new MAN single-decker super low floor buses. And now, people can directly travel from Kowloon to Ngong Ping Po Lin Monastery with NLB buses on holidays.

1 Jul, 2007, the 10th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China, also was a milestone for NLB. B2, operated between Yuen Long WR Station and Shenzhen Bay Port by NLB, was the first route that serving outside Lantau Island. At the same time, Volvo B6LE from City Bus and the brand new MAN single-decker which meet the Euro 4 emission standard, joined NLB fleet to suit the change of the market

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車型 Vehicle Types
最後更新 Last Updated
五十鈴 Isuzu
04/08/2007
丹尼士飛鏢 Dennis Dart
21/06/2008
小型巴士 Minibus
24/09/2005
富豪B6LE Volvo B6LE
07/07/2007
猛獅 MAN
23/03/2008

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