三菱 Rosa Mitsubishi Rosa

三菱 Rosa Mitsubishi Rosa

編號 Class：MS

小型巴士出現於嶼巴車隊，應該要從嶼巴增辦34線說起。位處大嶼山北部的東涌受惠於一九九七年青馬大橋通車，以及翌年新機場落成及投入服務，從一個小漁村發展成一個新巿鎮，區內居住人口亦隨市鎮發展而急速增長。為了迎接東涌新市鎮發展，以及之後赤鱲角的新機場投入運作所帶來的機遇，嶼巴把營運重心移師至東涌，增闢新線及重整區內路線網絡，其中34就是往返東涌市中心及石門甲的新路線。

由於石門甲一帶道路都是十分狹窄，一般單層巴士未能勝任，嶼巴為此特別從母公司冠忠引入四架三菱Rosa BE439F廿四座小型巴士，車隊編號MS1 - 4，成為昔日來自英國道濟及金馬等小型巴士後，嶼巴營運的另一款小型巴士，當然Rosa在設計上比對這些英國產品來得先進，而且配有空調設備，為乘客提供一個舒適的車程。畢竟這批三菱Rosa在加入嶼巴時已經有六至七年車齡，所以在嶼巴服役大約三年左右，便被三架同樣來自冠忠，屬較後期版本的Rosa BE437F廿四座小型巴士取代 (MS5 - 7)，而是批Rosa並未有如前一批般設置車頭路線牌箱。

在不斷從冠忠車隊中接收大型單層巴士作更新車隊同時，嶼巴亦不忘接收更新的小型巴士，去取代車隊中開始老舊的Rosa。二零零五年五月，三架於二零零一年登記的新版本長陣Rosa BE649J型由冠忠轉投嶼巴 (MS8 - 10)，載客量由之前的二十四人增至二十九人，令到服務水平得以提升，起初嶼巴未有為這批Rosa加裝路線牌，但往後時間逐一替這批Rosa於車頭擋風玻璃後加設一個小型電子路線牌。

轉眼間來到二零一二年九月，三部Rosa BE649J已經在嶼巴車隊中渡過了七個年頭，已經達到需要替換的階段，兩架來自冠忠的歐四排放Rosa BE63DJ型 (MS11及MS12)，就在這時候加入嶼巴車隊，取代了原有的MS9及MS10，亦標誌了在排放方面，嶼巴絕不比其他專利巴士公司遜色。嶼巴擁有的Rosa BE63DJ及先前的BE649J分別除了車嘴之外，前者全車玻璃窗顏色偏綠，而且車門亦由趟門改為摺門。至於MS8則待至二零一三年最後兩架青年巴士歸隊後，才由載客車隊中退下來。二零一五年九月，因應需要開辦往返北大嶼山醫院的37H線，嶼巴再向冠忠引入多四架三菱Rosa (MS13 - 16)，當中MS13(RY4232)更是中置太平門配三十座位版本。

無論如何，今天小型巴士在嶼巴的重要性，較昔日以小型巴士為主力年代自然有所不及，但這批仍在嶼巴車隊服役的「小」數民族依然努力地去服務每位搭客，為搭客提供方便的接駁服務，往返大嶼山每個角落。

The return of minibuses story in NLB should be started with the commissioned of route 34. Tsing Ma Bridge and the Chap Lap Kok Airport (known as HK International Airport) was started operation in 1997 and 1998 respectively and Tung Chung, located at the northern part of Lantau Island, was developed to be the ninth new town from a small fishing village. As population growth and the opportunity brought by the development of Tung Chung, the core of NLB business was moved to Tung Chung with opening of new routes and the restructured of service networks. Route 34 is one of the new service introduced linking Shek Mun Kap and Tung Chung Town Centre.

Only minibuses suitable for running on the narrow access road to Shek Mun Kap and as a result, a batch of four Mitsubishi Rosa BE439F with 24 seatings was transferred from Kwoon Chung. NLB classed this batch of Rosa as MS1 - 4 and they are another minibus model acquired after those Dodge and Commer serving in the fleet in the past. The design of Mitsubishi Rosa is much advanced and with air conditioning, a comfortable journey resulted. The first batch of Rosa was registered in 1990 and 91 and all of them were replaced by another three Mitsubishi Rosa BE437F (MS5 - 7) during 2000 and there was no route indicator box as previous batch.

NLB continuous acquiring buses from Kwoon Chung as part of fleet renewal scheme with not only full-sized single decker but also including a batch of three Mitsubishi Rosa BE649J registered in 2001 and classed as MS8 - 10. The Mitsubishi Rosa BE649J offered a total of 29 seatings and better service standard was resulted. As the previous minibuses introduced, no route indicator box was provided when transferred to NLB and each of them was fitted with a small electronic route display afterwards.

MS9 and MS10 were retired in Sep., 2012 and replaced by a pair of Euro 4 emission standard Rosa BE63DJ (MS11 and MS12). The most distinctive difference between two models is sliding door fitted on BE649J while traditional folding door seen on the BE63DJ. The last Rosa BE649J MS8 was finally replaced by the last two YoungMan full-sized single decker in 2013.NLB acquired a further batch of four Mistsubishi Rosa (MS13 - 16) including a 30-seats version (MS13/RY4232) in Sep., 2015 for the opening of feeder service 37H to and from North Lantau Hospital.

Though the importance of minibuses in NLB is not as significant as in the past, they still useful when providing feeder service to and from every corner of the Lantau Island.

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