|
China Motor Bus Company (), often abbreviated as CMB, was the first motor bus company in Hong Kong, and was responsible for the introduction of double-decker buses to Hong Kong Island. It is now mainly involved in property development after its franchise lapsed in 1998. ==History== Ngan Shing-kwan and Wong Yiu Nam formed a business in 1924 to provide services on Kowloon Peninsula. Ngan and Wong began their transport career as rickshaw pullers on Nathan Road in the 1920s and established the company in 1933, when they received the exclusive bus franchise from the Government of Hong Kong to operate routes on Hong Kong Island.〔Eli Lau and Vanessa Gould, (He started pulling rickshaws, created a bus company and died frugal but rich ), The Standard, 19 April 2001〕 After World War II, the network of CMB's routes expanded with exploding population on the island. New buses were purchased to increase ridership. In the mid-1970s, a livery of buff upper body and a blue lower body was adopted. CMB adopt the policy to improve its service during the 1970s, including introducing the first type of rear-engine bus (Daimler Fleetline) and reforming the route number system. In 1976 CMB has earned over $20 million HK dollars, the highest in the company history. With the opening of the MTR Island Line in the 1985, and CMB's reputation of outdated ethos and poor services over the years, ridership on CMB declined. On 29/30 November 1989, CMB employees started a massive strike, after broken negotiations on their pensions funds. During the strike, all CMB services on the island were halted, to the extent that the government was forced to use police vehicles to facilitate commuting to and from the Southern District. After the incident, the relationship between CMB and the government worsened, leading to the government to adopt more directive policies in respect of CMB. Meanwhile, competitors such as Citybus had successfully lured passengers from CMB's franchised routes to their own residential routes. The establishment of route 37R as a residential route by Citybus illustrates this fact. The service provided more comfortable seats, air-conditioned fleet, and a more direct route (via Aberdeen Tunnel) from Chi Fu Fa Yuen to Central. Citybus was able to compete against CMB by charging only the fare of non-air-conditioned, uncomfortable and indirect CMB counterparts like routes 40 and 37 (which took Pok Fu Lam Road instead). The residential route was later converted into a franchise route, 37M, that still continued to be operated by Citybus. In 1993, the government redistributed 26 routes to Citybus, allegedly for poor service levels. In 1995, a further 14 were transferred.〔"Hong Kong Buses Part 1: China Motor Bus Co" ''Fleetline'' issue 247 page 52〕〔(History ) Citybus〕 In February 1998, the government announced the franchise for all 140 routes operated by China Motor Bus would not be reviewed when it expired on 31 August 1998. Eighty-eight of the routes were placed to open tender, 12 routes were transferred directly to Citybus, one cross-harbour route to Kowloon Motor Bus, and the remaining routes were cancelled.〔(Daily Information Bulletin ) Hong Kong Government Information Services 17 February 1998〕〔(Panel on Transport (Minutes) ) Provisional Legislative Council 21 February 1998〕〔(UK bus operator wins £55m franchise ) ''The Independent'' 1 April 1998〕〔(Panel on Transport (Papers) ) Legislative Council Panel on Transport 31 July 1998〕 NWFB commenced operations with around 50 new buses and 710 former CMB buses.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「China Motor Bus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|