VE2130's Travel Snapshots

VE2130's Travel Snapshots Sharing my insights on transportation throughout the world via travel reports & photography
📷 Canon EOS 70D

[Whistle-stop Tour Bus?]Here’s an example of a failed attempt to expand the open-top sightseeing business - KMB’s route ...
31/08/2026

[Whistle-stop Tour Bus?]

Here’s an example of a failed attempt to expand the open-top sightseeing business - KMB’s route HK2. Only commencing in late April this year and operated hourly from the early evening into nighttime, but was extended to start from 10:15 a.m. during the summer holidays. Yet, only after four months, the route is to be discontinued after today’s final service (31/8).

The route picks up passengers in the (slightly hideous) Kowloon Station terminus and several stops along Canton Road, before swinging up the highway through to Hong Kong’s two iconic bridges - the Stonecutter’s Bridge and Tsing Ma Bridge. Looping through the entrance of Ma Wan Island without stopping, it returns via northern Tsing Yi (passing under the Ting Kau Bridge) and the West Kowloon Corridor (between packed classic buildings), before arriving back at Yaumatei and Kowloon Station.

Unfortunately HK2 has seen much lower ridership compared to the year-old HK1 also by KMB, primarily due to its low frequency, unusual & limited boarding locations and the proportion of highways without intermediate stops - making it difficult for tourists to join the bus and enjoy the scenery at their own pace. Still, I was grateful to get to ride once, which only set me back $15.8 as a Monthly Pass holder compared to the regular $58.4.

📍Wui Man Road / Jordan Road (Photo 1)

#九巴 #亞歷山大丹尼士 #天際漫遊

[Goodbye in Elegance]KMB’s route 95M, operating between Kwun Tong (Elegance Road) and Tsui Lam, ceased operations after ...
25/08/2026

[Goodbye in Elegance]

KMB’s route 95M, operating between Kwun Tong (Elegance Road) and Tsui Lam, ceased operations after its final run on Sunday night (23/8). This came from a controversial merger plan with route 93K, with the route now shortened and diverted to serve existing areas on the 95M, ending what is one of the earliest routes to open when the Tseung Kwan O area grew.

In recent years, the route saw a common presence of short double or single decker buses, particularly the Enviro400 and Volvo B7RLE. At fixed intervals of 30 minutes throughout the day, it makes it easier to know when the next bus is compared to the extremely lengthy 93K with uneven intervals. Not an ideal thing especially in the times where service reduction happens every now and then, and bus companies expecting people to constantly monitor the estimated arrival times…

LV7106 | NV2520 | PY1555 | RG7354 | RH4394 | RX1322

📍 Po Tat Estate / Hong Sing Garden

[Macanese Specialty]Macau used to have a large fleet of Mitsubishi Rosa minibuses used by both operators TCM and Transma...
07/08/2026

[Macanese Specialty]

Macau used to have a large fleet of Mitsubishi Rosa minibuses used by both operators TCM and Transmac, with presence on many of their routes which involved narrow inner streets. These Rosas are special as many are equipped with two sets of doors instead of one, and are able to carry standing passengers in addition to seated ones.

Both operators’ Rosas should have been fully retired in 2024, but some of the orange TCM ones were lucky to re-enter service - mainly as “additional departures” on some routes crossing the Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge (嘉樂庇總督大橋). After 2 years of this special arrangement, the few remaining ones saw their final day of service on 31 July.

Following this move, Macau now enters an era where 100% of public buses are made by Chinese manufacturers, with various sizes and models of buses by Yutong, Zhongtong and Higer continuing to serve different parts of the city.

📍Praça de Ferreira do Amaral 亞馬喇前地 / Barra 媽閣

#澳巴 #三菱

[Chopped]Hong Kong was struck by the typhoon “Noul” over the past weekend, with the Tropical Cyclone Signals No. 8 & 9 i...
28/07/2026

[Chopped]

Hong Kong was struck by the typhoon “Noul” over the past weekend, with the Tropical Cyclone Signals No. 8 & 9 issued throughout Saturday night. As it gradually moved inland, the city was back to normal activities past Sunday noon, including the resumption of bus services suspended during the typhoon.

Owing to potentially low-hanging or fallen trees and bushes obstructing traffic particularly on the more rural routes, or to provide essential cross-boundary connecting services, it is not uncommon to see single-decker buses out of their usual routes straight after typhoons.

This time, ADL, Volvo and Scania single-decker types were seen on KMB routes 91 (Clear Water Bay), 94/99/299X (Sai Kung + Sai Sha Road) and B9/B9A (Heung Yuen Wai Port). As most workings lasted until later in the day, there was plenty of time for journeys and photographs compared to some past outings.

Of these bus types, the fleet of Scania K230UB 10.6m (ASB, seen on R.91 on Sunday) are the closest to their 18-year limits with only less than a year left. They would not be operating too many subsequent “typhoon support” services before being taken over by their successors (potentially electrics…)

#九巴

[🍌🍌🍌]For the third summer in a row, a cartoon-themed Light Rail Vehicle returned to the network - this time to advertise...
14/07/2026

[🍌🍌🍌]

For the third summer in a row, a cartoon-themed Light Rail Vehicle returned to the network - this time to advertise for the screening of movie “Minion & Monsters”. This purple wrap was applied to Phase 5 LRV No. 1156, and used on regular services on weekdays & the two “Light Rail Explorer” departures on weekends and public holidays between 27 June and 12 July.

Contrary to last year’s themed vehicle which operated throughout the summer, this year’s service only operated for a bare total of 7 days, largely around the period where the movie made its debut. It is also worth noting that regular Light Rail Voyager services were previously suspended in late December 2025, making this a short-lived return of LRT sightseeing trains whilst their future remains uncertain.

📍Tuen Mun Town Centre / Hoi Wong Road

#港鐵 #輕鐵 #五期輕鐵 #中國中車 #南京浦鎮 #屯門發現號 #輕鐵發現號 #迷你兵團 #迷你兵團與大怪獸 #照明娛樂

[Hop Like A Frog]Transport for London will launch a promotion for the duration of the summer holidays, where passengers ...
03/07/2026

[Hop Like A Frog]

Transport for London will launch a promotion for the duration of the summer holidays, where passengers may enjoy a day of bus travel for the price of one single journey instead of the usual three every weekend. This is to celebrate 10 years since the launch of the “hopper fare”, where subsequent touch-ins are free within 1 hour of first tapping on a bus.

To promote this scheme, three vehicles from First Bus were chosen to apply a green & blue frog-themed wrap, taking the inspiration from them being able to “hop everywhere”. Two of them are from different batches of the BYD/ADL E400EV, and the last one is an Optare Metrodecker which was operated by Tower Transit in the past. The three buses primarily operate on routes 23, 49 and 295, but also saw presence on routes 31, 94, 148 and 452.

Unfortunately, following similar Metrodecker incidents in 2022 and 2024, a third bus fire occurred at the Westbourne Park garage a while ago. This led to the entire type across all operators being grounded once more until adequate investigation is done. It is unlikely that the Metrodeckers, including the wrapped one, will be back on the road anytime soon.

📍Camden High Street / White City Bus Station / Wandsworth Roundabout

[Revival]Citybus and NWFB purchased a total of 300+ Enviro500 buses in several batches, but Citybus’ first 28 examples (...
22/06/2026

[Revival]

Citybus and NWFB purchased a total of 300+ Enviro500 buses in several batches, but Citybus’ first 28 examples (8100-8127) only met the Euro IV emission standards. This made them highly restrictive in allocations - they are only allowed to work the few routes that do not enter the designated “Low Emission Zones” which require vehicles compliant to Euro V or above.

The ongoing pandemic led to great reduction in services throughout the city. As a result, all of Citybus and NWFB’s Euro IV-compliant buses were deemed to be in surplus and were suspended from service in 2022. Most are parked up inside the depots, but some can be seen lying at the now-defunct Lantau Link toll plaza for quite some time now!

In recent times however, several newer examples were taken out of storage as service levels recovered. They largely remained intact apart from the new logo being applied, and some were even re-registered and given a new license (V- or W-prefixed), as if they were brand new. Nonetheless, the retained ones should still be phased out soon as their 18-year deadlines approach later next year.

📍Wah On House Wah Fu Estate

#城巴 #亞歷山大丹尼士

[All Aboard to the City]On Sunday 17 May last month, all lines through Bromley South station were shut due to planned en...
14/06/2026

[All Aboard to the City]

On Sunday 17 May last month, all lines through Bromley South station were shut due to planned engineering works. But instead of using buses, Southeastern ran a very special service this time - that being the half-hourly Bromley North to Cannon Street directs, calling only at London Bridge in between.

As the Grove Park to Bromley North line currently only sees a single shuttle train running Monday to Saturday, a Sunday and London direct service is almost unheard of these days, despite similar engineering works happening every now and then!

Two singly-formed Class 465 Networkers were used on the services all day, using the connecting line north of Grove Park which is now only used by depot runs. One of them was 465908 sporting the Network SouthEast inspired livery, a nice little touch on top of the already “nostalgic” services.

📍London Bridge / Bromley North

[Prague’s Living Heritage]Amongst the many tram lines in Prague, there lies a special “nostalgic line” - the 23 between ...
05/06/2026

[Prague’s Living Heritage]

Amongst the many tram lines in Prague, there lies a special “nostalgic line” - the 23 between Královka and Zvonařka, travelling through various parts of the city and the outskirts of Prague Castle. The line operates during the day until around 7 p.m., every 30 minutes on weekdays and 15 minutes on weekends (was 7-8 at the time of my visit).

The line typically uses a range of trams long gone from regular lines, including some older variants of the world-famous Tatra T3, as well as a few of the older T2 and newer T6A5 trams. I also recommend paying a visit to the transport museum there, with many more historic vehicles and exhibits on static display.

Contrary to the historic routes 41 and 42, line 23 is seen as a regular tram service and thus regular public transport (PID) tickets can be used on them. Considering not many cities offer heritage rides 7 days a week and without a “surcharge”, this easily became one of the must-go’s when I visited Prague!

[Orange, Gold, Red!?]Following the complete withdrawal of Scania K310UDs, Euro IV-compliant Enviro500s are also inevitab...
22/05/2026

[Orange, Gold, Red!?]

Following the complete withdrawal of Scania K310UDs, Euro IV-compliant Enviro500s are also inevitable from an “early ending” - 10 of such waved goodbye last week, shy of 17 years in service.

New to Long Win Bus in 2009-2010, they served the company’s Tung Chung- and Airport-based routes until the early 2020s where the pandemic led to a surplus of vehicles. Combined with newer buses being ordered for LWB, most of the fleet were gradually transferred to KMB and distributed to serve various local routes.

Most remained in the legacy orange & white LWB livery despite the transferral, but there were a few cases where a repaint into gold happened (such as NY6119 pictured here). One (NV 966) even gained the red “Heartbeat of the City” livery found only on newer buses, making it the unique one amongst the fleet and caught much attention during special workings.

#九巴

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