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63001 - MAN 24.310/Berkhof
Kowloon Motor Bus
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The model - news of this model came on 6th September 2019 and it was released in Hong kong on 17th September. Being an unlicensed product it carries no fleetnames or logos.

The bus - Fleet No. AMN9 (JM3524) is one of the 30 Berkhof bodied MAN 24.310 double deckers bought by KMB during early 2000. Most of them were allocated as scheduled buses on routes 60X (Jordan Road Ferry to Tuen Mun Town Centre) and 260X (Po Tin to Kowloon MTR Station), with AMN28(JV2129) being an exceptional case, as it has been allocated as a scheduled bus on route 67M (Siu Hong Court to Kwai Fong MTR Station).

These buses were initially ordered by Citybus, as a part of their proposed fleet expansion programme in the late 1990s. However, around September 1999, Hong Kong's Transport Department imposed a fleet quota on all franchised bus operators in Hong Kong, which seriously affected Citybus's fleet expansion proposal. Therefore, Citybus was forced to cancel the order for these new double deckers (together with at least two Volgren bodied MAN 24.310 double deckers), when in fact Berkhof has already built 32 of them! Meanwhile, Citybus has also gave up two 'optional orders' for 20 Duple Metsec bodied Dennis Tridents and 20 Volvo B6LEs at the same time.

As a result, MAN's dealer in Hong Kong had to find a new buyer for these newly built buses. After a number of negotiations, KMB decided to buy 30 of them. Of the two remaining buses, one went to Kwoon Chung Motors, (registered as JN4886 in 2000, but was not put into service until September 2001!) whilst the other was kept by Berkhof as a demonstrator.

Interestingly, some of these buses still had CTB's livery and interior specifications when they were bought by KMB. KMB therefore had to make a number of modifications (including the addition of headrests on almost all of the seats, a replacement of the seat cover, and of course a repaint!) before they were put into service from 25th April 2000 onwards. 

(This information has kindly been provided by Dennis Law).

 
 Manufacturer of model  APEC
 Scale  1:76
 Prototype chassis  MAN 24.310
 Prototype bodywork  Berkhof
 Prototype length  12 metre
 Fleet number  AMN9
 Registration number  JM3524
 Route number  52X
 Destination  Mong Kok Park Avenue
 Quantity  599
 Date released  17th September 2019
   
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This page last updated Tuesday, 17th September 2019
 
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