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| I am
now
on holiday, returning on Monday 8th June. There will be no
updates during this time but do please continue to send any
news
or photographs, ready for my return. My e-mail address can be found here.
29th May 2015
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Pictured above is a new Enviro200 for RapidKL, a bus operator in Kuala Lumpur, who have recently placed an order for forty Enviro500s (see News 16th May). Rather belatedly, a new page has tonight been added to the XTRA section of the site. 25th May 2015
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Long Win continue to receive new ADL Enviro500NGs, the fleet now totalling twenty. 6519 is pictured earlier today at the airport bus terminus, having been registered on 19th May. 24th May 2015
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Further photographs of the KMB hybrid model, ATH2, have just been added (KLE15017).
23rd May 2015
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Details of the KMB hybrid model set for release in Hong Kong tomorrow have now been confirmed. Produced by Roadshow Creations it features ATH2 on route 1A to Star Ferry and is limited to 2,000 pieces (KLE15017).
The second New World First Bus to be converted to part open-top and to receive Rickshaw Bus livery is Trident 1216.
Meanwhile the first, 1215, was noted earlier today at Central Piers. 22nd May 2015
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Noted undergoing testing today was this New World First Bus Youngman. My thanks to Ying Tang Hing for allowing me to share his photograph. 21st May 2015
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These two Dennis Dragons were released on 15th May. Both feature 3N112 (DJ8292), one on route 1A to Sau Mau Ping Central (180104) whilst the other is on route 111 to Ping Shek (180105). Similar advertising is carried by both models, this being covered to avoid legal issues. 18th May 2015
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Citybus continue to register their new Youngman single-deckers, the latest being 1843, registered on 8th May and noted in service today.
17th May 2015
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Latest update
2000hrs Sat 16th May
My thanks to Alan Wong for allowing me to share his 'day' shots of ATENU500.
RapidKL, the bus operator in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia officially received their new Alexander Dennis Enviro500 double deck buses yesterday from the manufacturer. A total of forty double-deck buses are on order and yesterday saw the first 3 unveiled in a handover ceremony. It is expected that these buses will enter revenue service in September as considerable driver and route familiarisation is required. My thanks to Eddy Sumantri for the above news.
LTA
AWARDS FIRST TENDERED BUS PACKAGE
TO TOWER TRANSIT GROUP LIMITED News Release 8th May 2015 1. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded the contract for the first bus package to Tower Transit Group Limited. Starting from the second quarter of 2016, Tower Transit, a bus operator from the U.K., will operate the new Bulim Bus Depot and 26 bus services from the Jurong East, Bukit Batok and Clementi Bus Interchanges. Tower Transit will get an estimated total fee of $556.0 million[1] over the five-year contract period. 2. Tower Transit was set up in 2013 by shareholders of Transit Systems, which has operated public bus networks in Australia since 1996. Tower Transit has since seen steady growth in its London operations under a similar bus contracting model. It currently employs about 2,000 employees and operates about 650 buses in the U.K., carrying over 115 million passengers a year. 3. Commuters can expect higher service levels as all bus services will have scheduled headways of no more than 15 minutes for both directions during the morning and evening peak periods, with at least half of them having scheduled headways of no more than 10 minutes. Of these, the feeder services will run at intervals of 6 to 8 minutes. 4. Mr Chew Men Leong, LTA’s Chief Executive, said, “The award of the first bus package is a major milestone and marks a very exciting time for the Singapore bus industry. The restructuring of the public bus industry and the injection of more competition will bring about even higher bus service levels for commuters. With bus contracting, the Government will plan bus services and can thus be more responsive to changes in ridership and commuter needs.” My thanks to Keith Wood for providing the above information.
ComfortDelgro/SBS Transit has launched 2 buses, a Scania K230UB & Mercedes Benz Citaro with "ComfortDelgro celebrates SG50" for Singapore's 50th birthday. The buses have an eye-catching little red dot (literally) at the rear of the bus, while the bus is wrapped in a ribbon/logoless SBS Transit livery styled advertisement. The interior has also been stickered to match the little red dot theme that's going on to celebrate this SG50 event. It is unknown if there are more than 2 buses that may receive this advertisement in the future. and even more news from Singapore............
SMRT Buses has launched a new advertisement (currently second advertisement on their Enviro fleet after SMB5003U), this Enviro SMB5026D has been fitted with a lighting film technology that illuminates the sides of the bus. The advertisement features Huawei's new Honor handset in a very striking blue themed advertisement. "Called, eLumiNEX, the technology is a "backlit film technology" that allows for the illumination of "large-format print surfaces", SMRT Media said in a press release on Thursday (May 14) to announce the launch. The lit surfaces are activated only when the headlights of the bus are turned on, said Elaine Koh, Director of Marketing, SMRT Media. The technology is a result of of a collaboration between SMRT Media, A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), A*STAR’s technology transfer arm, ETPL, and local small and medium-size enterprise (SME) large-format printer, Film Screen. " My special thanks to Mark Chua for the above updates and photographs.
16th May 2015
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Real
buses dominate today's news.....
The latest new arrival for Kowloon Motor Bus is this MAN . No further details are currently known.
KMB registered a further five ADL Enviro500s today (ATENU500-504) and ATENU500 carries additional decals, in yellow 'Enviro500th'.
Being UK based, I am reliant on the generosity of Hong Kong based enthusiasts for providing current news and photographs, and the above photographs are such examples. As reported yesterday, recently converted to part open-top is New World First Bus Dennis Trident 1215, seen yesterday undergoing testing. My thanks to MOC Group for allowing me to use this photograph. At the same time my thanks, as always, to regular contributors Dennis Law and Bobby Liu.
Such generosity is not limited to those enthusiasts based in Hong Kong, as the above photograph of KMB ATH2 proves! Regular contributors Keith Wood and Donald MacRae are always quick to provide photographs of the prototype, more often than not with the correct route and destination of the model! My thanks to all those mentioned above and the numerous other contributors that make the site what it is today. 15th May 2015
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And news of another new release, again featured on the 'shop2gather.com' website, is KMB Wrights Gemini 2 AVBWU303 (SL8260). It carries all over advertising for HK2gather.com. It is on route 268X with a destination of Mong Kok Jordan Express. Quantities are not yet known, nor is the release date, but is is expected to retail for HK$468.
14th May 2015
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Expected to be released on 23rd May is this Kowloon Motor Bus hybrid ADL Enviro500NG ATH2 (TA2132) on route 1A to Star Ferry.
.....
and the real thing, taken on 15th November 2014, albeit with the
alternate destination of route 1A
13th May 2015
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| Kowloon Motor
Bus and Long Win Bus,
wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Transport International Holdings, have
placed an order with ADL Asia for 147 (KMB 126/LWB 21) 12-metre
Enviro500s and 139 (KMB 100/LWB 39) 12.8 metre Enviro 500s.
All
are completely knocked down and the order is worth UKŁ65.1
million. Reading the announcement I am pleased to see the definition of the term “12-Metre Enviro 500 Double-deck CKD Bus(es)” as a set of Enviro 500 Double-deck CKD Bus comprising a unit of ADL Trident 12-Metre Euro V 3-Axle Bus Chassis and its corresponding unit of Enviro 500 (Next Generation) Air-conditioned Double-deck CKD Body Kit. My thanks to Simon Ayres for providing details of this announcement. 11th May 2015
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New World First Bus has officially revealed their 'Arts Bus' during an official ceremony on yesterday. This year's livery has been applied to 11.3-metre Enviro500 4040 (SL2101). While this bus will be normally deployed on NWFB's regular routes, a special trip to Sha Tau Kok in relation to this year's 'Arts Bus' campaign is expected to be held very soon. In addition, Citybus Enviro400 7038 has also received another version of this year's 'Arts Bus' livery. 10th May 2015
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I am grateful to Lee Tin Yau who managed to get these snapshots of the 'shop2gather.com' liveried KMB Gemini 2 mentioned in yesterday's news - as the saying goes, 'a picture paints a thousand words'! 9th May 2015
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Pictured above are the two 12-metre KMB Olympians due for release in Hong Kong tomorrow. They are the products of Roadshow Creations Ltd. The top photograph shows 3AV97 (GP6895) on route 681 to Ma On Shan Town Centre (KLE15001). Below is 3AV90 (GP8186) on route 118 to Siu Sai Wan (KLE15002). Each is limited to 800 pieces. New pages will be added shortly.
Further interesting news announced on this site is the release of a KMB Hybrid bus model later this month. Any further information would be most welcome. 8th May 2015
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These two KMB 12-metre Volvo Olympians are set for release on Saturday 9th May. 7th May 2015
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Further to yesterday's news, above are two photographs showing the models with decals applied. 5th May 2015
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Due to be released shortly are these two versions of Kowloon Motor Bus Dennis Dragon 3N112, one on route 111 and the other on route 1A. Produced by Best Choose it is understood that they will include Marlboro adverts. It is understood that Hong Kong legislation prevents tobacco advertising to be applied to such models.
Citybus Enviro500 8115 has received this all-over advert featuring a London Routemaster.
With the imminent retirement of the Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus Volvo Olympians (VA51 has already retired) New World First Bus are using standard buses as a stop-gap until the replacement Tridents are ready. 4th May 2015
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Kowloon Motor Bus has applied this 'red line' livery to the very first Dennis Trident for Hong Kong, ATR1. This resembles the original livery carried when this bus entered service in 1997. Rumours are that this livery is still be be modified - the bus is due to be retired later this year. 3rd May 2015
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