News - May 2023

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	*May 2023* *- News*
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Bravo Transport Services has today published the following statement:-

Citybus unveiled its updated brand image at a launch ceremony held today, in advance of the franchise merger. With only one month left until this historic date, we also announced that preparations will commence to start replacing the New World First Bus ("NWFB") logos on our fleet with the new Citybus logo, in parallel with a public and a staff online voting process to pick the final future livery of our fleet.

Citybus has proudly served Hong Kong for almost 45 years with its iconic yellow coloured buses and the signature arrow icon that were established as the symbols of the company amongst all our staff and customers.

The new Citybus brand was launched today by the Commissioner for Transport Miss Rosanna Law, JP, Legislative Council Member (Transport) Hon Frankie Yik, SBS, JP and Citybus Chairman Mr Cliff Zhang. In anticipation of the upcoming merger of New World First Bus and the Citybus (Franchise 1) into the new Citybus (Urban and New Territories Bus Network) franchise on 1st July, we have simplified and modernized the iconic ‘C’ shaped arrow, to make it an even more prominent symbol that instantly resonates, whilst maintaining the brand spirit of speed and a forward-thinking mentality. The iconic yellow remains as our corporate colour.

Since our establishment in 1979, we have been running services with our iconic yellow buses. To create a fresh and modern image, we have designed five new livery concepts that retains the heritage of our historic yellow livery or brings an alternative new look developed from our zero-emission transformation campaign #MissionZero. From the 9 th to 18th June, the general public can vote for their favourite livery options on our website. The two options with the highest number of public votes will advance to the final round of the process, where our colleagues will have the opportunity to vote from 20th June to 27 th June, driving the final decision. The five new livery concepts will be applied to actual buses which will start to run on both Citybus and NWFB routes from the 5 th June and can be seen in person when exhibited at the Central Harbourfront Event Space from 9th to 18th June.

Cliff Zhang, Chairman of Citybus, said: "Citybus joined the franchised bus industry in 1991. After nearly 30 years of evolution, we can finally integrate with our sister company, NWFB, to serve as One Citybus. The merger provides us with a perfect opportunity to update our brand image, making it more distinctive and modern, whilst maintaining the innovative spirit of both Citybus and NWFB."

During an interim period, our NWFB Bus Captains will wear Citybus pins until the brand new Citybus uniform is distributed. Furthermore, we will in due course commence a programme of investment and replacing NWFB bus stop flags.

Citybus is owned by Bravo Transport Services and is committed to improving the quality of life for the citizens of Hong Kong that we serve, whilst providing safe and reliable bus services. The company employs over 5,000 staff, operates over 1,700 buses across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories and carries over 1m customers per day. Citybus has an industry leading bus fleet with all buses operating at Euro5 emissions standard or above.

The sole 11.7 metre MAN A95 prototype being evaluated by New Lantao Bus, MDRS1 (YN331), made it's first trip on route 3M on 29th May 2023. Apparently, compared to the ADL Enviro400, which has operated this route since January 2019, the A95 was much more powerful than the Enviro400 and the bus was much cooler under the very hot Hong Kong weather today.

A new page featuring further photographs has just been added to the XTRA section of the site - just follow the link.

Released today are these two Tiny 1/43 scale Toyota Coaster public light buses, which were first annopunced back in October/November 2021 respectively. The green version features LS9767 on route 45 (ATC43175) whilst the red vesion features LT8286 on route 18 with a destination of Yuen long (ATC43176). New pages will be added shortly.

31st May 2023

I am reliably informed that the two New World First Bus 12-metre ADL 'facelift' Enviro500s from Model 1, mentioned below (24th May), have now been released.

A recent arrival in Hong Kong is this 12.8 metre Volvo B8L with updated MCV bodywork for Kowloon Motor Bus.

30th May 2023

Pictured above is a pre-production model of 11 metre Kowloon Motor Bus Duple Metsec bodied Dennis Dragon S3N51 (DM8714). It is believed to be from Model 1 but was never produced,

26th May 2023

Having posted the photograph yesterday of the model of a Transmac Macau Dennis Dart, it triggered a thought that I had seen this model before, so using the above 'Search the site' facility, I entered 'Transmac Dennis Dart' and sure enough, a result showed a news item from June 2007!

The news item for 20th June 2007 reads "I am advised that Transmac S.A.R.L. will release a new model featuring one of their MCV bodied Dennis Darts within the next few months. Further details will follow as soon as these are received." Gary Chan kindly provided a photograph of a boxed model,

The model features D11 (MK-40-98), a 10.1 metre MCV Sterling bodied Dennis Dart SLF. The manufacturer of the model as well as a product code are unknown and it carries no limited edition certificate. A new page has now been created for this model, thanks to information and photographs from Jacky Ho and Benson Ho - just follow this link.

Meanwhile, a quick search for photographs of the actual bus found the above shot on Howard Pulling's excellent Flickr site, and following a request to Howard, a prompt reply confirmed he was happy for me to post it, for which I am grateful.

25th May 2023

My thanks to Benson Ho for sending me a selection of photographs of this Transmac Macao Dennis Dart SLF, details of which will be added tomorrow.

Impressive or what!

Once again, my thanks to Benson Ho for allowing me to share the above photograph which he recently posted on social media. It of course centred on Tiny's model of China Motor Bus's Wong Chuk Hang Depot and features both diecast and resin models.

The pair of New World First Bus 12-metre ADL 'facelift' Enviro500s announced back in June 2021 are expected to be released shortly.

Fleet no. 5790 (VX6288) is on route 8P with a destination of Wan Chai North (63356/20104) whilst fleet no. 5817 (VY8608) is on route 111 with a destination of Ping Shek (63357/20105).

And last, but not least, my thanks to James Fung for confirming that the UNO liveried Kowloon Motor Bus MCV EvoSeti bodied Volvo B8L has been released today (KMB2023068).

24th May 2023

New Lantao Bus held a special event today at Tung Chung to mark the company's 50th anniversary and photographs taken at this event have now been added to the New Lantao Bus Golden Jubilee page in the XTRA section of the site.

21st May 2023

Following the announcement by New World First Bus and Citybus on 18th May, pictured above are two evening shots taken on 19th May, the first day of operation of route H1B, and two shots taken earlier today.

The two Kowloon Motor Bus Enviro500 bodied Volvo B9TLs that were issued by the company back on 10th May are now listed on the 80M Bus Model Shop website. The first, in champagne livery, features AVBE34 (MU6103) and is on route 85A with a destination of Kowloon City Ferry (KMB2021231) whilst AVBE90 (MZ3418) carries Long Win Bus livery and is on route 234A with a destination of Sea Crest Villa (KMB2021232). Each is limited to 970 pieces.

Kowloon Motor Bus hosted a 'Welcome to KMB, Experience day' at its Kowloon Bay Depot, where various buses were on display.

My thanks to Dennis Leung and Grant Ng Kwok Kuen for sending me photographs of the event.

20th May 2023

Following my news updates on 5th March, 9th March and 20th April regarding the distortion of tables on a large number of the model pages of the site when viewing with certain Android devices, I believe I have now corrected the problem and all tables should now appear as they should - but if you come across one I missed, or find any other issue with the site, please do e-mail me.

19th May 2023

New World First Bus and Citybus have repainted ADL Enviro500 5550 (RK4924) from Rickshaw Bus livery into China Motor Bus livery. It will operate route H1B 'Glorious Farewell to NWFB' which will commence tomorrow (19th). It has also announced the following:-

"The open-top bus, which was replaced by NWFB's 1998 take over, is ready to take you on a time-travel journey. While listening to the radio, sharing the story of NWFB, and returning to the birthplace of NWFB. The first round of souvenir packages received support and the response was so enthusiastic. We are once again introducing the "Goodbye NWFB" special commemorative edition full-day ticket (star edition), which is available in limited quantities along with specially designed souvenirs. Discounted price starts at $320! "

18th May 2023

New 'Everything starts with Citybus' banner advertising has been applied to New World First Bus ADL Enviro500NG 5648 and this is similar to that applied to Corgi's Volvo Olympian VA54 (43211) back in 1998, as shown in the photograph below, which reads 'Everthing starts from scratch - NWFB is now fully in service'.

A new page has just been added to the XTRA section of the site and this focuses on the New Lantao Bus Golden Jubilee - just click on the above image.

Automobile Hong Kong has published an excellent article featuring the Mercedes-Benz O305 for Kowloon Motor Bus - just follow this link (link no longer available).

16th May 2023

Discovery Bay registered three new Gemilang bodied MAN A95 on 4th May allocating them fleet nos. DBAY 107/120/197. DBAY197 (YP8140) was noted earlier today undergoing testing.

15th May 2023

Here are three further images which I had originally planned to upload yesterday, but a lack of time prevented me from doing so.

14th May 2023

My thanks to Network Shuttle for allowing me to share the above photographs.

I plan to add further details later this evening........

13th May 2023

One event that I omitted to include in my post on 1st May is that New Lantao Bus celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. I am unsure of the exact date but the company is organising an event on 21st May - further details will be dded shortly.

To mark the event, the company has applied a 'retro' livery to AD01, an ADL Enviro400. This 'retro' livery has also been applied to ex-China Motor Bus Leyland Victory Mk2 LV30, but unfortunately I have yet to receive permission to use any photographs, so in the meantime, the following photograph of ABC Model's LD7 will have to suffice!

Of course, to mark the company's 25th anniversary, a special presentation set featuring a Plaxton bodied Dennis Dart was issued, as shown below.

12th May 2023

New World First Bus has applied banner advertising to lowheight ADL 'facelift' Enviro400 3800, as pictured above - if this looks familiar it is because this advert is similar to that applied to lowheight Duple Metsec bodied Dennis Trident 3301L back in 1999, as shown in the model released back in 2019 (63493).

11th May 2023

The two Kowloon Motor Bus Enviro500 bodied Volvo B9TLs mentioned below have been released today. AVBE34 (MU6103) carries a champagne livery and is on route 85A with a destination of Kowloon City Ferry (KMB2021231) whilst AVBE90 (MZ3418) carries Long Win Bus livery and is on route 234A with a destination of Sea Crest Villa (KMB2021232). Correction - The first is limited to 900 pieces and the latter 970 pieces. New pages have now been added although at present I do not have any photographs of the models themselves.

Further correction - thanks to Aria Yuen I am able to provide photos of the models!

10th May 2023

Having received confirmation of the product code, a new page has just been added for the 'retro' liveried 11.3 metre ADL 'facelift Enviro500 E6M93 (XA7911), which is on route 90 with a destination of Tseung Kwan O (Choi Ming) (KMB2023008).

6th May 2023

Three 1/76 scale Kowloon Motor Bus models have today been announced on the KMB Shop Facebook page along with several smaller scale models. They will be available at their on-line shop from 11am on 8th May.

Already announced is the 'retro' liveried 11.3 metre ADL 'facelift Enviro500 E6M93 (XA7911), appropriately on route 90.

Next comes champagne liveried 12 metre Enviro500 bodied Volvo B9TL AVBE34 (MU6103) on route 85A.

Finally, another Enviro500 bodied Volvo B9TL, this time in Long Win Bus livery but with KMB logos, and featuring AVBE90 (MZ3418) route 234A

6th May 2023

Believed to be set for release during May are two further 1/76 scale models from Kowloon Motor Bus. The first features 11.3 metre ADL 'facelift Enviro500 E6M93 (XA7911) carrying the retro non air-con cream and red livery. The second features 12.8 metre UNO liveried MCV EvoSeti bodied Volvo B8L V6X72 (XE904). No other details are presently known.

3rd May 2023

Posted on this site 10 years ago today was this photograph of an unidentified Citybus 'new generation' ADL Enviro500, which had arrived at a London United bus garage that same day.

Meanwhile, former New World Fist Bus Enviro500 5574 (RZ2660) has been transferred to the Citybus training fleet and carries this rather eye-catching livery. My thanks to Lam Yu for allowing me to share his photograph.

2nd May 2023

The year 2023 includes several notable events and anniversaries - King Charles III will, in six days, be officially crowned head of the British monarchy, 70 years after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Time magazine and Wembley Stadium have both celebrated their 100th anniversary, Kowloon Motor Bus celebrated its 90th anniversary last month and at the end of June, New World First Bus will cease to exist after almost 25 years of service.

One other event that may not appear at the top of any google search is that this website will celebrate its 25th anniversary in November. I appreciate that November is still some way away, but time does fly (certainly at my age!) and, more importantly, I couldn't wait that long to show off the updated OMB logo, which has been specially designed by Joe Kwong of Jotus.com for the event!

1st May 2023

	*May 2023* *- News*
Previous month's News	To find a specific month's News, click here	Next month's News

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Page last updated Wednesday, 31st May 2023