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New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) is the third-largest bus operator in Hong Kong. Established by
NWS Holdings NWS Holdings Limited () is the conglomerate flagship of New World Development. It was established in 2002 when its predecessor, Pacific Ports Company Limited, acquired New World Services Limited from New World Development and the infrastructure a ...
and
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.China Motor Bus services in
Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...
. Since 2020 it has been a subsidiary of Bravo Transport which also owns Citybus. The NWFB brand will be retired on 30 June 2023 with operations merged into Citybus.


History

Before NWFB was established, franchised bus service in
Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...
was provided by China Motor Bus (CMB) (franchisee since 1933) and Citybus (franchisee since 1991). In the early 1990s, the service levels of CMB were in decline. Therefore, the
Government of Hong Kong The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the executive authorities of Hong Kong SAR. It was formed on 1 July 1997 in accordance with the Sino-Br ...
started to introduce new competitors by transferring the franchise of CMB routes to other companies. As a result, Citybus became the second franchisee of the bus service on Hong Kong Island. Over 40 routes were transferred between 1991 and 1995. In spite of the loss of many profitable routes, the service of CMB did not show any significant improvement. In February 1998, the government announced the franchise for all 140 routes operated by CMB would not be reviewed when it expired 31 August that year. 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 The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes. It is a subsidiary of Transport International. ...
, and the remaining routes were cancelled. Six companies lodged bids: * Affluent Dragon Island Limited ** China Motor Bus (50%) **
Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom. History Stagecoach was born out of deregulation of the British express coach market in the early ...
() (50%) * Argos Bus ** Argos Enterprise (Holdings) () (50%) **
HKR International HKR International Limited (, abbreviated as HKRI) is a conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong. The company was founded by Cha Chi-ming, a textile industrialist from Shanghai and one of the pioneers of Hong Kong's industrial boom in the 1950-70s ...
(50%) * Hong Kong Public Bus Co Limited ** Dah Chong Hong ()(70%) ** Kwoon Chung Bus Holdings () (30%) * Hong Kong United Bus Limited ** Citybus Group (35%) **
Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited (CKI), is the largest publicly listed infrastructure company in Hong Kong with diversified investments in energy infrastructure, transportation Infrastructure, water Infrastructure and infrastructure related ...
() (35%) ** China Travel International Investment Hong Kong () (25%) ** CNT Group () (5%) * Kowloon Motor Bus Holdings () * New World First Bus **
NWS Holdings NWS Holdings Limited () is the conglomerate flagship of New World Development. It was established in 2002 when its predecessor, Pacific Ports Company Limited, acquired New World Services Limited from New World Development and the infrastructure a ...
() (74%) **
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.dark horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...
as it was the only bidder with no local bus operation experience. However, New World First Holdings was awarded a five-year franchise in March 1998 with commitments of new facilities, improved service standards and employment of CMB staff. During the handover in mid-1998, NWFB faced a lot of difficulties since CMB was reluctant to cooperate. NWFB commenced operating at midnight on 1 September 1998 after a series of negotiations and with help from the government. However NWFB had already started its operation of other non-overnight routes at midnight as CMB refused to operate after that time.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, with the NWFB logo applied over the CMB logos and blue patches over the CMB corporate flag. Having purchased large numbers of second-hand buses from CMB, NWFB started an extensive program to refurbish them. The floor, handrails, lighting system and seating layout were all upgraded. The seating layout was changed from 3+2 to 2+2, making a typical refurbished bus accommodate 10 fewer passengers than one before refurbishment. Most of the non-air-conditioned buses from CMB were withdrawn prematurely in favour of more new buses. In May 2000
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.New World Development giving it 100% ownership.Milestones 2000
NWS Holdings NWS Holdings Limited () is the conglomerate flagship of New World Development. It was established in 2002 when its predecessor, Pacific Ports Company Limited, acquired New World Services Limited from New World Development and the infrastructure a ...
In June 2003 fellow franchised bus operator Citybus was purchased by NWFB parent company
NWS Holdings NWS Holdings Limited () is the conglomerate flagship of New World Development. It was established in 2002 when its predecessor, Pacific Ports Company Limited, acquired New World Services Limited from New World Development and the infrastructure a ...
, bringing the bus services of Hong Kong Island once again under control of a single organisation. Before the acquisition, many of the two companies' competing routes overlap each other. In order to make better use of company resources, many routes were reshuffled. Redundant routes were cancelled, and Octopus card bus-bus interchange discounts were introduced between routes of both companies. In January 2004 NWFB took a 51% shareholding in Kunming New World First Bus, a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
established with the Kunming government to operate services to
Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...
in
Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
on 39 routes with 700 buses. In August 2020, along with Citybus, NWFB was sold to the Bravo Transport consortium, made up of private equity firm Templewater Bravo, Hong Kong-listed investment holding company Hans Energy and
Ascendal Group Ascendal Group is a British public transport company that operates Whippet (bus company), Whippet in Cambridgeshire, the Ascendal Punta Arenas in southern Chile, and has a small shareholding in Hong Kong bus companies of Citybus (Hong Kong), Cit ...
. In July 2022, Bravo Transport announced that it would be retiring the NWFB brand, with operations to be merged into Citybus when the next franchise commences on 1 July 2023.


Fleet

As at July 2022, the fleet consisted of 650 buses.New World First Bus fans vow to take photos and many rides before colours change to Citybus’ yellow and red following merger
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South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
'' 16 July 2022
NWFB operates four depots at Heng Fa Chuen, Wong Chuk Hang, Tseung Kwan O and West Kowloon. File:ES6657@ARTY.jpg, NWFB's officially last Dennis Condor non air-conditioned bus retired in August 2002 File:NWFBLeylandOlympian11m.png, Ex China Motor Bus Alexander R bodied
Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as t ...
at Shau Kei Wan File:NWFBNeoplanWthWavyLivery.png,
Neoplan Centroliner The Neoplan Centroliner is a series of low-floor transit buses which was first unveiled in 1997, and mainly built by Neoplan Bus GmbH for the European market. At the time when it was first released, it adopted contemporary technologies like Co ...
painted in the standard wavy livery File:VA-NWFB.JPG, Refurbished Alexander R bodied Volvo Olympian in
Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...
in November 2005 File:DennisPlaxton.JPG,
Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) was a single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Reeve Burgess, Plaxton and latterly built by Alexa ...
bodied Dennis Dart SLF in November 2005 File:EZ7136.jpg,
Carlyle Carlyle may refer to: Places * Carlyle, Illinois, a US city * Carlyle, Kansas, an unincorporated place in the US * Carlyle, Montana, a ghost town in the US * Carlyle, Saskatchewan, a Canadian town ** Carlyle Airport ** Carlyle station * Carly ...
bodied Dennis Dart File:NWFB&CMB-VAs.jpg, Second-handed Alexander R bodied Volvo Olympian, one in CMB livery, other repainted in NWFB livery at Chai Wan in August 1999 File:Nwfb dennis condor 11m.JPG, Duple Metsec bodied Dennis Condor File:NWFB Leyland Olympian 11m.JPG, Alexander R bodied
Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as t ...
File:新巴人力車觀光巴士路線 H1 「懷舊之旅」.jpg, Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus Alexander R bodied Volvo Olympian in October 2009 File:ADL-Enviro500MMC-NWFB.JPG, Alexander Dennis Enviro500 MMC, introduced in 2013. File:NWFBTrident 3326.jpg, Interior of a NWFB
Dennis Trident 3 Dennis Trident 3 (marketed as 3-axle Dennis Trident), is the first low floor tri-axle double-decker bus chassis built by Dennis in the United Kingdom, with a large number purchased by bus companies in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United State ...
fitted out to
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.New Kowloon Development Area and Tseung Kwan O. On the bus stop signs, different types of routes are distinguished by different colours. As at November 2013 NWFB operates 51 routes. As it is also the second bus operator to be fully air-conditioned fleet in Hong Kong, triple digit routes beginning with 5 do not have significant meaning. In October 2009, NWFB commenced operating through its Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus subsidiary.New World First Bus
Hong Kong Transport Department


See also

*
List of bus routes in Hong Kong The following is a list of current franchised bus routes in Hong Kong, sorted according to bus companies. All current franchised bus routes are operated by air-conditioned buses only and fares are paid through flat fares. Note that Hong Kong Isla ...
* List of Hong Kong companies * New World Development * Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus * Transportation in Hong Kong


References


External links


New World First Bus and Citybus Company website




{{Bus companies of Hong Kong, state=collapsed Bus companies of Hong Kong FirstGroup companies NWS Holdings Transport companies established in 1998 Transport companies disestablished in 2023 1998 establishments in Hong Kong 2023 disestablishments in Hong Kong