Citybus Route 13

13
13
	A Youngman JNP6120GR servicing route 13, seen at City Hall bus terminus
Overview
Operator	New World First Bus
Garage	Chong Fu Road
Vehicle	Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC; Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC; Youngman JNP6120GR
Route
Start	Central (City Hall)
Via	Caine Road; Park Road; Lyttelton Road
End	Kotewall Road
Length	3.7-5.3 km
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	12–25 minutes
Journey time	21–27 minutes
Operates	06:30 until 00:00

NWFB Route 13 on Hong Kong Island is a bus service operated by New World First Bus (NWFB), between City Hall, Central and Kotewall Road, Mid Levels.

History

Route 13 service was started by China Motor Bus (CMB) on 16 April 1974, when the first bus lane in Hong Kong, the one along westbound Caine Road, came into operation. The fare at that time was 50 cents, without child fare concession or section fare arrangements. At that time, the main bus fleet on the line was Guy Arab Mk V (LX class). After CMB converted routes 260, 261 and 262 into full air-conditioned services in 1991, the MCW Metrobus coaches used on these routes were transferred to route 13.

The route was handed over to the current operator NWFB on 1 September 1998, when the franchise for CMB to operate bus services ended. On 13 September 1998 route 13 became a full air-conditioned service. Later NWFB introduced Dennis Trident 10.3m buses (33XX) on the route. After the Star Ferry Pier moved from Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier to the new Central Piers, the Central terminus of the route did not move to the new terminus there; it stayed where it was, only with a change of the name to Central (City Hall).

The route and the location of the termini for route has never been permanently changed since its inauguration until 2012, making it the bus service in Hong Kong with the route sustained for the longest period of time.^[1]^[2]

Numbering

Until the 1970s, new CMB routes were numbered in consecutive order. Route 12 was opened in 1955 and route 14 in 1960, but CMB initially skipped the number 13, citing the superstitious belief that 13 is an unlucky number as a reason. When CMB planned to operate a new service between Star Ferry Pier and Kotewall Road, the decision to use the number 13 caused controversy within the upper levels of the company. Eventually, the director of CMB, Ngan Shing-kwan, who was a Christian, announced on a newspaper that he does not believe the unluckiness of the number 13, and decided that the number will be used on the new route.^[1]

Route

Central (City Hall) towards Kotewall Road

The route length from City Hall towards Kotewall Road is 5.3 km in a time of 35 minutes, using (in order):^[3]

Kotewall Road towards Central (City Hall)

The route length from Kotewall Road towards City Hall is 3.7 km in a time of 30 minutes, using (in order):^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b Stanley Yung (December 2004). The Development of Hong Kong Island Bus Routes in 20th century. Ming Hing. ISBN 962-8414-66-6.
^ Eric Lo. "NWFB Route 13". 681 Bus Terminal. Retrieved 9 February 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Information for route 13". NWFB website. Retrieved 8 February 2008.

[book-1] Stanley Yung (December 2004). The Development of Hong Kong Island Bus Routes in 20th century. Ming Hing. ISBN 962-8414-66-6.

[681terminal-2] Eric Lo. "NWFB Route 13". 681 Bus Terminal. Retrieved 9 February 2008.

[routeinfo-3] "Information for route 13". NWFB website. Retrieved 8 February 2008.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Franchised bus routes in Hong Kong
Bus services Bus route numbering History of bus transport Bus Companies (CTB & Cityflyer, KMB, LWB, MTR, NLB)
Hong Kong Island	1 2 4 8 12 13
Kowloon and New Territories	1 1A 20 51 71B 91M 290 290A
Cancelled Routes	Citybus Route 3B Citybus Route 5 KMB Route 70
Only routes with Wikipedia articles are shown above. For other routes, see List of bus routes in Hong Kong. Transport in Hong Kong Hong Kong bus route numbering