China Motor Bus
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Public company : 0026 |
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| Industry | Public transport (formerly) Property investment |
| Founded | 1923 |
| Headquarters | Chai Wan, Hong Kong |
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Key people
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Ngan Kit-ling (Chairman & MD) |
| Products | Bus services (formerly) |
| Revenue | $93.5 million (2013/14) |
| Website | www.irasia.com/listco/hk/cmb |
Public company
China Motor Bus Company (Chinese: 中華汽車有限公司), often abbreviated as CMB, was the first motor bus company in Hong Kong, and was responsible for the introduction of double-decker buses to Hong Kong Island. It is now mainly involved in property development after its franchise lapsed in 1998.
Ngan Shing-kwan and Wong Yiu Nam formed a business in 1923 to provide services on Kowloon Peninsula. Prior to that, Ngan had operated a rickshaw business also on Kowloon Peninsula. In 1933, the company received the exclusive bus franchise from the Government of Hong Kong to operate routes on Hong Kong Island.
After World War II, the network of CMB's routes expanded with exploding population on the island. New buses were purchased to increase ridership. In the mid-1970s, a livery of buff upper body and a blue lower body was adopted. CMB adopt the policy to improve its service during the 1970s, including introducing the first type of rear-engine bus (Daimler Fleetline) and reforming the route number system. In 1976 CMB has earned over $20 million HK dollars, the highest in the company history.
With the opening of the MTR Island Line in the 1985, and CMB's reputation of outdated ethos and poor services over the years, ridership on CMB declined. On 29/30 November 1989, CMB employees started a massive strike, after broken negotiations on their pensions funds. During the strike, all CMB services on the island were halted, to the extent that the government was forced to use police vehicles to facilitate commuting to and from the Southern District. After the incident, the relationship between CMB and the government worsened, leading to the government to adopt more directive policies in respect of CMB.
Meanwhile, competitors such as Citybus had successfully lured passengers from CMB's franchised routes to their own residential routes. The establishment of route 37R as a residential route by Citybus illustrates this fact. The service provided more comfortable seats, air-conditioned fleet, and a more direct route (via Aberdeen Tunnel) from Chi Fu Fa Yuen to Central. Citybus was able to compete against CMB by charging only the fare of non-air-conditioned, uncomfortable and indirect CMB counterparts like routes 40 and 37 (which took Pok Fu Lam Road instead). The residential route was later converted into a franchise route, 37M, that still continued to be operated by Citybus.
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Wikipedia