Yau Ma Tei Station

Yau Ma Tei 油麻地
MTR rapid transit station
Platform 1
Chinese name
Chinese	油麻地
Literal meaning	Oil Sesame Ground
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yóumádì Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization yau4 ma4 dei2 Jyutping jau4 maa4 dei2
General information
Location	Nathan Road × Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei Yau Tsim Mong District, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°18′46″N 114°10′15″E / 22.3129°N 114.1707°E / 22.3129; 114.1707Coordinates: 22°18′46″N 114°10′15″E / 22.3129°N 114.1707°E / 22.3129; 114.1707
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	Tsuen Wan Line      Kwun Tong Line
Platforms	4 (island platforms)
Connections	Bus, public light bus
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	YMT
History
Opened	31 December 1979 (1979-12-31) (Kwun Tong Line) 10 May 1982 (1982-05-10) (Tsuen Wan Line)
Previous names	Waterloo
Services
Preceding station   MTR   Following station Ho Man Tin towards Whampoa Kwun Tong Line Mong Kok towards Tiu Keng Leng Jordan towards Central Tsuen Wan Line Mong Kok towards Tsuen Wan
Location
Yau Ma Tei Location within the MTR system

Yau Ma Tei (Chinese: 油麻地), formerly called Waterloo after Waterloo Road, is an MTR station located in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. It is served by the Kwun Tong Line and the Tsuen Wan Line. The station opened in 1979 and was renamed as Yau Ma Tei on 31 May 1985 along with Argyle (Mong Kok) and Chater (Central).

Yau Ma Tei is an interchange station, even though the platforms are not designed for cross-platform interchange. After the Kwun Tong Line has been extended to Whampoa, it is used by northbound passengers on one line to change to southbound trains on the other line. This station is used by many students during commuting hours, since it is in the vicinity of many large schools.

The station's livery colour is a light grey. Red, white, and blue stripes, which is located prominently adorned the station walls until they were removed as part of renovation works in 2005 which also saw the original Helvetica typeface, used in station name signs, replaced by Myriad.

From the scissor crossing after Whampoa terminus to north of Yau Ma Tei, the Kwun Tong Line drives on the right side of the tunnel, as opposed to elsewhere in the MTR, where the driving direction is usually on the left. The difference in driving directionality is due to the track layout between Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok stations.

The Kwun Tong Line extension towards Whampoa Station via Ho Man Tin opened on 23 October 2016. In preparation, the numbers of the Kwun Tong Line platforms were swapped starting on 11 June 2016, and platform 4 became alighting-only (and platform 3 boarding-only) from 21 August 2016. After the opening of the Kwun Tong Line extension, Yau Ma Tei became an interchange station between the Kwun Tong Line and the Tsuen Wan Line, with each line using platforms on a different level.