Section 5Public Transport

Public Transport

Hong Kong has a diverse multi-modal public transport system, comprising a Mass Transit Railway, a tramway, franchised buses, public light buses, taxis, non-franchised buses and ferry services, extending to almost every part of the territory. Rehabus services are also available for persons with mobility difficulties.

Public transport patronage decreased by 3.3% in 2019 when compared with 2018 to 12.4 million passengers per day. There was a decrease of railway patronage by 6.6% over last year. The railway system, which carried 5.10 million passengers per day in 2019, is the largest passenger carrying mode. Coming next were the franchised buses, which carried 4.09 million passengers per day in 2019, representing an increase of 1.0% against 2018.

Railways, being the most environmentally friendly form of mass transport, will continue to expand in network. It will form the backbone of Hong Kong's transport system with other modes playing a supplementary but still important role to ensure a choice of services by commuters. There were continuing improvements in the quality of franchised buses. As at the end of 2019, all franchised buses were air-conditioned and Euro II or above buses with less emission. To ensure more efficient use of bus resources and to provide passengers with more choices of routes, bus-bus interchange schemes were promoted. By the end of 2019, there were a total of 460 bus-bus interchange schemes.

The market share of ferry remained similar as last year at 1.0% in 2019 with an average of 122,200 passengers daily. As at the end of 2019, there were altogether 14 franchised and licensed ferry operators running 21 regular passenger ferry services, two dangerous goods vehicular ferry services and two special services at the harbour and to the new towns and outlying islands.