Cityflyer Route A10

Cityflyer Route A10
Overview
Operator	Citybus (Hong Kong)
Garage	Siu Ho Wan Depot
Vehicle	MAN NL262
Route
Start	Ap Lei Chau Estate
Via	South Horizons, Lei Tung Estate, Aberdeen, Wah Fu Estate, Chi Fu Fa Yuen, Pok Fu Lam, Mount Davis Road, Kennedy Town, Shek Tong Tsui
End	Airport
Length	56 km
Other routes	Citybus Route N11←→Citybus Route N72 or route N90 (Octopus Free Bus-Bus Interchange)
Competition	MTR Airport Express
Service
Level	0530-2300
Alt. level	0650-0020
Frequency	Departs every 30 min
Journey time	85 min
Fare	HK$48.0

Cityflyer Route A10 is a Hong Kong airport bus route operated by Citybus under the brand Cityflyer. The route plies between Ap Lei Chau Estate on Ap Lei Chau and Hong Kong International Airport. It is the route with the most expensive full fare in Hong Kong (HK$48). ^[1]

Summary

After the Hong Kong International Airport opened, the Transport Department suggested that Southern District residents take other means of transport to Island North, where they could transfer to airport buses. The suggestion annoyed residents and district councilors, as it required residents to transfer for a number of bus rides with large luggage. Also, buses running on urban routes have a restriction for big luggage. Under the pressure from councilors and pressure groups, the bus companies made changes to their existing urban routes:

• New World First Bus revamped Route 590 into a new route M590, providing direct services to Airport Express Hong Kong Station;
• In 2002, Citybus implemented the free Bus-Bus Interchange scheme between Cityflyer routes A11 and A12 and Southern District routes;
• Citybus revamped Route 47A into Airport Express feeder bus Route M47.

Despite all of the improvements bus companies made for the passengers, passengers still had to transfer in order to get to the airport. The Southern District Council therefore continued to request a direct airport bus service. Finally, in a 2005 meeting, the Transport Department agreed to call for bids for a Southern District airport bus route. But at that time, the Central & Western District Council requested that the route divert via Kennedy Town. The original decision was to number the route E13 as an external route, bypassing Tung Chung and diverting via Airport Backup Area, with the fare of HK$45. But after the discussions between the two district councils, the final decision is to operate the route as an A-route (luxury airport route). The route operating right was given to Citybus which named this route A10, and started service on 2006-03-26.

Citybus installed a GPS system on buses operating on this route in 2007, and passengers could ask for arrival times in the form of SMS stating From August 1 that year. ^[2]

Stonecutters Bridge and Nam Wan Tunnel of Route 8 have been open from 2009-12-20 7:00am, and Transport Department have approved this route and three other Cityflyer routes (A11, A12 & A22) to divert via the Stonecutters Bridge and Nam Wan Tunnel. The diversion would be effective from 2010-01-31.

Vehicles

To cope with the winding and narrow Mount Davis Road and Victoria Road, Citybus spent over one million Hong Kong dollars to renovate 10 MAN NL262 into luxury airport coaches.

Routing

The route plies between Ap Lei Chau Estate and Hong Kong International Airport, with intermediate stops at South Horizons, Lei Tung Estate, Aberdeen, Wah Fu Estate, Chi Fu Fa Yuen, Pok Fu Lam, Mount Davis Road, Kennedy Town and Shek Tong Tsui^[3][4][5]

References

1. ^ http://hk.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/?qid=7006031900787
2. ^ http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/_common/images/photo/A10_SMS_poster.pdf
3. ^ http://ushb.net/rtinfo/CTB/CTBA10.php
4. ^ http://www.i-busnet.com/busroute/ctb/ctbra10.php
5. ^ http://hk.geocities.com/hkbusschedule/airportroute/airportroute.a10.htm^{[dead link]}

External links

• Citybus A10 Information - Citybus/NWFB Website