Hong Kong bus route numbering

In Hong Kong, public bus, public light bus (also known as green minibus) and residential bus routes bear their own route numbers.

Public buses

The numbering systems of public buses can be classified into "Hong Kong Island routes", "Kowloon and New Territories routes", "Lantau Island (New Lantao Bus) routes", "MTR Feeder Bus routes", "Cross harbour bus routes" and "Airport and North Lantau external bus routes". Their route numbering systems are independent. For example, there are both route 1, and route 2 on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Lantau Island respectively.

In the past, the air-conditioned bus routes were numbered as 200's (Kowloon and New Territories) and 500's (Hong Kong Island). However, this identification became void because many previously non-air-conditioned bus routes have been converted to air-conditioned.

At one time, there were two "N11" bus routes in Tung Chung, namely, Airport overnight route N11 and Lantau Island overnight route N11. The latter is no longer in service.

"Please note that the "A" for MTR Buses stands for auxiliary routes, not airport routes."

Public light buses

The numbering systems of public light bus (green minibuses) are classified into "Hong Kong Island public light bus routes", "Kowloon public light bus routes" and "New Territories public light bus routes". There are no public light bus in Airport or on Lantau Island. Their route numbering systems are independent too. However, for cross harbour public light bus routes, the route numbers from Hong Kong Island or New Territories are used instead.

Residential buses

Residential bus routes are the routes which are requested to operate by the residents or estates community. At the past, the route numbers are with a suffix "R". The first residential bus route was route 88R from City One Shatin to Kowloon Tong (MTR) (it was then renumbered 62R). From c. 2003, the route numbers have been changed as prefix "HR", "KR", and "NR". They stand for "Hong Kong Island residential bus routes", "Kowloon residential bus routes" and "New Territories residential bus routes" respectively. There is no residential bus services on Lantau Island (except Discovery Bay) and the Airport.

Route numbering system for public buses

3 digits

*100's: Cross-Harbour Tunnel routes
*200's & 500's: Some air-conditioned bus routes:"This classification becomes obsolete as more and more other routes were converted to solely air-conditioned services."
*300's: Some peak-hour only cross-harbour routes / Hong Kong Island recreational or special bus services
*600's: Eastern Harbour Crossing routes
*700's: Some Island Eastern Corridor routes / NWFB West Kowloon or Tseung Kwan O routes
*800's: Sha Tin Racecourse routes
*900's: Western Harbour Crossing routes

Alphabet prefix

*Prefix A: Airport deluxe bus routes (except MTR Feeder Bus route "A73", which is an auxiliary route)
*Prefix B: Border routes
*Prefix E: North Lantau external bus routes
*Prefix K: MTR Feeder Bus (formerly KCR Feeder Bus) routes
*Prefix M: Some bus routes that are terminated at Airport Express station
*Prefix N: Overnight bus routes
*Prefix P: North Lantau peak-hour only routes P12 (canceled), P21 and P22 (canceled)
*Prefix R: North Lantau recreational bus routes (for Hong Kong Disneyland)
*Prefix S: Airport shuttle bus routes
*Prefix T: Recreational bus routes (T stands for tourists)
*Prefix X: Express routes for special services

Alphabet suffix

*Suffix A, B, C, D, E, F: Conventional routes
*Suffix K: Mainly connecting to East Rail Line (formerly KCR East Rail) stations
*Suffix M: Mainly connecting to MTR stations
*Suffix P: Most are peak-hour only routes (except KMB "8P", "276P" , NWFB "8P", "18P" and Long Win Bus "A41P" , which are for whole day service)
*Suffix R: Recreational bus routes
*Suffix S: Peak-hour only routes or special services (except NWFB "796S", which is for whole day service)
*Suffix X: Buses using highways or express services

Brief list

*Routes or route ranges marked italic indicates that the route (or all the routes in the range) have been canceled already.

ee also

*Transport in Hong Kong
*List of bus routes in Hong Kong