New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) was the third-largest bus operator in Hong Kong. Established by

NWS Holdings CTF Services Limited (), () is a conglomerate with a diversified portfolio of market-leading businesses, predominantly in Hong Kong and the Mainland under Chow Tai Fook Enterprise (CTFE). Operating businesses include toll roads, insurance, logi ...

and

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.China Motor Bus services in

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

. From 2020 until its merger with Citybus in 2023, it was a subsidiary of Bravo Transport, the owner of Citybus. The NWFB brand was retired on 1 July 2023 with operations merged into Citybus.

History

Background

Before NWFB was established, franchised bus service in

was provided by China Motor Bus (CMB) (franchisee since 1933) and Citybus (franchisee since 1991). In the early 1990s, the service levels of CMB were in decline. Therefore, the

Government of Hong Kong The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the executive authorities of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the handover of Hong Kong. ...

started to introduce new competitors by transferring the franchise of CMB routes to other companies. As a result, Citybus became the second franchisee of the bus service on Hong Kong Island. Over 40 routes were transferred between 1991 and 1995. In spite of the loss of many profitable routes, the service of CMB did not show any significant improvement.

Bidding for franchise

In February 1998, the government announced the franchise for all 140 routes operated by CMB would not be reviewed when it expired 31 August that year. Eighty-eight of the routes were placed to open tender, 12 routes were transferred directly to Citybus, one cross-harbour route to

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating Bus services in Hong Kong, franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes, with over 4,000 buses ...

, and the remaining routes were cancelled. Six companies lodged bids: NWS Holdings was considered a

dark horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person, team or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, that is unlikely to succeed but has a fighting chance, unlike the underdog who is exp ...

as it was the only bidder with no local bus operation experience. However, NWS Holdings was awarded a replacement franchise in March 1998 with commitments of new facilities, improved service standards and employment of CMB staff. During the handover in mid-1998, NWFB faced a lot of difficulties since CMB was reluctant to cooperate. NWFB commenced operating at midnight on 1 September 1998 after a series of negotiations and with help from the government. However NWFB had already started its operation of other non-overnight routes at midnight as CMB refused to operate after that time.Panel on Transport (Papers)
Legislative Council Panel on Transport 31 July 1998

Start of operations

NWFB took over 88 bus routes on 1 September 1998, with the fleet mostly were 710 step-entrance buses. In order to compete with Citybus and KMB, NWFB has purchased 500 new low-floor buses, out of which 76 are Dennis Dart SLF and the remaining are all low-floor, and 50 buses commenced operations immediately. Step-entrance buses had the NWFB logo applied over the CMB logos and blue patches over the CMB corporate flag, before repainting it to NWFB livery, and upgraded the floor, handrails, lighting system and seating layout. The seating layout was changed from 3+2 to 2+2, making a typical refurbished bus accommodate 10 fewer passengers than one before refurbishment. As for the older buses from CMB, they were all gradually phased out by January 2016, becoming full low-floor fleet except for two Dennis Condors (DM18 and DM22) and two Volvo Olympians (VA51 and VA54) which were transferred to Citybus before retirement. After the phasing out of all older buses from CMB, NWFB also began retirement of the first-generation low-floor fleet, and 1220 was even transferred to Citybus before retirement in 13 December 2020. In May 2000

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.New World Development New World Development Company Limited (NWD) is a Hong Kong–based company focused on property, hotels, infrastructure and services and department stores. It was established on 29 May 1970 by Cheng Yu-tung. The company is publicly listed on t ...

giving it 100% ownership.Milestones 2000

In June 2003 fellow franchised bus operator Citybus was purchased by NWFB parent company

, bringing the bus services of Hong Kong Island once again under control of a single organisation. Before the acquisition, many of the two companies' competing routes overlap each other. In order to make better use of company resources, many routes were reshuffled. Redundant routes were cancelled, and

Octopus card The Octopus card ( zh, t=, j=baat3 daat6 tung1, is a reusable Contactless payment, contactless stored value smart card for making Electronic money, electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. Launched in September 1997 to ...

bus-bus interchange discounts were introduced between routes of both companies. In January 2004 NWFB took a 51% shareholding in Kunming New World First Bus, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

established with the Kunming government to operate services to

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

on 39 routes with 700 buses.

Retirement of brand

In August 2020, along with Citybus, NWFB was sold to the Bravo Transport consortium, made up of private equity firm Templewater Bravo, Hong Kong-listed investment holding company Hans Energy and Ascendal Group. In July 2022, Bravo Transport announced that it would be retiring the NWFB brand, with operations merged into Citybus when the next franchise commenced on 1 July 2023. In July 2023, the brand was retired.

Fleet

As at July 2022, the fleet consisted of 650 buses.New World First Bus fans vow to take photos and many rides before colours change to Citybus’ yellow and red following merger
''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

'' 16 July 2022 NWFB operated four depots at Heng Fa Chuen, Wong Chuk Hang, Tseung Kwan O and West Kowloon. File:[email protected], NWFB's officially last Dennis Condor non air-conditioned bus retired in August 2002 File:NWFBLeylandOlympian11m.png, Ex China Motor Bus

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

R bodied

Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian is a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis that was manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear ...

Shau Kei Wan Shau Kei Wan or Shaukiwan is a neighborhood in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong Island. The area is bordered by Chai Wan to the east, Mount Parker (Hong Kong), Mount Parker to the south, Sai Wan Ho to the west, and ...

File:NWFBNeoplanWthWavyLivery.png, Neoplan Centroliner painted in the standard wavy livery File:VA-NWFB.JPG, Refurbished

R bodied Volvo Olympian in

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

in November 2005 File:DennisPlaxton.JPG,

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) is a single-deck midibus body that was manufactured between 1991 and 2006, predominantly on the Dennis Dart chas ...

bodied

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...

SLF in November 2005 File:EZ7136.jpg, Carlyle bodied

File:NWFB&CMB-VAs.jpg, Second-handed

R bodied Volvo Olympian, one in CMB livery, other repainted in NWFB livery at

Chai Wan Chai Wan (; ), formerly known as Sai Wan (西灣), lies at the east end of the urban area of Hong Kong Island next to Shau Kei Wan. The area is administratively part of the Eastern District, and is a mosaic of industrial and residential ar ...

in August 1999 File:Nwfb dennis condor 11m.JPG,

Duple Metsec Duple Metsec was a bus bodywork builder based in West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England in the United Kingdom. It usually supplied body kits for bus assembly overseas. It was originated from the bus body manufacturing busi ...

bodied Dennis Condor File:NWFB Leyland Olympian 11m.JPG,

R bodied

File:新巴人力車觀光巴士路線 H1 「懷舊之旅」.jpg, Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus

R bodied Volvo Olympian in October 2009 File:ADL-Enviro500MMC-NWFB.JPG,

Alexander Dennis Enviro500 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro500 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro500) is a Low-floor bus, low-floor, three-axle double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2012, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro5 ...

, introduced in 2013. File:NWFBTrident 3326.jpg, Interior of a NWFB Dennis Trident 3 fitted out to

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus subsidiary.New World First Bus
Hong Kong Transport Department

References

External links

New World First Bus and Citybus Company website

{{Bus companies of Hong Kong, state=collapsed Bus companies of Hong Kong FirstGroup companies NWS Holdings Transport companies established in 1998 Transport companies disestablished in 2023 1998 establishments in Hong Kong 2023 disestablishments in Hong Kong 2023 mergers and acquisitions