In the 60’s most offices in Hong Kong worked half day on Saturday, and on this day I could not wait to hop on a bus to “The Star Ferry” to cross the harbour to Central district on Hong Kong island to meet with my girlfriend. The only way to cross the harbour then was by ferry or hire a sampan if the ferry service was closed for the day. Then we did not have the “Cross Harbour Tunnel” and the wide network of underground Mass Transit System. The ten minutes ferry ride was really pleasant, cheap, fast and efficient. This ferry still runs today and has become famous as one of the best ferry ride in the world, a great way to watch the spectacular coastlines of Hong Kong and Kowloon.
The Star Ferry crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong.
A scene from the 1960s “The World of Suzie Wong”
Sampans were an important means of transport between the many islands of Hong Kong
My girl friend and I then took bus No. 5 to her home in Causeway Bay, passing through Wan Chai which became famous from the 1960 movie “The World of Suzie Wong”.
William Holden crossing a street in Wan Chai, from the 1960s movie “The World of Suzie Wong”
The bus ride was about half an hour, longer if there were traffic jam caused by the large number of people wanting to get to Happy Valley Race Course. Hong Kong people were avid gamblers. If they were not gambling at the race course, illegal gambling dens or Macau casino, you would find them at the mahjong table. The buses were old and non air-conditioned, mostly single deck. We needed to sit by the window for the breeze if we did not want to suffocate. The glass window panes slide forward to close and backward to open, often they were stuck and became non functional. We were not always lucky to get a seat in which case it was all standing and holding tight to the hand belt hanging from above our head. The smell of sweat of the persons around us were unbearable just as ours would be to them
A single deck bus in 1960s Hong Kong.
1960s Double deck buses in Hong Kong
The bus stopped at every designated stop for the route, and at each stop there were more people wanting to get on. Passengers entered the bus from the back and alighted from the front. It demanded special skill and know-how to get on a bus as there was no queue system, everybody just had to outwit the other passengers and elbow their way into the already sardine packed bus. Very often the door would not close as people were clinging around the doorway, then came a barrage of swearing words from the driver, shouting to the last batch of passengers either to get off or push their way in.
A bus conductor trying hard to control a crowd boarding the bus in 1960s
Just as it was hard to get in the bus, to alight was not easy either. Passengers needed to get to the front to alight and the passageway was so crowded that they had to push really hard to get through, more often than not triggering scream and swearing from the standing passengers. Some passengers carried large bags and parcels, a cheap way for movement of goods, and this added to the difficulties. Imagine the scenario when it rained, with the many wet and dripping umbrellas mingling inside the bus. Who dared to complain, we were already lucky and content if we were spared a poke in the eye. Bus drivers were always in a rush to move on and were indifferent to the passengers’ failure to get off and to their subsequent complaint and swearing. Alighting passengers just had to try their luck at the next stop.
Every bus had a conductor on board to collect the fare and issue a ticket. He carried a bag around his waist with several pockets to hold different money denominations to facilitate easy dispensing of change. It was hard for him to reach all the passengers but who cared if some had a free ride. From time to time inspectors came on board to check the passengers and issue fine to those without a ticket. In such case there would be a great commotion, argument, shouting, swearing, pleading and threat.
Bus drivers, always sweaty, sat in a small cubicle turned mini oven by the heated engine and the hot humid summer air, a towel hanged around their necks to wipe the ever dripping sweat. They would have tossed aside their shirts and wearing only the white cotton under-vests, and who could blame them. They were always in a rush for the reason that the more trips they made the more money the Company earned. They hated passengers blocking the door and delaying the voyage, time was money, so much so that at their will they often stopped the bus a good distance from the bus stop, quickly drop the alighting passengers and drive away instantly before the crowd realized the trick. Filing a complaint, who had time!
At the bus stop fuming passengers stretched their neck to look anxiously far ahead for their bus, what’s taking so long. When they saw their bus arriving they all got ready to pounce at the door, and had to make a quick mental prediction of where the bus would stop, well before or well after the actual stop, and strategized their move accordingly. Sometimes the bus driver, having heard no buzz sound of the stop bell, skipped the stop altogether to the irritation of the impatient crowd.
We were lucky that we were getting off at the route terminal, we did not have to fight our way out as others had done earlier. When we got off our shirts were pretty much soaked wet and stinky but we were glad the journey was over.
Today buses in Hong Kong are modern, comfortable, clean, air-conditioned, organized and efficient. They are equipped with powerful engines, well designed for flow of passenger traffic, mostly double deck for maximum efficiency. There is no ticket conductor, the bus driver controls everything including collection of fares. Passengers enter from the front, drop the exact fare in a money box, or in majority of cases they use a pre-paid electronic card which they tap to a reader located near the bus driver. Further people are now more civilized, they line up and behave orderly.
A passenger pays his fare by tapping his “Octopus” electronic card on the reader as he enters the bus.
Last year when I was in Hong Kong I benefitted from the Government Subsidized Fare Program to senior citizens, a cool 50% discount on any trip. This year I was back again and a new even better program for seniors was introduced, namely a flat fee of HK$2.00 for any single trip however far the destination may be. Seniors travel free on the “Star Ferry”. Is not that wonderful!