A Facebook group set up to represent their views now boasts 8,000 members, seemingly swelled as heritage preservation moves into mainstream consciousness - as witnessed by the large protest against the proposed high-speed railway link to Guangzhou.

'This is very good news as we know many regular people are behind our cause,' Chan said.

The campaign to protect the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry bus terminus is set to escalate after conservationists' success last week in preserving Wing Lee Street in Central.

Chan - well connected with the Central and Western Concern Group that lobbied persistently for the preservation of the street for years - said they were excited but nervous when the Urban Renewal Authority offered to preserve all 12 buildings there.

Our Bus Terminal is lining up with other young activists, including Green Sense and those who protested against the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link last year, to launch another round of protests. Chan said they were also lobbying lawmakers and political parties.

The group has surveyed users of the bus terminal to discover how well they know its history and whether they are aware the government wants to turn it into a piazza.

Roy Tam, of Green Sense, said: 'We support the bus terminal campaign because the bus terminal is functioning well and has great historic value to Hong Kong. We are unconvinced it should be demolished.'

A series of guided bus tours, travelling between different places in Kowloon and the terminus, will be organised over Easter to underline its importance to the public.

The government wants the terminus, which has stood since the 1920s, to be replaced by a piazza. An open design competition is under way, with results to be announced in the next two months. Officials have stressed that most of the 14 bus routes using the terminus will not be cancelled but will stop at a new terminal outside the Cultural Centre.

The Antiquities and Monument Office has said the terminus has no heritage value.

However, Chan believes that the government should respect the land use, and the people's right to use public space. 'If this place is turned into a piazza, only tourists, the rich and the middle class can afford to enjoy it.'

He said moving the terminus might also affect ferry passengers and jeopardise ferry business.

The terminus, the Star Ferry pier and Kowloon railway station have connected Tsim Sha Tsui with the rest of Hong Kong and Guangzhou since the early 1920s. The pier and bus terminus continue to function as a transport hub, bringing passengers to the Star Ferry despite demolition of the railway station.'We are not arguing on the historic value of the terminus' physical structure, we are talking about land use and the people's right to use space. The United Nations calls this kind of land use historical urban landscape and it should be preserved,' Chan said.

Under the UN's Hanoi Declaration announced last April, historical urban landscapes are a fundamental and integral part of the environment of communities who live within them or who have association with them. All policies relating to and affecting historic urban landscapes should respect the lifestyle of the community living and working within them.

Chan also said heritage in Kowloon was severely neglected. 'Most of the places that we fought to keep, such as Queen's Pier, Central Police Station and Wing Lee Street, are on Hong Kong Island. This terminus forms a key part of people's life in Kowloon. Many historic events, including the 1967 riots, started at this terminus.'

The group's campaign started in 2008 after news of the piazza plan broke, with a petition at the time drawing support from 5,000. They have also tried to get the terminus listed as a Unesco-listed site. But they failed to get support from professionals, with surveyors, architects and planners all ignoring their calls so far. Chan said a few lawmakers had now expressed their support.'I know there is increasing speculation the terminus will be the next battleground but I do not really like this suggestion,' he said. 'It suggests we are a bunch of people looking for confrontation. We are not. We are reasonable people and we hope the government will listen to us. Anyway, it is good to see that we are finally getting some momentum now.'