KMB's 80-year bus journey

As the villages and rice fields that had covered Kowloon for aeons made way for buildings along the first three roads built on the peninsula - Nathan Road, Canton Road and the southern part of Shanghai Street - the need emerged for public transport to serve the booming population.

In the 20th century, a solution arrived in the form of buses, which began to take their place alongside the rickshaws on the newly built roads.

Among the early motor operators was Kowloon Motor Bus, founded by Lui Leung in 1921. It had nine vehicles, operating along two routes - from Tsim Sha Tsui pier to Sham Shui Po and from Nathan Road to Hung Hom.

Some 12 years later, the company took advantage of the government's decision to replace the system of independent bus operators with a franchised network.

Now, 80 years after KMB won the franchise for Kowloon and the New Territories, historian Ko Tim-keung has captured the history of the company in a new book, 80 Years With KMB - serving up some surprising details.

Few Hongkongers know that double-decker buses were not used in Kowloon before the Japanese invasion as they were banned from Nathan Road to protect the trees. Ko writes that the big trees lining Nathan Road were popular with tourists, and the government was proud of its effort to make the city greener.

"If KMB double-decker buses were to run on Nathan Road or other major links, it was unavoidable that many trees on the roadside would be felled. That was something that the government did not hope to see," he writes.