Why Hong Kong’s first double-decker buses arrived 12 years late, 69 years ago
The second world war, Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and a delayed experiment put off the Kowloon Motor Bus Company’s solution to the then British colony’s growing traffic problem
“The Kowloon Motor Bus Company [KMB] are expecting delivery shortly of a double-decker motor bus from England with which they will make experimental runs on the Peninsula,” ran a story in the South China Morning Post on December 1, 1937.
The exercise in Kowloon was proposed in the face of rising traffic, but by the start of 1939, the vehicle had not materialised. On February 2 of that year, the Post reported: “Two Kowloon motor buses, on which wooden super structures have been built to represent the height of the proposed double-decker buses, will shortly travel along Nathan Road […] Upon the result of this experiment lies the fate of the highway’s famous trees.”
Two years later, there were still no double deckers. “Owing to the cancellation of export permits from Great Britain, Hongkong will not have any double-decker buses until after the European War,” the Post said on June 18, 1941. “The fact remains that should the war in Europe last much longer, Hongkong will find itself definitely short of buses.”
It was not until April 11, 1946 that the Post picked up the story again. “There is no possibility of new buses arriving in Hongkong until the early part of next year [...] During the occupation the entire fleet of buses, together with equipment, machinery, plant and spare parts were confiscated by the Japanese.”