In Hong Kong, public bus, public light bus (also known as green minibus) and residential bus routes bear their own route numbers.
Public buses
The numbering systems of public buses can be classified into Hong Kong Island routes, Kowloon and New Territories routes, Lantau Island (New Lantao Bus) routes, MTR Bus routes, cross-Harbour routes and Airport and North Lantau external bus routes. Their route numbering systems are independent. For example, there are both route 1, and route 2 on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Lantau Island respectively.
In the past, the air-conditioned bus routes were numbered as 200's (Kowloon and New Territories) and 500's (Hong Kong Island). However, this identification became void after they phased out all the non-aircon buses; since then, bus routes have used the old numbers.
At one time, there were two "N11" bus routes in Tung Chung, namely, Airport overnight route N11 and Lantau Island overnight route N11. The latter is no longer in service.
Public light buses
The numbering systems of public light bus (green minibuses) are classified into Hong Kong Island public light bus routes, Kowloon public light bus routes and New Territories public light bus routes. There is one public light bus route operating in Airport/Lantau Island (901).[1] Their route numbering systems are independent too. However, for cross harbour public light bus routes, the route numbers from Hong Kong Island or New Territories are used instead.
Residential buses
Residential bus routes are the routes which are requested to operate by the residents or estates community. In the past, the route numbers are with a suffix "R". The first residential bus route was route 88R from City One Shatin to Kowloon Tong station (it was then renumbered 62R). From c. 2003, the route numbers have been changed to prefixes "HR", "KR", and "NR". They stand for Hong Kong Island residential bus routes, Kowloon residential bus routes and New Territories residential bus routes respectively. There is no residential bus services on Lantau Island (except Discovery Bay) and the Airport. Cross-harbour bus routes uses KR and NR services.
Route numbering system for public buses
| Route | Classification | Routes | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-digit Numbering in Hong Kong and "5xx" (Fully air-con bus routes before 1999) | Citybus | ||
| x1-x29 | Original Hong Kong Island | ||
| x30-x39 | Southern District (Pok Fu Lam) | ||
| x40-x49 | Southern District (Kellett Bay) | ||
| x50-x59 | Western District (Mount Davis) | ||
| x60-x69 | Southern District (Repulse Bay, Stanley) | ||
| x70-x79 | Southern District (Aberdeen, Wong Chuk Hang) | ||
| x80-x89 | Eastern District (Chai Wan, Siu Sai Wan) | ||
| x90-x99 | Southern District (Ap Lei Chau) | ||
| 2-digit Numbering in Kowloon/New Territories and "2xx" (Fully air-con bus routes before 2008) | Kowloon Motor Bus | ||
| x1-x29 | Kowloon | ||
| x30-x39 | Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan | ||
| x40-x49 | |||
| x50-x59 | Tuen Mun, Yuen Long | ||
| x60-x69 | |||
| x70-x79 | North District, Sheung Shui | ||
| x80-x89 | Sha Tin | ||
| x90-x99 | Sai Kung | ||
| 2-digit Numbering in Lantau Island | New Lantao Bus | ||
| 1-9 | |||
| 10-19 | Fully Air-Conditioned Bus Routes | ||
| 20-29 | Ngong Ping | ||
| 30-39 | Tung Chung | ||
| 3-digit Numbering | |||
| 1xx | Cross-Harbour Tunnel routes | Citybus, Kowloon Motor Bus | |
| 260 | Recreational route in Hong Kong Island. | Citybus | |
| 3xx | Peak-hour only cross-harbour routes (except for 307) and recreational routes in Hong Kong. | Citybus, Kowloon Motor Bus | |
| 38x | Recreational routes in Hong Kong Island | Citybus | |
| 4xx | Unused. | — | |
| 58x | Routes operated by Citybus in Kowloon/New Territories. | Citybus | |
| 6xx | Eastern Harbour Crossing routes | Citybus, Kowloon Motor Bus | |
| 70x | Citybus routes in West Kowloon | Citybus | |
| 72x | Island Eastern Corridor routes | Citybus | |
| 78x | Island Eastern Corridor routes | Citybus | |
| 79x | Citybus routes in Sai Kung and Tseung Kwan O | Citybus | |
| 8xx | Sha Tin Racecourse routes | Kowloon Motor Bus | |
| 9xx | Western Harbour Crossing routes | Citybus, Kowloon Motor Bus | |
| North Lantau Bus Routes (Using A, E, N, NA, R, S and X) | |||
| 0x | Citybus and Long Win Bus jointly operate short-distance/shuttle routes | ||
| 1x | to Hong Kong Island | Citybus | |
| 2x | to Kowloon/Tseung Kwan O | Citybus | |
| 3x | to New Territories West | Long Win Bus | |
| 4x | to New Territories East | Long Win Bus | |
| 5x | Shuttle Service | Citybus | |
| 6x | Shuttle Service | Long Win Bus | |
| Prefixes | |||
| A | Airport deluxe bus routes [2][3] | ||
| B | Border routes | ||
| Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point routes | B1 | ||
| Shenzhen Bay Control Point routes | B2, B2P, B2X, B3, B3A, B3M, B3X | ||
| Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge routes | A10, A11, A12, A17, A21, A22, A23, A25, A26, A28, A29, A30, A31, A32, A33X, A34, A35, A36, A37, A41, A41P, A42, A43, A46, A47X, Prefix NA, B4, B5, B6, N35 | ||
| Heung Yuen Wai Control Point routes | 79K, B7, B8, B9 | ||
| DB | Discovery Bay Bus Service | ||
| E | North Lantau external bus routes[4][3] | ||
| H | Citybus Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus routes | ||
| K | MTR Bus (formerly KCR Feeder Bus) routes | ||
| M | Some bus routes that are terminated at an Airport Express station | ||
| N | Overnight bus routes | ||
| NA | Overnight Airport deluxe bus routes | ||
| P | City Direct bus services. | ||
| R | Recreational bus routes (for Hong Kong Disneyland / Marathon) | ||
| S | Airport shuttle bus routes[5][3] | ||
| T | Special express routes for relieving rail services: T74, T270, T277 | ||
| W | Routes that terminates at West Kowloon Highspeed link station: W2, W3 | ||
| X | Express routes for special services | ||
| Y | Typhoon-only temporary bus routes (Y41) | ||
| Suffixes | |||
| A, B, C, D, E, F | Conventional routes | ||
| H | Hospital routes | ||
| K | Routes that connect to the Tuen Ma Line or East Rail Line. | ||
| M | Routes that connect to MTR Urban Lines. | ||
| P | Peak hour-only routes (except KMB 8P, 40P, 276P, Citybus 8P, 796P, A29P, Long Win Bus A41P and New Lantau Bus B2P, which are whole-day services) | ||
| R | Recreational bus routes | ||
| S | Peak-hour only routes or special services | ||
| X | Express services | ||
| Rail Bridging Services | |||
| 500 - 599 | Light Rail | ||
| 600 - 699 | Light Rail | ||
| AE | Airport Express | ||
| D | Tuen Ma Line | ||
| E | East Rail Line | ||
| H | Island Line, previously those from Hong Kong Station | ||
| K | Kwun Tong Line, previously those from Kowloon Station | ||
| East Rail Line | |||
| M | Tuen Ma Line (Ma On Shan) | ||
| P | Tuen Ma Line (Tsuen Wan and Kowloon) | ||
| S | South Island Line | ||
| T | Tsuen Wan Line | ||
| TE | Tung Chung Line and Disneyland Resort Line | ||
| TKL | Tseung Kwan O Line | ||
| W | Tuen Ma Line | ||