Before returning to the comforts of driving my own car in the States I thought I would write a short exposé on Hong Kong transportation based on Wikipedia and mostly my personal experiences the last four months. Not complete yet but here is a draft for you.
University Buses- goes around the campus. Sometimes I preferred to walk.
Mass Transit Railway (MTR)- the main mode of transportation to getting around Hong Kong. I even have my own personalized student Octopus card complete with my English name (in romanization), Chinese name (in chinese characters), and a rainbow pointing to a picture of my face. The design was somewhat reminscent of McLovin's Hawaii Driver license from the movie Superbad (2007) because of the rainbow and star design.
See the resemblance?
These are all the stops I have used. But you can usually find me at University, Tai Po, Mongkok/East Mongkok, TST, Central, and Causeway Bay.
Here's a picture of the MTR back in the day. The caption says "stop pushing or we'll fall off the train!"
Red Taxi- Serves Hong Kong Island/Kowloon. "
A (red) taxi will sometimes appear with its roof light on, but with the 'For Hire' flag covered by an 'Out of Service' sign; this means they are attempting to catch a fare back across the harbour tunnel." [I think] it's good to try to catch this one if you are trying to go from the Island to the New Territories because the taxi will not charge you the second toll across the harbor for the Taxi to get back to the Island. This information especially goes for Chinese University students trying to get home after a night clubbing/drinking in Lan Kwai Fong.
Green Taxi- Serves New Territories. Some of these are conveniently parked outside University MTR Stop. If you are trying to get back to University before 12, get off at University Stop. If it is after 12, get off at Fo Tan Stop because the taxi has to make a big u-turn anyways because the main gate is closed and you have to enter through the other university entrance at central campus. I would sometimes take these after dance practice because I am too tired to walk 30-40 minutes up a hill from the very south of campus (University MTR Stop/Chung Chi Mirror Room) to the very north of campus (International House) in the middle of the night.
Blue Taxis - Serves Lantau Island. have not seen these at ALL. But then again I have only been on the Lantau Island to get to the airport.
By the way if you want the number(s) to the network of illegal discount taxis that give you 15-20% off the fare for rides over 100+ HKD send me a message.
Green Minibus. designated routes, designated timetables, designated pick-up spots, fixed fares, will take Octopus card. Drivers paid by hourly wage.
Red Minibus The red minibuses do not have designated routes, timetables, fares, takes only cash and are unregulated by the Hong Kong government therefore sketchy-ish. Drivers paid by fares so they try to haul ass and pick up as many passengers as possible. You can hail them from the sidewalk like a taxi. These little 小巴 have saved my life when I would miss the last train going down to Hung Hom because of (1) late night dance practices (2) procrastination. I usually only use this to go from University to Mongkok, then from Mongkok to Central, or from University to Wan Chai. Most of the time you will here the speed meter beeping away because the driver is way over the speed limit but neither the driver nor the passengers seem to care and you just have to get used to the beeping noise.
Border-Crossing Trains used this to go to Guangzhou once. A pleasant and extremely fast ride on the Magnetic Levitation.
Ferry- used it to go to Lamma/Lantau Island on a lame school field trip.
bicycles- Bike ride with some friends from Tai Wo to Tai Po in search of some waterfalls. Yes my pelvic bone was in pain the next day from riding the ghetto rented bike for 3-4 hours.
private car- friend driving me in his car. SO NICE to be in a car again with a bumping sound system, good music, driving fast, and looking at the Hong Kong lights at night.
Nanny Van -
double-decker Tram - took one of these to get to the airport. fun.
for more information please read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_Hong_Kong
