Abortive Kowloon Tramway Proposal

In the 1910s, Hong Kong Tramways proposed tram routes in Kowloon.

It was first proposed by Hong Kong Tramways to build tramways in Kowloon. As early as in October 1913, Hong Kong Tramways applied to the government to operate trams in Kowloon. It suggested a route beginning from the former Kowloon Station in Tsim Sha Tsui,going westwards via Nathan Road to Sham Shui Po (the now Lai Chi Kok Road)and Boundary Street. The eastern route passed via Chatham Road to Kowloon City. However, this plan was rejected by the government. The reasons were said to be the concerns of economy downturn post-World War I. The government was of the opinion that urban renewal would be the top priority.

Until 1923, as the government had the need to develop the Kowloon area, it mentioned the Kowloon tramway proposal again. On 4th October in the same year, the Legislative Council even approved the funding for initial construction. However, within a short period of time, the government once again denied the feasibility of the proposal. Its reason was that relatively speaking, bus service offered greater flexibility than tram service with higher driving speed and less noise. Trams drove on rails on the roads, and the platforms would inevitably obstruct use of road space by other vehicles. Also, some international cities began to phase out trams at that time. Therefore, the proposal was shelved as a matter of course.

A bus operated by the Hong Kong Tramways running between Happy Valley and Sheung Wan.

In 1928, Hong Kong Tramways also operated the bus service. Having bought ten single-deck buses from England, it officially started to operate a bus route running between Sheung Wan Market and Happy Valley in November of the same year. Since then, although Hong Kong Tramways strove to open new lines, its efforts were opposed repeatedly. Due to unfavourable factors including high operating costs and low profits, coupled with Hong Kong Tramways’ failure to bid for the franchise under the government retender of the right to operate public bus service in 1936, Hong Kong Tramways had to sell its eight single-deck buses to China Motor Bus Company Limited, ending its short-lived bus operations.