heraclitus

We're just planning on seeing the sights and doing some shopping on a day trip... wouldn't we need to go in the direction of Huanggang anyway?

moondog

What sights did you have in mind?

rkkwan

44B goes to the Huang/Yellow bus terminus. Not the Lok Ma Chau East Rail Station. For the train station, it's West Rail to Yuen Long then B1.

Steve M

This brings up a question about Hong Kong buses in general that I have: I was there recently, and was using the Google Maps public transit feature to get around. It will tell you where to wait for and board a bus, and gives you the bus number.

I found out the hard way that it doesn't seem to differentiate between bus companies, or even minibuses and full-sized ones. So, if it says to wait at a particular stop for "Bus 21", that seems to mean to get on the first one with a 21 on the front, whether it be a mini-bus or regular bus.

Since Google Maps Transit also doesn't seem to tell you the bus company, I can only guess that the various bus and mini-bus operators coordinate their route numbering such that no two companies have the same route that stops at the same stop (or perhaps they are unique territory-wide).

Also, when I was at a bus stop and looking at one of the posted bus route and schedule guides, there was absolutely nothing on the posted sign, sign frame, or sign post to indicate to which bus company the information applied to. I looked for fine print, copyright notices, phone numbers, or anything else, and there was simply nothing on it that I could find that said which transit company it applied to.

Can someone shed light on the above?

heraclitus

Pretty basic first time SZ stuff...convenience is key given that we'll be travelling with a 2 year old. I'm thinking theme park, a museum, shopping at Luohu (just some fun trinket type shops, we're not really power shoppers), that sort of thing.

We were originally thinking of making it a day trip, but if it's not too much of a slog getting there and back, and if there's enough to draw us back, I could see us going back for a second day.

rkkwan

Steve M - Bus and green minibuses can definitely have overlapping numbers. You HAVE to know if you're taking a bus or minibus.

And green minibuses can have the same number on HK Island, Kowloon and New Territories, but usually the routes don't overlap, so generally not an issue.

As for buses, it is a but complicated among the 5 companies that run them. But the only overlapping numbers are those that don't cross the harbor. For example, Kowloon Motor Bus' #1 runs in Kowloon and Citybus' #1 runs on HK Island. The cross-harbor routes shared by KMB/Citybus or KMB/NWFB run the exact same routes, so not a problem either.

While it may be hard to find the info, it's not that confusing when you actually ride them. HK Government has a mobile app that lists routes of all, so do several 3rd party ones.

But at each bus stop, it's pretty clear which bus company runs that route. KMB's signs are red. Citybus mainly yellow, and New World First Bus Orange/Green. On the cross-harbor route run by 2 companies, on Kowloon side, those routes will be posted on KMB's red signs, and on HK Island, those will be posted on either Citybus or NWFB's signs. Each company also has its own style of route notices.

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Edit: If you want further elaboration, please start a new thread about bus riding in HK. I take several buses a day in all areas of HK, due to nature of my work. In addition to MTR, green and red minibuses AND the tram. I can answer most transportation question for you guys.

rkkwan

Honestly, with a 2-year old in tow, who doesn't care he/she visits China, I would NOT go to Shenzhen at all. And if I do, it's a taxi direct to either Shenzhen Bay or Lok Ma Chau Station.

percysmith

Changlong Zoo perhaps. Point to point trip by cheuffeur via Shenzhen Bay. I generally don't find walking around in Shenzhen "relaxing"...last time a scuffle happened when I was trying to cross the border.

heraclitus

We've done city trips fairly regularly with the boy up until now and it has generally worked out, so we thought we'd do the Shenzhen day trip... I've been to China before for extended periods (but not SZ specifically) so I have a halfway decent idea of what I'm in for. I will definitely consider the taxi to Lok Ma Chau as a substitute for the bus, though.

EmailKid

I've seen a reference to this in another thread, but haven't found any info.

Would love to hear more about this, as I may make another trip to HK in March.

moondog

See here:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Shenzhen

And, also Google "Shenzhen VOA"

Whatever you do, take care not to show up at checkpoint that isn't open for VOA on your travel date. Huanggang and Luohu appear to be your best bets.

EmailKid

Thanks moondog,

quite useful.

Will look into this further.