Hydrogen bus hits all the right spots with enthusiasts

The first Citybus hydrogen fuel cell-powered double-decker made its debut yesterday, with most of the 100 passengers on the inaugural service praising the bus for being quiet and stable.

The zero-emissions bus, made by Wisdom (Fujian) Motor, has a 400-kilometer range after a 10-minute refueling spell.

The double-decker departed at 11 am yesterday from a bus station at Muk On Street in Kai Tak, traveled to Sham Shui Po, Yau Tsim Mong and Kowloon City before the trip ended at Hoi Tat in Cheung Sha Wan. The journey took about 40 minutes.

Hundreds of bus enthusiasts lined up to catch the first trip.

A student, Felix, was at the bus stop at

3 am to be the first one to set foot on it.

"This is a milestone for the development of green transportation and I wanted to get on the bus to commemorate this moment," he said

Another passenger said the bus was quiet and comfortable.

Yet another said it runs more smoothly than diesel-fueled buses and had cooler air-conditioning.

However, its announcements weren't loud enough for those sitting at the back.

The bus will start servicing route 20 regularly between Kai Tak and Cheung Sha Wan in the coming month, making six to eight trips a day.

General manager (operations) Roger Ma Chim-wai said it would mainly run on routes in Kowloon, with 22M and 20A up next in the coming months, to examine its operational capabilities on a range of routes.

"We will gather further invaluable operational insights into real-world scenarios, including differing traffic conditions, weather factors and performance," he said, adding that the bus will also be used on Hong Kong Island routes in the future.

The bus company will also build a second refueling station at its Chong Fu Road depot on Hong Kong Island this year, with the city's first hydrogen refueling station in West Kowloon starting operation last year.

But Ma said fares will not be raised for the time being even though the cost of operations and research for hydrogen buses is higher.

"We only have one hydrogen bus in operation now and will adjust fares based on the cost of hydrogen buses after mass production in the future," he said.

"Once hydrogen buses become popular, I believe their prices will be lower and operational costs will in turn go down."

Ma said the company will purchase five more electric double-deckers and five hydrogen buses for parallel road tests and deployment.

He also urged the government to allow hydrogen buses to travel through cross-harbor tunnels as soon as possible so that they can operate on more routes.