The World's Best Public Transport? | Hong Kong MTR Explained

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

#hongkong #mtr #metro

[RMTransit]

This video a remake of a previous video incorporating your feedback, improving pronunciations, making corrections, and fully revamping the visuals and script. Please enjoy and consider sharing!

[ArchOfWinter]

You forgot the mention the Octopus Card isn't just for transit use, practically every chain fast food, restaurant, convenient store, super market, drug store, even some department store, use it for payment. Some school even use them to take attendance and some residential development use them as pass cards instead of keying in passcodes.

[madingthree]

Hong Kong's metro is in a league of its own; managing to carry as much passengers per day as most of the world's top 10 busiest with half the number of stations and lines

[chrisbell]

I lived in Hong Kong for two years in Causeway Bay, nearest to the Tin Hau MTR station (about 100 m from our flat). I loved using the MTR every day for getting around the city. The double decker trams (ding-dings) also were close to where we lived. The MTR is always so clean and well organised. I used to do a lot of hiking, both on HK Island and Lantau Island and it is wonderful how the MTR gets you to and from trailheads!

[connorcrowley]

I remember being in Hong Kong during a "crisis" where the system had cascading delays during a single rush hour. MTR was hit with a massive investigation and fine, with people getting fired!

I lived in NYC at the time during one of the "summer of hells" and was stunned at the contrast in accountability and service quality.

Also... Apart from Covid years the system is profitable and self funding before real estate!

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

My favorite of the MTR lines is the Disneyland Resort Line. Not only are the trains adorable with Mickey-shaped windows, Mickey-shaped handholds and cool bronze statues of Disney characters, but the two station designs of Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort are a nice touch. Because the train is meant to be a time machine, taking you from the future (Sunny Bay) to the past (Disneyland Resort). Hong Kong Disneyland was just a Diet Disneyland when it first opened in 2005 due to the budget, so it is amazing to see the transformation the park has been undertaking now with the additions of Mystic Point, Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch, a new and improved unique castle, and Arendelle.

[mr_mime]

As a HongKonger, I can firmly say most of the new towns in Hong Kong are TODs(transport-oriented development, for those who don't know), with MTR being the main mode of transport.

For the pronunciation Reece, 'Tsuen Wan' should be pronounced as 'Chuen Wan'.

Here's a fun fact: The urban line K-stock and the Tung Chung Line K-stock have different top speeds (80km/h and 130km/h respectively)as the motors on board the two trains are different.

Here's something special about the Tseung Kwan O line, at off-peak hours, there is only a shuttle service between LOHAS Park and Tiu Keng Leng(roughly 10 minutes per train), the trains will terminate at Tiu Keng Leng, then enter a section of pocket track and re-enter service as a train towards LOHAS Park at platform 3.

[capnoddy]

*Interesting fact*
HK MTR: *taking the longest and most expensive route from Tuen Mun to Chai Wan charges HK$28, i.e. ~£2.8* (journey time: 75min) (excluding airport express and disneyland lines)
London Underground: *taking tube for just one station in zone 1 charges you £2.7* (journey time: 2min)

while London Tube keeps striking once a month ~.~

[squidgame]

More info on the East Rail Line platform gate retrofitting: The black and silver brackets on the platform edges seen throughout this video are where the gates will be installed, and MTR will change the stopping positions on the entire line to even out the passenger distribution - something which arguably causes overcrowding on the line as much as the reduced capacity of shorter 9-car trains.

[andrewclarkson]

As a visitor to Hong Kong, I have been on most of these lines. The engineering, design, and operation of this system is quite impressive! In the past, I have envied the pace of development, too. Thanks for the video!

[Entername-mdev]

Among all the cities I’ve travelled to I think HK has truly mastered the art of building subway/train systems. God bless Hong Kong 🇭🇰

[JM-xpco]

As a Hong Konger, some points I want to add:
1. Many of the residents criticise the system because they think the service quality in the past was better(kinda true haha). But still I think the system is one the best in the world.

2. A large portion of the people who will head back to the Mainland China live in North New Territories. In addition to the high price, most people don't use the high speed rail. The number of passengers has been quite low even before COVID.

3. Although the speed of HK Tramways is slow, its fare is incredibly cheap. Just HKD 3 (~USD 0.4) allows you to travel approx 13km from the west end of Kennedy Town to the east end of Shau Kei Wan. In addition, many stations of the Island Line are deep underground. Thus many people take the tram as 1st choice when they travel a short distance to save the time going up and down the ground.

4. Although the MTR network has a large coverage, buses still play an important role of HK's transport network due to the terrain. Especially when travel between East and West New Territories, the difference on traveling time is quite obvious. People also prefer to travel on bus if the distance is long.

5. The coverage of the Airport Express (AEL) is so little that many of the citizens would travel on airport buses to the Airport. The airport buses serves all 18 districts in Hong Kong, and therefore you can do less transit or even no need. But still the AEL should be your first choice if you travel to West Kowloon and HK Island.

[Jiggysaw]

you know what I LOVE about the HK MTR? They keep the cabin SUPER COOL even in the hottest days of the Summer!!! It's extremely refreshing to enter one of those when it's hot like an oven outside :)

[alum]

The cross platform interchanges at Prince Edward, Mong Kok, Admiralty, etc. are so impressive

[Geckokidthepaladin]

As someone living in London from Hong Kong I really appreciated ALL the pronunciations you did, it makes me just a little nostalgic...

[NganNguyen-qfib]

The MTR is one of the best things about my trip to Hong Kong last year. So extensive, cheap, and reliable!

[grandson_lok_zai]

Hong Kong MTR is so well designed that it can be profitable just by operating the metro system. However it still develop residential buildings, shops and malls around the stations to even earn more profit. As a Hongkonger I must say that the MTR is really a convenient way to travel within Hong Kong

[ArchOfWinter]

MTR related developments also help drives other transits too. Most newer projects also has mass transit hub to facilitate various bus routes.
That being said, there are downside of MTR extending to new neighborhoods. MTR drives down the demand for taxi and mini-buses, both are mostly independently own and operated. It also rise in rent and property value in once affordable area for residents and commercial spaces alike. For people looking to sell, rise in property value is great, but for people who are buying, Hong Kong is already the most expensive city for real estate, any rise in cost is bad.

[squidgame]

I think you mentioned this last time, but there was no focus on the trains themselves this time. Just wanted to say that there is some genius practical design on the newer MTR trains on the Tuen Ma Line and East Rail Line, despite their questionable reliability. These are what I like to call 'capacity boosting'. Basically, MTR no longer puts handrails in the centre of the carriage between doors to encourage people to move further inside. They also have more standing space next to the doors so that people who stand there do not block the way. This does come at the cost of losing a few seats to add the extra standing space, but I would say it is a fair trade-off as the newer trains' seats are more comfortable.

[isaacsyng]

Hi Reece! As a Hong Kong student from UofT, I can surely say you nailed most of the pronunciations for the locations, which is very nice! Being in Toronto for a year now, I can definitely say that there are things that the MTR can learn from the TTC, such as connectivity- I really loved how stations like Spadina and Union have streetcar termini built directly inside the station without fare gates in between, and one staircase (or even none) to change within. The Light Rail you mentioned in the video is built inside a MTR station but it requires a bit of walking and two Octopus taps. Other than that, the transit projects in Trt are much more interesting here! Hybrid LRT and Subway Projects such as the Eglinton Crosstown are way more interesting than the East Rail Line crossing the harbour... (which is just like any other station) Anyway let me know if you're visiting HK anytime soon, I'll gladly be your tour guide! Thanks for this video, I am proud as a HKer to be featured haha ;)