China Motor Bus Company (Hong Kong)

Last modified: 2007-11-17 by phil nelson
Keywords: china motor bus company |
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Flag shown in corporate logo
  image by Eugene Ipavec, 4 October 2007

Corporate logo
image contributed by Miles Li, 31 December 2002

See also:

• Hong Kong

The China Motor Bus Co. Ltd.. (CMB) was the first bus company in Hong Kong, and was granted franchise (read: monopoly) on Hong Kong Island in 1933. The company flag was similar to today's maritime signal flag 'F' (white with a red lozenge overall), with a highly stylized cipher of the company in white at the centre. The flag appeared on the company logo which at one stage was printed onto tickets. Later (in the 1970s?) the flag was changed into white with red rectangle (half the length and half the width of the flag) at the centre, again with the cipher in white. I have never seen the flag being flown, but it appeared on the company logo, which was painted onto the body of every CMB bus. (Hardly anyone noticed there was a flag inside the logo!) The CMB was well-known for its outdated ethos and poor services. (For example, what's the difference between one bus every 15 minutes and two buses every 30 minutes? Answer: the two buses arrived at the same time after waiting for 30 minutes.) In 1998, the Hong Kong SAR Government finally took its faith in capitalist competition seriously, and revoked the CMB's franchise, a move few Hong Kongers would be mourning for.
Miles Li, 31 December 2002