Letters | It's seriously time for Hong Kong to greenlight a transport museum
- Nostalgia runs rampant as the legendary 'Yellow Bus' and classic 'Fly Head' trains retire, leaving Hong Kong's rich transport history to rot in scrapyards rather than grace a museum.
- Letter demands repurposing of the abandoned Hung Hom station platforms—an 'ideal, ready-made solution'—for a world-class transit museum, a proposal stalled for decades due to bureaucratic hand-wringing over space.
- Hong Kong's only railway museum in Tai Po is too cramped for full-length trains, while bus operators hoard vintage fleets in hidden depots, letting cultural goldmines gather dust.
- Another complaint reignites the ongoing war on cyclists, slamming the MTR's archaic rule requiring bike owners to detach front wheels—a hazard that turns commuters into circus performers.
- Advocates tout London, Taipei, and Melbourne as proof that sane cities allow full bicycles on transit, urging modernisation for Hong Kong's 'smug, green' image.
Brief Summary
A transport enthusiast, Chan Wing-lun, pens a eulogy for Hong Kong's disappearing transit heritage, watching iconic vehicles like the Yellow Bus and 'Fly Head' trains retire into oblivion. The letter argues that vital artefacts are vanishing due to a chronic lack of exhibition space, and offers a 'groundbreaking' solution: convert the disused platforms at Hung Hom station into a proper transport museum. Chan highlights the site's ready-made infrastructure, perfect for holding full-length trains and vintage buses, as a low-cost, high-tourism-value boon—unlike the cramped Tai Po museum that can't even fit a modern train set.
Why This Matters
This is about more than just saving old buses and trains; it's about whether Hong Kong will treat its public transit legacy as a goldmine or a landfill. If the government keeps dithering, the city's globally renowned transport quirks—the rugged Dennis Jubilant double-deckers, the rattling trams—will become folklore, lost to scrapyards, leaving locals with nothing but faded photos and salty memories. The proposal for a Hung Hom museum is a rare opportunity to turn dead infrastructure into a living cultural landmark, attracting tourists and locals alike.