How 🇭🇰 Hong Kong Built the World's Best Transit 

This doesn’t count as another China video

As a Hongkonger, I get quite peeved off when I miss the train just to realize the next one comes in two minutes...sometimes I feel like I take the efficiency of the MTR for granted.

As a teenager in Hong Kong, I remembered that I can go anywhere just using one card with public transport. I don't need to have a car, I don't need to rely on my parent to drive me to somewhere, I can go out with my friends, I can go to school with bus in elementary. A good public transport network mean freedom for young teenagers.

"strict no drinking or eating policy" as a person who was lived in HK for 3 years, it really isnt that strict

I was in Hong Kong last month for the first time. The MTR makes BART in San Francisco look like a transit system in a third world country in comparison.

How Hong Kong built the worlds largest rally in a train station.

6:56 : "there is a strict no eating or drinking policy" HK students : *laughs in 7-11*

Meanwhile in Hong Kong: Half of the MTR stations are closed

My city has the world’s best transit. Our metro is beautiful

I see my apartment in the video! (also, great video)

As a visitor to HK, it's transportation system impresses me the most.

When I started this video, I was like, "Damn, I gotta visit Hong Kong." Then I remembered current events. I guess I'll have to wait for a while.

the video sums up why Hongkongers rely heavily on the Mass Transit Railway system while hating the company at the same time

Fun fact: most US streetcar systems historically operated the same way. Then the government decided to heavily subsidize motorcars and they could no longer compete

I worked on the Australian team that installed the first smartcard transit ticketing system for HK in the late 1990s. I can still remember some of the LRT station names.

Living in hk throughout my life, we just take this transit system for granted, it wasn't until I went to other places when I relaize how fast, simple and efficient our line really is. It's rarely down at all and the only times it's down you can just switch to another line to contiune your routine. Some of us don't even take buses because of that, since there's no traffic jams that would make you late to work.

Except when a train crashed on East rail line this week .

7:07 I literally visit this EXACT 7-eleven every other day. Never thought I would ever see it in a RU-vid Video! Hang Hau Station, Exit A.

The start of Tuen Ma line is very delightful for Mr Lau 羅先生

31 Minute Delay equals a Fine Me: *Laughs in Melbourne Metro 40 Mins per train*

Next video: "How Hong Kong has a mass traffic jam when MTR has a technical difficulties." Yes it happened. I an a hongkonger.

It's funny how you talk about Hongkong transit at a time like this.

The MTR also profits from running other country's services, such as TFL rail in London which is partly run by MTR

I studied abroad in Hong Kong from January until May this year and the public transit was by far one of my favorite parts, especially because I came from the US. Getting everywhere so quickly in a city is something Americans will never understand.

Hongkong : Report delay that longer than 8 minutes to the goverment Everyone : Wow that's amazing. Japan : pfft, we issue written explanation if we late by a minute North Korea : pfft, we execute everyone involved in that particular train if they're late by 10 seconds

5.894 rounded to 5.8... that hurts

I went to Hong Kong and I was more confident in their system in 2 days and could travel anywhere. My own city is a lot harder to use and I’m less confident on it.

Hong Kong, a place that once made us Hong Kong people proud, now has more than a million people emigrating like refugees due to political factors.

Please use metric system as well! The square foots does not mean anything to us (rest of the world)

Out of all the cities I've lived, nothing beats HK. If the apartments are not so expensive, this city would be heaven.

It's a job well done (again)! You guys always manage to put 2 and 2 together and blow my mind every single time. Keep at it!!

Singapore: **sad noises**

I've travelled to 30 countries and Hong Kong had the EASIEST transit system to understand out of all the metro cities. Unreal. Need to go back 🙌🏾

0:56 A steep 370m or 12,000 ft climb, not sure about that one chief.

this is the best and the fairest video explaining the MTR i have ever seen! good work and glory to Hong Kong

4:07 Disabled only needs 2 HKD for every ride including bus & mini bus

0:55 '(...) a steep 370-meter, or 12,000-foot ascent (...)' Minor correction: 370 m is equal to ~1,200 feet, not 12,000.

6:44 That is no longer true. That was a valid policy until the two major metro companies merged into MTR, which is nowadays largely disregarded. In the past year, there have been three major delays which the public announcement, news outlet and their mobile application failed to disclose within an hour. 1. The time they just had signalling error, no signal or warning until you are already in the paid area and saw a sea of people 2. The day after a T10 typhoon where fallen trees blocked some major roads and forced everyone underground. Once again, no special warning in or outside of the station. 3. 5th August, disobedient protest. They refused to admit their inability to move passengers for well over 2 hours.

Hong Kong have light rail system in the New Territories too.

i love how obvious poly matter is that kid who loved trains a little too much but also never grew out of it

Ok, everyone, I think he's obsessed with trains and China and Hong Kong

0:17: "...99.9 % arrive on time." 7:00 "They arrive so often there is no need for a time table." Haha well played MTR, well played!

The transition to the advertisement is so smooth

i have so much respect for you sharing your sources compared to a major of RU-vid channels

-Ok, so what are you teaching toda... -CHINA -ok and any other than Chi.. -HONGKONG

Your transitions into the ad read are actually incredible. 😂😂😂

Maybe that’s why us Hongkongers get so pissed when somebody is late 😂

Excellent Video! Thank you so much!

A beautiful and wonderful channel 😍😍

You’re right about Detroit, they spend more on their PeopleMover to keep it running than the amount people spent to ride it. The Detroit PeopleMover is considered a white elephant

It's perfect. I went there 9 times and I'm still amazed by how they did it

"the only double decker tram in the world" *bruh*

4:02 You'd have to be stupid to take that route. The Airport Express (teal) costs five times as much as the Tung Chung line (runs paralell) and saves about two minutes of time.

3:58 No one goes to Central with the Airport Express from Lo Wu. Instead you’d change to the Tsuen Wan Line in Tsim Sha Tsui, which connects to Tsim Sha Tsui East station on the West Rail Line through a pedestrian tunnel.

2:38 I dont usually hear my towns name except when talking about transportation and poverty

The First Train in Hong Kong is KCR in 1910 with 1 Line at the Time with 6 Stations and the first Subway/Metro in Hong Kong is MTR(Metro Transit Railway) in 1979 with 1 Line with 8 Stations at the Time

Can we talk about how clever the dual station cross platform interchange that the MTR uses is? On their busiest lines, to remove the bottleneck that transferring lines creates in stations, they'll run the two trains from the two lines people transfer between onto two sides of the same station platform so to change lines you just walk across the platform. Of course there's two directions you could want to interchange in, so they'll run the lines parallel to each other for two stations so there's one station per transfer direction. It's brilliant and I can't believe no other network on the planet has stolen this idea yet.

Thanks for another interesting video and I like how you mention the caveats of it as well. As wonderfully managed the public transportation system is, it also shows shows that common limitation: What to do when the system isn't in working condition and you are not prepared with a plan B, like a car.

Wow! Great Video!

0:18 Yeah, as a Hong Konger, I am state that it’s true. The train always come on the time as same as the estimated time. 0:32 I think it’s mainly because of lack of parkings/ the parkings are expensive. 4:32 The video here is actually commercial area. Mainly include office or wareroom for storage. 7:49 A portion of the place in HK is not developed, mainly because of brownfields and country park. (Hope my comments here stays impartial and true 😂 tell me if I am wrong) However, I am still appreciate how much work/ research/ time have you used to prepare for this video! Most of the information is right! You’ve gained a sub from Hong Kong now 🤣🤣🤣

Octopus card is so convenient! You can recharge in convenient shop like 7/11 But MTR is very expensive in Hong Kong. At least they do not have strike in transportation, not like RATP in Paris... :D

A.K.A. how Hong Kong made it to my bucket list! 😀

this is a very insightful video

That footage is amazing. My wife and i are going to Hong Kong next month for the first time. I hope things have calmed down by then. The city looks amazing.

I love those old trams. And the Star ferry. And the longest escalator!

love it how you merged Tung Chung Line (the orange one) and the Airport Express (the green one) as they go on the same route and I use the orange line everyday!

Cool video, I learn something today. Thank you.

What a great video!

I've been to HK and the trains there are so good. Unlike where I live (NYC)

This is a great video! I kept telling my American friends that the HK problem is not a problem of ideology but of survival and that is largely to do with the housing crisis. Thanks for elaborating it.

It's really nice to see how someone else, solve problems, that could help someone else.

Can confirm. Rode it in 2019 and was supremely jealous. To be fair, the NYC subway did receive some major signal updates during the pandemic

PolyMatter: Makes good videos PolyU: Makes a homemade slingshot

I just wished America would have greater public transport. The fact you can't get trains from major cities as well as some cities like Cape Coral or Arlington Texas have no public transport astonishes me. It would cut emissions would wide so easily if there was a decrease in the amount of car travel.

HK certainly has a superb transit system. It puts many other cities to shame. Great video.

5:33 MY FAVORITE APPLE STORE 🥰

Hong Kong was our first family trip outside of the country, and as a first time international traveller, you'd think that we'd rely on taxis, etc. but during the whole duration of our stay, we only used their public transport. I loved and enjoyed commuting for the first time, and ended up hating my country's public transportation system even more 😅

Polymatter and China , still a better love story than Twilight.

I have experience living in NYC and Hong Kong, and indeed, there's not much traffic jam in Hong Kong, rarely happened unless there's car crash or some of the tunnels having bottle neck in peak period.

As a born in HK teen, yout introduction to the sponsor is superb 😂 Didn't expect that while watching

It's $2 HKD for eligible elderly wherever they go in HK ;)

When where you live doesn't have MTR: Inconvenient yet cheap

On march 1st this year my class are going to japan and transit to hong kong, meanwhile the corona virus isnt slowing down i hope they will return safely🙏🏼🙏🏼

Many Hong Kong people are dissatisfied with the performance of the MTR but they just have no alternative choices :(

Why do Hong Kong Police wake up so early? So they can beat the crowds

So interesting! I love HKG, consider it the most btfl city in the world due to the islands, beaches, hills and forests. I am sorry for their freedoms being reduced. What a surprise that the govt. is responsible for the unaffordable housing, though.

That transition into the sponsor shout out was PHENOMENAL 🙆🏾‍♂️

Yay! A video about my city!

The metro MTR was great, but it’s getting more and more problematic in every aspect

I think Hong Kong property developer should learn a thing or two about building houses on hills from our friend the minecraft villager.

I used to live in Hong Kong, and its amazing public transport system influenced the way I look at transit forever. It's truly spectacular and it will always have a special place in my heart.

I never seen or heard such smooth transition from movies to advertising

I lived in hk for 8 years, can never go back to using any other public transport system the same.

Love the HK metro. TTC needs to implement this system

can confirm, went to hong kong fall 2018 and used subway religiously. Its all in english too so it was pretty great

I do agree that the MTR is never late, also every minute, the hk island line comes, making it extremely efficient and time saving

4:38 That got me twisted there. London underground in US and NYC system in UK

So would this mean the mtr is actually like Amazon? The retail subsidizes the transit the same as web services subsidizes retail?

4:39 Also , before 1979 , Hong Kong does have another railway company called KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway) build by British in 1910 , in 2007 these two company merger .The KCR company made iconic lines , the East rail line (light blue）, West rail line and Ma on shan Line (Tun ma line).

As someone who has used metro in Hong Kong, Paris, NYC, Delhi, Singapore, Thailand etc i can confirm that nothing beats the HK MTR system. Or in fact, all of HK public transportation