In the Sunshine Islands, there is a bus route numbering system so people can easily know where routes travel. As the Islands are zoned, this guide can help you determine what route you want to ride or drive.
Inner-Zone routes[]
Inner zone route numbers are combined by 2 numbers which the first number refers to the zone it serves. The second digit is always random.
Note: There are no single-digit route numbers (aka 1-9).
Zone 1[]
- 1x Inner Zone Routes in Zone 1 that does not travel via Dove Island, currently there are no such routes in operation.
- 2x Inner Zone Routes in Zone 1 that travel via Dove Island
Zone 4[]
- 4x: Inner zone routes in Zone 4
- 41 via Norton
- 42 via Inner roads in Central
- 46 via Eastmallow
- 47/48 Inner zone routes in Central
- 49 via North Island Hill
Zone 7[]
- 7x: Inner zone routes in Zone 7
- 70/72 via Senpai
- 71/77 via Alexander
- 73 via YiYan
- 74 Connecting multiple zones
- 75 via Rainbow, East Door
- 76 via Leafy Bay Estate
Zone 8[]
- 8x: Routes within Zone 8 - all routes to Zone 8 are currently signed as Zone 7 routes as they do not terminate within Zone 8 despite being inter-zone routes
Examples[]
- 42 is a inner zone route in zone 4
- 76 is a inner zone route in zone 7
- 25 is a inner zone route in zone 1 that runs via Dove Island
- 16 is a nonexistent inner zone route in zone 1 that does not travel via Dove Island
Currently there are no inner zone routes for Zone 6 (6x) and Zone 8 (8x).
Inter-Zone routes[]
All inter-zone routes have three numbers.
All zones, except routes going to Zone 1[]
ABx - A refers to the zone it departs from (smaller number), B refers to the other zone it terminates at (Bigger number). Routes use the same number when travelling in the reverse direction.
Routes that go to Zone 1[]
B refers to the other zone it terminates at.
- 1Bx - Going to Zone 1 using Western Harbour Tunnel
- 2Bx - Using Western Harbour Tunnel for one direction and Central - Western Bridge for the other direction.
- 3Bx - Going to Zone 1 via Central - Western Bridge
All routes use the same number in the reverse direction.
Example[]
- 4 6 2 is a route from zone 4 to zone 6
- 4 7 5 is a route from zone 4 to zone 7
- 6 7 0 is a route from zone 6 to zone 7
- 1 4 0 is a route from zone 1 to zone 4 using Western Harbour Tunnel
- 3 7 0 is a route from zone 1 to zone 7 using Central - Western Bridge
- 2 4 6 X is a route from Zone 1 to zone 4 using the Western Harbour Tunnel when going to zone 1 and the Central - Western bridge when going to zone 4.
Alphabet prefix[]
- Prefix A: Airport route - as Sunshine Islands does not have an airport, this prefix is not in use. E.g.: A41 is a nonexistent airport route. Currently there are no route numbers starting with this prefix.
- Prefix B: Border port route - as Sunshine Islands does not have any known road connections to other HK-based maps, this prefix is not in use. E.g.: B21 is a nonexistent border port route. Currently there are no route numbers starting with this prefix.
- Prefix C: Employee shuttle route - only available to employees of bus companies travelling to/from work during overnight hours (also known as crew or staff buses). For example, C01 is a CSB staff service,
- Prefix E: Route serving an expo centre (or can also be listed as express). E.g.: E73 is a nonexistent expo centre service route. Currently there are no route numbers starting with this prefix, as there is no major expo centre in the Islands.
- Prefix H: Sightseeing only route. E.g. : H275 is a nonexistent sightseeing route. Currently there are no route numbers starting with this prefix.
- Prefix K/M: Feeder bus service for a railway company. Currently, there are no routes starting with this prefix, since regular routes already act as such feeder services. M prefix can also be for training purposes, changing the route code on some buses to "M2" will set the destination display to Training.
- Prefix N: Overnight bus routes (except 24-hour routes). E.g.: Route N171 is an overnight bus route.
- Prefix R: Special bus routes, e.g. routes operated for large scale activities such as a concert or marathon (but except special routes during typhoons or strong winds), holiday routes or festival routes. E.g: R370 is a special bus route.
- Prefix S - Special services of a normal route that operate along with the normal route when there is a strong wind and buses are not allowed to use Desire Bridge. E.g.: Route S25R is the special service of Route 25R when buses are not allowed on Desire Bridge under strong wind. For the details of these special services, refer to Special traffic arrangements at strong wind.
- Prefix X: Express services. E.g. : X173 is a nonexistent express route. Currently there are no route numbers starting with this prefix.
- Prefix Y - Special services of a normal route that operate when typhoon signal no.8 or above is hoisted. E.g. : Route Y370 is the special service of Route 370 during typhoon. For the details of these special services, refer to Special traffic arrangements at typhoon.
- Prefix U: University services route. E.g. U47 is a university service route for Sunshine University.
Alphabet suffix[]
- Suffix A, B, C, D, E, F: No special meaning, only implying branches of a route series or being a conventional route. E.g: 49A is a branch of 49 series. Currently only the suffix A is used. (Note: E may also stand for an express branch)
- Suffix H: Hospital Routes. E.g. 75H is a nonexistent route that serves a hospital. Currently there are no route numbers that have this suffix.
- Suffix P: Routes that mainly serve during rush hours. E.g. 141P only serves at peak hours.
- Suffix R: Special bus routes, e.g. routes operated for large scale activities (but except special routes during typhoons or strong winds), holiday routes or festival routes. E.g: 171R only serves after events at Sunshine Stadium.
- Suffix S: Different meanings, including rush hour routes, late night bus routes or special bus routes, depending on situation. For example, route 76S is a special express route serving Ambling Peak during major events, such as Tomb Sweeping Day.
- Suffix T: Temporary bus routes. E.g. 172T is a nonexistent temporary route. Currently there are no route numbers starting with this suffix.
- Suffix X: Express services. E.g. : 246X is an express route.
Other things to note[]
Sunshine Express' buses used coloured boxes in addition to route numbers to help determine the type of service:
- Yellow: Local Zone 4 route
- Green: Inter zone
- Brown: Special (e.g. U47) in Sunshine Islands, formerly used for Express in George District.
Occasionally, you might get a message in the message feature in the stop reporter about route codes. Some of these work, like M2 for Training, but others don't.