Sunshine Express

Sunshine Express
Sunshine Express Logo
Company type	Bus company
Owner	Sunshine Islands Government
Current	Ceased operations

Sunshine Express, as known as SE, is one of the former bus operators in Sunshine Islands, which was founded by ATR102 and owned by ilLUMINE6039 before. BusDriverKLN and matthew8271 owned SE under the name of the Forever Group from 2020-2023 after near collapse. From August 6, 2023, to June 1, 2024, it was owned by the Sunshine Islands government as the first state-owned bus company that existed in the game. SE was replaced with Sunshine Islands Bus on June 1, 2024 as part of the Version 2.0 update and eventually Forever Transit's Central Connect on June 28, 2024, thus ending the operations of Sunshine Express entirely.

Introduction

Sunshine Express is the first operator in Sunshine Islands and mainly operates in Zone 4.

Before the handover, 10 normal routes and 2 rush hour routes were operated by Sunshine Express. These were assumed by Forever Transit Central Connect, although bus stops on former Sunshine Express routes use Sunshine Islands Bus branding.

The depot of Sunshine Express is located on West Moon Island and was renamed as Lunar Point. However, it is still owned by the government and now houses the Sunshine Islands Bus fleet.

Unlike other companies in the game, most vehicles in the Sunshine Islands bus fleet owned by Sunshine Express were group only, with the exception of the ADL Enviro500 MMC, which was kept as public so players had some choice of vehicle. As Sunshine Express wanted more of its group members to play in its flagship game, it served a purpose by encouraging people to join the group altogether.

History

Early years

Sunshine Express was founded in June 2017 and soon obtained the franchise to Zone 4 in the Islands. The company started their operation in SI in April 2018 when the map opened for service. Hence, Sunshine Express also takes its name from the Islands, making it its flagship division.

Expansion and growth

SE also obtained franchises in Derry District in July 2017. Though they once quit service from DD in December 2017, they later returned in August 2018 with an order for termination of operation in July 2020. SE also started operation in City of George and Tung Shing City in December 2017, but operation in TSC has ended in June 2018.

As of September 2018, all buses feature the 'SE 2.0' redesign with new exterior and interior specifications throughout the entire fleet. This includes working next stop displays, LCD route displays (which replaced orange LED displays) and the current yellow/blue livery. Prior to the update, buses carried a white/orange livery. This was gradually phased in, as buses introduced in early 2019 still had the older LED displays but lacked a next stop system; it was only on the ADL Enviro500 MMCs and the Youngman JNP6122s was the full redesign implemented. However, some older refurbished models only featured a minor upgrade and maintain the older livery, which include full-length LCD displays and interior next stop systems. The original buses with the SE 2.0 livery, barring the Hino Poncho were also refurbished in the same way, receiving full LCD displays and functional LCD next stop systems (The latter does not work in Hanwick currently).

Other changes on models entering service include a dynamic next stop display on the passenger side of the bus next to the route information, which shows upcoming stops the specific bus will serve.

In December 2018, yeung4333 acquired Sunshine Express, SE then became a member of FWWS together with Horizon Group.

In June 2020, Sunshine Express announced the opening of its airline division, known as Sunshine Air with a fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11s. This would provide the company with more business and as one of the largest Roblox Hong Kong groups, compete with groups that operate both bus services and airlines. The first several flights did not turn out well, with several accidents damaging the airline's reputation. Despite this, it still operated certain flights with a decent turnout until the SE management scandal mentioned below arose. In fact, SE proudly displayed such advertisements for Sunshine Air on buses it didn't own, such as on City Scape Bus vehicles.

Bus Sales Scandal

SE began providing bus selling service in mid-2020 with a selection of Enviro200 MMCs, HINO Poncho and Youngman JNP6122Gs. However a hefty price tag alongside with supplementary charges for the installation of important components such as the electronic display board and seats made the service deemed unpopular and not many persons discovered any problems. The high prices were heavy on Robux (which was already limited for many users) or required the use of money transfers in Hong Kong currency, which put users' bank accounts and credit cards at risk.

On the 21st of July 2020, SE was criticised for it's vehicle selling service as chaotic - with little to none after-sales service. Through Facebook, a displeased buyer explained that the bus came in an unserviceable state while the personnel in charge, ATR102 and ilLUMINE6039 (Lykios) failed to provide any assistance in resolving the issue. Lykios was alleged of fraud and vehicle theft - as he had never confirmed the status of the product before handing it out to the seller. The incident quickly turned into a scandal as Roblox Motor Bus (which operates in Robloton, owns TRR and operated New Harbour Bus) discovered that the Enviro200 MMC that SE put on sale was actually their work that was planned to be released for free. RMB stated that '... Related persons in RMB are regretful to the actions'. SE immediately received heavy criticism from the community for these actions. Another problem came from archived parts, which made buses themselves unusable after purchase. This was revealed in the same Facebook post.

FWWS first announced that SE was expelled from the group with immediate effect due to this scandal. West Door City soon announced that SE's operating right in the city was revoked, effective from 22nd of July at 10:43 pm Hong Kong Time. Derry District soon followed, but a grace period was provided for SE to operate until the end of July. City of George retained their operations contract but cancelled a few routes (First S616, then all non-franchised routes) so as to demonstrate Transport for George's stance on this affair. Due to these changes, some routes were discontinued by transport planning offices but the majority were awarded to competitor Bauhinia Bus, which expanded heavily during that time. In addition, many buses in SE's fleet were put in storage, retired or moved elsewhere.

ilLUMINE6039 (Lykios), who was a head of staff at Forever Transit and the sales division manager, took over the company as former CEO ATR102 resigned for taking responsibility for this scandal. ATR102 then left most of the Discord groups he was affiliated with after his resignation. To compensate all users for the sales issues, Sunshine Express retired their MAN CitySmart units (22xx) and released them to the public at no charge for a limited time, albeit without an interior. However rumours was that the CitySmart was not the work of ATR102 and his team and was a product of TaYLAS Transit (A virtual operator that operated in City of George and West Door City). Controversies continued to target Lykios for his negligence and irresponsibility. This also caused SE to take their stripped CitySmart off the public market. Following the reform, SE also discontinued money transfers for vehicle purchases.

For operations in SI, addisonshiu confirmed on 21st of July that SE will remain in the Islands through the official SI Discord server and retain its full network, although both ATR102 and Lykios left the Discord server following resignation. Together with City of George, SE has significantly downscaled into an operator that operates in 2 cities and 15 routes compared to 4 cities and 25 routes before the scandal.

However, on 29th of July 2020, Lykios announced that he would quit Roblox until the end of 2021. However unlike ATR102, he did not specify who to take the company forward and refused to hand out the management rights back to the directors board. He even stated in SE's official Discord that "No supports will be provided. Staff are on their own", which raised instant panic among SE and staff morale has fallen to an all time low. Development has completely frozen and many staff decided to resign altogether. SE became a complete disaster with nobody leading the company.

Ultimately, the disgruntled board of directors removed Lykios from all but Sunshine Airlines' role. They also appointed matthew8271 (Owner of MatTrans, a virtual bus operator that previously ran service in Hanwick City until transferring the rights to Sunshine Express in mid-November 2020) and BusDriverKLN (Owner of Forever Transit, the Vice Chairman of SE and the Creator of Hanwick) to take over the operations of the bus division. This marked the second ownership transfer since the scandal arose and the affair has finally drawn to a close. As a result, the bus division became part of Forever Group in November 2020.

As of early 2022, Lykios has reportedly left the Roblox platform altogether.

Redevelopment

Various rumours about the company arose during August but are mostly found ungrounded or be deemed as false.

The company announced a rebranding in October 2020, the rebrand comes with a new Chinese Name (新快運), CIS, livery and station signages. The rebranding was seen as a statement of cutting ties with previous owners and the mess associated with them (Especially Sunshine Airlines - which continued to be operated and managed by Lykios with numerous problems and criticisms). Most rebranding work in City of George was conducted during the opening on Welmsby Area in November whereas the rebranding work in SI would be progressively conducted through updates of the map. In Hanwick, all MatTrans stops were replaced with the current SE stops while ex-MatTrans vehicles were given SE decals. However, bus 9701 was repainted into Sunshine Express' current livery. This also came as Forever Group acquired the company in late 2020 and conducted refurbishment of some buses.

With the changes, the company reintroduced previous models in the City of George map and also revised their livery to have a white stripe in between the blue and yellow the company was known for. In addition, buses with the newest version of the livery also have a route display change: Chinese text on top of the English text. Despite the change, some buses (mainly in Sunshine Islands) can still be seen with the old Chinese name and older liveries. As of March 2021, the Volvo B5TL and Enviro500 MMC were the only two types of buses in SI that has been updated to the Oct 2020 standards whereas the Scania K360IB and MAN RC2 were awaiting the new version of the livery (which would be a repaint). As of May 31, 2024, the update has been done to the RC2s, although the rest of the fleet did not get repainted.

In November 2020, SE announced that they will be taking over all 10 routes previously operated by MatTrans in Hanwick City, marking the first network expansion after the scandal. This takeover also included the rebranding of vehicles and introduction of new ones into the game. It is projected that 26 routes will be operated by SE in 3 cities by the end of 2020, an annual growth in the overall network despite the group's downfall.

At the same time, Sunshine Express announced that Sunshine Air will no longer be affiliated with the company's bus operations due to continued management issues at the latter. Sunshine Air continued to be managed by the old SE management team while Sunshine Express was then under the deputy chairmen matthew8271 and BusDriverKLN with assistance from other senior ROBLOX builders and virtual bus companies, including Transport for George.

As of May 2, 2022, Sunshine Express ceased operation in the City of George after 4.5 years of service, with the closure of the said map.

Restructuring And Shutdown

On July 31, 2023, Forever Group announced on Facebook that it would retire the Sunshine Express brand effective August 6, owing to the overlap between it, MatTrans and Forever Transit. Therefore, Forever Group will take over Sunshine Express while improving service among the latter two brands. The Forever Group would maintain most routes in its Hanwick tenders (with the Sunshine Express routes being passed to Forever Transit, MatTrans and Roblox Transportation HK). However, the company's contract in the Sunshine Islands would be passed to the Government of Sunshine Islands. Due to the status of the brand and its ties to the Islands, the Government kept operating Sunshine Express under the Transport Department, making the majority of Zone 4 services fully operated by the state. Existing bus fares, however, were not changed.

On August 6, 2023, Sunshine Express ceased operation in Hanwick after operating a final run on route 95B and the Government of Sunshine Islands officially took over Sunshine Express's ownership in Sunshine Islands at the same time.

In mid-2024, the Government of Sunshine Islands awarded the Zone 4 tender to Forever Transit, which began June 1, 2024, at 6:00 pm Hong Kong Time. With this development, Forever Transit's Central Connect would replace the longstanding Sunshine Express branding, bringing an end to Sunshine Express' seven years of operation to the community and Sunshine Islands. This means that Sunshine Islands was the longest single map held by the company, from inception to shutdown with only minor changes to the network, spanning their entire 7 years of operations. The government then sold the remaining Sunshine Express-branded buses.

However, due to a last minute delay in delivery of the refurbished buses, the government rebranded its bus operating division as Sunshine Islands Bus on June 1, 2024, which became the interim operator for Zone 4 routes until Forever Transit Central Connect finally launched on June 29, 2024. As of June 30, 2024, some Sunshine Express bus stops are yet to be replaced.

Routes

Routes operated by Sunshine Express in SI

Route Number	Start/Finish Point	Schedule (as of May 2024)
41A	Sunshine Station ↔ Northern Beach	Service Time: 05:00 - 00:50
42	Southern Central ↺ North Island Estate	Service Time: 24 Hours
46	Eastmellow Praya Road ↔ West Moon Island	Service Time: 05:00 - 01:00
47	Norton Town Center ↔ Sun Central Street	Service Time: 05:00 - 01:00
49A	Sunshine Station ↔ Northern Beach	Service Time: 05:00 - 00:30
140	Long Island Ferry Pier ↔ Sunshine Station	Service Time: 05:50 - 00:30
141	Container's Island Visitor Center ↔ Norton Town Center	Service Time: 07:30-09:00, 17:30-19:00
142	Dove Estate ↔ Sunshine Station	Service Time: 24 Hours
148	Container's Island Visitor Center ↔ Norton Town Center	Service Time: 04:30 - 00:10
246X	Normal Departure: Eastmellow Praya Road ↺ Timelapse Mall Special Departure 1: Eastmellow Praya Road → Container's Ferry Pier Special Departure 2: Timelapse Mall → Container's Ferry Pier Additional Departure 1: Timelapse Mall → Eastmellow Praya Road Additonal Departure 2: Container's Ferry Pier → Eastmellow Praya Road	Service Time: Normal Departure: 07:00 - 08:10/17:00 - 18:00 Special Departure 1: 08:30 - 08:50 Special Departure 2: 08:38 - 08:58 Additional Departue 1: 07:08 - 08:30/17:08 - 19:25 Additional Departure 2: 07:16 - 08:39/17:16 - 19:33
473	Leafy Bay ↔ West Moon Island	Service Time: 24 Hours
U47	North Sunshine University ↔ Hotel Symbol	Service Time: 08:15 - 20:40 This route only use coach to operate

Bus Fleet

Former fleet

• Scania K360IB (#1XX; Group only - retired)
• MAN RC2 (#20XX, #30XX before refurbishment; Group only; sold to Forever Transit)
• ADL Enviro500MMC Facelift 12 m (Glass Staircase) (#6000-6049, sold to Forever Transit and renumbered as 1140-1189)
• Volvo B5TL (40xx; Group only)
• Volvo B8L (Admin only, normal units were sold to MatTrans, luxury units were sold to Forever Transit)
• Youngman JNP6120 (Sold to Metrobus and Forever Transit, renumbered as 3100-3110)
• Toyota Coaster
• ADL Enviro500 (#48XX, #4800-#4809 and #4825-#4849 were sold to Forever Transit, #4810-#4824 were sold to RTHK)
• Hino Poncho (10xx Low-floor Minibus)
• Youngman JNP6122G (2000-2029) - some units resold and others transferred to Hanwick
• Optare Solo (20xx, admin buses)

Service in other cities

Former

• Forever City (Closed)
• West Door City (Ceased operation effective July 22, 2020)
• Derry District (Contract ended August 1, 2020)
• Tung Shing City (Ceased operation in June 2018)
• City of George (Closed, ceased operation effective May 2, 2022)
• Hanwick City (November 2020-August 5, 2023)

Gallery

Refer to SE Buses Gallery.

Links

• SE Facebook Page
• SE Roblox Group
• SE Discord