Last modified: 2020-07-31 by ian macdonald
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Flag shown in corporate logo
![[China Motor Bus Company flag]](../images/h/hk$bus.gif)
image by Eugene Ipavec, 4 October 2007
Corporate logo
![[China Motor Bus Company flag]](../images/h/hk$cmb.gif)
image contributed by Miles Li, 31 December 2002
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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CMB was well-known for its outdated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