I first became acquainted with the Hong Kong minibus system soon after I moved here for work in 1991. I resided in university accommodations situated on a hill overlooking Fo Tan. A minibus service that ran from Sha Tin Station provided the most convenient direct access. It was speedy, cheap and regular.

At that time, the minibus radio would typically be operating at ample volume. After a few weeks of using this service, I noticed that drivers would sometimes increase the volume and lean toward the radio as they drove. I had no grasp of Cantonese, yet these broadcasts somehow sounded familiar. The penny dropped one evening heading home when I realized that the calling of horse races in Cantonese or English is remarkably similar: A steady stirring start typically builds to a rising, explosive conclusion in both cases.

Some passengers were just as attentive to these broadcasts as the driver. Once aboard the usually packed minibus and underway, you entered a unique, small, separate world for a short time. I had never encountered this sort of shared experience using public transport before.

The first minibuses were cargo-carrying minivans that began transporting people, without authorization, in the 1950s. They mainly serviced outlying villages and areas that lacked regular bus services in the New Territories. These minibuses provided access to the likes of Yuen Long, Sheung Shui and Fanling.

Many regular bus and tram drivers went on strike during the extensive, deadly anti-government riots in 1967. This presented a conspicuous opportunity for minibus operators, who soon began expanding their routes. These new services provided relief at a critical time, and the government, accordingly, turned a blind eye. One of these new routes carried passengers from Yuen Long to the then-busy Jordan Road Ferry, providing access to Hong Kong Island and elsewhere.

After stability was restored in Hong Kong by 1969, the government astutely legalized minibuses and issued about 5,000 licenses covering urban and rural areas. This convenient addition to Hong Kong’s transport network was somewhat unconventional, but it was cheap and speedy. It immediately proved popular with residents.

In due course, a spiderweb of routes allowed far easier access to short- and long-distance connections for an eager, cost-conscious public. As the building of public housing accelerated hugely, the demand grew still further.

Originally, minibuses were British-built. By the 1980s, more spacious and reliable Japanese minibuses began to dominate. At first, minibuses were licensed to carry nine passengers, since expanded to 14, then 16, and now 19 passengers.

Time passes, but you still see model minibuses displayed for sale almost everywhere, doubling as souvenirs and toys. This utilitarian transport network has rightly embedded itself in Hong Kong’s collective memory

Hong Kong developed — and has maintained — two types of minibuses: red minibuses, running what the Transport Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region calls nonscheduled services; and green minibuses, which provide scheduled services. All are distinguished by the color of their roofs.

Red minibuses are not regulated in terms of route, timetable, or fare. In December 2023, according to the department, there were just 950 red minibuses and, collectively, they carried around 160,000 passengers a day.

Green minibuses run on fixed routes according to agreed timetables and fares. They total around 3,300, and, in 2023, still carried just over 1.3 million passengers daily.

But business is fading. Over 30 years since I first began relying on minibuses, a rising number of owners and drivers are struggling to make a decent living despite working very long hours. Various factors explain why this is so, including the extraordinary expansion of the MTR system and the road network (accommodating double-deckers); the adverse impact of the 2019 insurrection followed by the COVID-19 pandemic; and, most recently, the huge lift in Shenzhen shopping and dining visits. As a consequence, the value of minibus licenses has plunged.

The competition faced by minibus operators is thus fiercer, and a number have encountered serious financial difficulties, where fare income has not been able to cover running and borrowing costs, and bankruptcies have followed.

Red and green minibuses still offer exceptionally handy, heavily patronized, low-cost services to dozens of major housing estates, both public and private. One of Hong Kong’s most distinctive private estates is Wonderland Villas, built in 1984. It is huge and commands superb views, perched in the hills high above Tsuen Wan. It is an unmissable landmark looking across Victoria Harbour toward the New Territories. It relied heavily on minibus services to make it accessible — and it still does.

Time passes, but you still see model minibuses displayed for sale almost everywhere, doubling as souvenirs and toys. This utilitarian transport network has rightly embedded itself in Hong Kong’s collective memory.

The author is an adjunct professor in the faculty of law, the University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.