I visited Hong Kong
twice, first in January and February 1974, then 35 years later
in January 2009. Photos are from the 2009 trip, historical
photos are from websites
Streetcars
and high speed mass transit co-exist in Hong Kong, as they do in
Toronto, Munich, and other intelligently planned cities. In
fact, a proposal to replace the streetcars in Hong Kong with
another subway was voted down by the citizens. Surface stops,
frequent service, low priced fares, and no stairs won the day. 
The streetcar makes a long 13 km east west run through downtown
Hong Kong and returns on double track. A complete round trip on
the Kennedy Town - Shau Kei Wan route will take 2 hours 20
minutes, so it's a great way to see the new and the old
close-up. There are 163 cars available for service, running six
different variations of the downtown route. All were built and
refurbished by the railway shops. We rode car #155 for quite a
while. ==>
<==
Car #6 trailed behind
90
169
128
In 1974, MTR was just a dream about
to change Hong Kong forever.
The first line was opened in 1979, with many mote to follow. The
system now carries four million passengers every weekday on very modern 7, 8
or 12 car trains (depending on the route) - fast, smooth, quiet, frequent, cheap, and
on-time. There are 211 Km of track with 150 stations. There are
10 subway routes and 11 surface routes.
Station announcements are in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English,
plus illuminated route maps over the doors, making it easy to
get off at the right stop. The many routes seem complicated at
first so a good map is essential at all times. Stations are huge
with many exits. There are at least three flights of stairs and
probably one or two escalator rides to get to your train.
Turnstiles, not to mention the stairs, make large luggage a bad
idea.
Although there is a human driver, the trains are basically
computer controlled to stop within inches of the correct
position. Most station platforms have glass walls to prevent
people from accidentally falling on the tracks, so the train
must stop precisely at the automatic sliding doors in the
protective screens. Most cars can hold up to 300 passengers, and at rush
hour, probably more. The trains can hit 80 Km/hour between
stations with very smooth acceleration and braking systems. A
few lines have a first class car in the middle of the
train; for double fare, you get a padded seat and leg room.
The airport line is less crowded and very first class, arriving
at Central and Kowloon Stations in less than 25 minutes. Get
your Octopus card as you leave the airport - it gives a return
trip to the airport plus 3 free days travel on the rest of the
MTR for a reasonable fee. You can add more money to the card at
any MTR station
.
Leyland Titans c.1974 
The Star ferries carry passengers across the Victoria Harbour,
between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. beginning in 1888. The
fleet of twelve ferries operates four routes across the harbour,
carrying over 70,000 passengers a day. All are diesel
electric, built between 1956 and 1998. 
Wikipedia Page
Hong Kong - Macau Ferries
Several fleets of high-speed Macau ferry
vessels serve the 40-mile route between
Hong Kong and Macau: jetfoils,
turbo-cats, jumbo-cats and CotaiJet.
There are more than 100 sailings
throughout the day and evening, with
all-night service by jetfoils.
The other terminal is the China Ferry Terminal offering ferry services from the Kowloon side, located on the Tshim Sha Tsui waterfront alongside Harbour City, and is used for Jumbocats, and Hover-ferry sailing to and from Macau.
In Macau, the Maritime Terminal and heliport is situated in the Outer Harbour, close to lots of casinos and hotels. The older, more interesting city, is a modest hike west and inland a bit. Good restaurants exist but are hard to find.
The Boeing 929 - 100 Jetfoil hydrofoil ferries are 90 feet long with a beam of 31 feet carrying 190 passengers in very comfortable seats. They can travel 50 miles per hour using two 3300 horsepower gas turbines driving 2 mixed axial flow, 24,000 gallons/minute Rockwell Rocketdyne Powerjet 20's. The ship burns 430 US gallons of fuel per hour, getting about 0.1 miles per gallon. The hydrofoils lift the ship's hull out of the water giving a very smooth ride even in a large swell.
The oldest Jetfoil "Flores"
built in 1975.
A year before our trip to Hong Kong and Macau, 133 of 435 passengers were injured, 19 of them seriously, when two high-speed ferries, Funchal and Santa Maria, collided five nautical miles away from Macau and limped back to Macau to treat the injured. Now I know why some, but not all, Jetfoil ships have seatbelts. But where in hell was the radar that night????
