MTR System

The Public Transport in Hong Kong is very well established, come in various forms like MTR, Light Rail, Trams, Ferry and Buses.

To save the hassle in paying the correct fare while taking public transport, it is advisable to purchase an Octopus Card from any MTR Customer Service Centre. Details of the Octopus Card can be found here.

I am impressed with the MTR system, especially the intuitive design of the signage/directions for passengers.


From the above MTR Network Display (inside the train), passengers is very clear on where they are travelling. In the above example, you can see that the train is currently travelling between Sheung Wan (上环) to Central (中环), identified by the "green arrow" at the bottom left of the display. The next station, Central, will be blicking in Red, whereas the subsequent stations (on the same line, in this case the Blue Line) will be litted up in Red as well. Since Central is an interchange station, whereby the passengers can transfer to the Red Line (towards Tsim Sha Tsui 尖沙嘴) or the Orange Line (towards Kowloon 九龙), the stations on the entire Red and Orange Lines will be blinking. Quite informative right? In some countries, I have to constantly paying attention to the announcement or look outside of the train to look for the Station Name, so that I know where I am.


Have you come across a scenario that you don't know which side of the train door will be opened in the next station? Hong Kong MTR has a good solution. There are two lights on the top right corner of the display (see above picture), it will tell you which door will be opened for alighting.