Metro: UNIVERSITIES: University & Campus Buses

Last post we explored a university metro station which is named after The University of Hong Kong. This time we arrived at another one: University (the metro station of The Chinese University of Hong Kong).

The platforms of East Rail Line are bare (without doors) compared to that of other rail lines, and the gap between platform and train at the University Station is the biggest I think. Therefore it became the most dangerous gap. In this case, the stuff of it stood on the platform and kept on alarming passengers to stay away from the yellow line. I guessed it was because East Rail Line were built too early to have doors.

A tale of terror about this big gap went that once a girl came to CUHK by metro to see her boyfriend. She was caught by her braid by the door before she dropped off the gap and died.

Later we inspected the blind guide service in the station of University. Fortunately it worked well. We found that different stations of East Rail Line probably played Bach's melodies.

Apart from the station of University, we would like to share something unique connected to this station. That is campus buses of CUHK. CUHK occupied the largest area among universities in Hong Kong and hence buses on campus were necessary.

There are 12 lines of free buses, including 6 workday shuttle buses, 1 holiday shuttle bus and 5 meet-class buses, as well as paid shuttle light buses. And there are 2 types of buses: one is all purple with closed windows, only one door, and no standing space, another is yellow and purple with open windows and two doors. Some students preferred the former one especially in summers because they were cooler with windows closed. But once I suffered sunstroke in such closed space.

One bus was decorated interestingly. The front screen and control panel are pasted with cartoon products and action figures. I supposed that the driver must possess an innocent heart.

I took the campus bus with my friend who came from CityU. After we got off the bus I asked her comment as an "outsider". She pointed out that it was quite inconvenient that the buses did not announce the names of the stops. I agreed with her on that since as a student of CUHK in the second semester, I was always alert when sitting on the bus and wondering did I ride over stops. Besides, the characters on the stop post are not easily read for sometimes they were partly or wholly blocked by branches of trees.