Alignment and Interchanges
In many places, trams shares route along with other vehicles.
Most of the tram stop locations have remained unchanged since their establishment. However, some have had their names changed, e.g. "Shu Shen Guan" (Chinese 書信館), General Post Office in the 1940s is now called "World-Wide House". In 1934, Hong Kong Tramways introduced loading islands (waiting areas) at some busy tram stops to ensure the safety of passengers. Today, there are 123 tram stops in total, most of them are sheltered refuge islands.
Just like buses, trams in Hong Kong can be very crowded. During the busier periods of the day, trams often line up since there are many tramcars running at the same time. In 2002, the trams recorded an average of 240,000 passenger trips daily.
Tram stops are densely located in an average interval of 250 metres (820 ft). Most of them are located in the middle of the road, connected by pedestrian crossings or footbridges. Major stops include Yee Wo Street stop at Causeway Bay, Pacific Place stop at Admiralty, and Prince's Building / The Landmark stop at Central.
Many terminal stations of the Hong Kong Tramways are on balloon loops. This enables the trams to reverse its travel direction efficiently.
In 2007, stations began to add electric tram road maps with detail of the various terminals and sub-stations and the six routes.
Interchanges with MTR are possible at Causeway Bay, North Point, and Shau Kei Wan.
Read more about this topic: Hong Kong Tramways