My Hong Kong commute

Rush hour on Lamma is more of a brief saunter. At 08.30 on weekday mornings a steady stream of island-dwelling residents leave their low-rise village houses in Yung Shue Wan and amble towards the ferry pier. Some pick up a coffee along the way from Green Cottage, while others park their bicycles outside the new library – there are no private cars on this island of some 6,000 people. By 09.00 these seafaring commuters, sporting a mix of office attire, casual clothing and athletic wear, will arrive in Hong Kong’s towering central business district, right in front of the iconic IFC building.

Luke Yardley has been taking the boat to work since he moved to Lamma in 2012. “I love the social side of taking the ferry,” says the 33-year-old, who quit his marketing job three years ago to found Yardley Brothers, an award-winning craft brewery best known for its popular IPA Machine Men. “I know half of the people on board.” These days Yardley takes the ferry on his way to his brewery in Kwai Chung, which is in expansion mode. His sailing times vary: on brew days he is at the “office” by 08.00; on other days he takes his toddler to playgroup first.

Travelling home on the open-air seats at the back of the ferry is the real reward for Lamma residents. Skyscrapers fade from view to the soundtrack of clinking beers.

Frank Lonergan stands on Stanley Village Road at 08.00, waiting for his transport to arrive. A copy of South China Morning Post is under his arm. There are plenty of ways to get around Hong Kong, from trains and ferries to the picturesque tram that trundles along the north side of Hong Kong Island. But few are as fast and fuss-free as the city’s vast fleet of cream minibuses. These 19-seater single-deckers provide Hong Kong’s most colourful commuting experience: a green roof means the bus has pre-arranged stops; red tops can be flagged down en route and passengers shout when they want to get off.

New arrivals can take a while to warm up to these zippy Toyota Coasters but San Francisco native Frank Lonergan is used to riding around a hilly city in a quirky mode of transport. The expert in Asian contemporary art has been a minibus devotee ever since he and his family moved to Hong Kong from the US six years ago. “You don’t get anything like this anywhere else in the world – and so cheap too,” he says while riding the green number 40 along the tree-lined southern coast of Hong Kong Island. The immaculately attired director of 10 Chancery Lane Gallery marvels at the view of Repulse Bay beach on one side and Violet Hill on the other.

Lonergan begins his journey to work catching the minibus in Stanley then transfers to the subway at Ocean Park MTR station 15 minutes later. Once at Central, he walks up Wyndham Street and pops into the Fringe Club for a quick coffee. “Sometimes I schedule my morning meetings here,” he says. Then he continues his walk up to Chancery Lane, a quiet pedestrian street at the back of Tai Kwun, a former police station in Soho that reopened last year as Hong Kong’s latest arts compound. His entire journey takes 45 minutes.