Central Mid-Levels Escalator

The Central to Mid-Levels escalator opened in 1993 to move commuters up and down the steep hillside between the business district and the residential Mid-Levels, and it is a chain of eighteen escalators and three moving walkways running about eight hundred metres and climbing over a hundred and thirty vertical, the second longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world after the Wushan Goddess Escalator in Chongqing. It runs downhill in the morning rush and uphill for the rest of the day, reversing around ten. Riding it is the standard way to see this part of the city, since it passes above and beside the bars and restaurants of Soho, the antique shops of Hollywood Road, temples, markets and old stepped lanes.

History

The project began in the early 1980s, when the government found that much of the traffic in the area came from people travelling up and down a hillside too steep for major roads; in late 1982 consultants recommended an "escalator assisted pedestrian route" linking the Mid-Levels to the Central walkways. The Executive Council approved it on 16 March 1990, building began at the end of February 1991, and after two and a half years it opened at 6:00 am on 15 October 1993, soon fuelling the restaurants and bars that became the SoHo district (Wikipedia, Central-Mid-Levels escalator).

Highlights

• Eight hundred metres of escalator - the second longest covered outdoor system in the world.
• The direction reversal - downhill in the morning, uphill after ten.
• Soho and Hollywood Road - the streets it passes through.
• Stepped lanes crossing beneath - the old hillside street pattern.

When to go

Year round. One to two hours riding and stopping off. Remember the direction: before about ten in the morning it only goes down. Evenings are busiest around Soho.

Practical notes

It only runs one way at a time and catching it wrong means walking up a very steep hill. It is a commuter machine, not an attraction, and crowded at peak times. The area it serves is expensive.

Nearby

Tai Kwun and PMQ are beside it; Central is at the bottom.

Key facts