Kai-to

A kai-to sailing between Ma Liu Shui and Tap Mun, Hong Kong
A smaller kai-to carrying passengers to the outlying islands off the Sai Kung Peninsula in Hong Kong
Passengers boarding a larger kai-to heading to Peng Chau at the Discovery Bay Kai-to pier in Nim Shue Wan.

The kai-to, sometimes kaito or kaido (Chinese: 街渡; Jyutping: gaai1 dou2; pinyin: Jiēdù) is a type of small, motorised ferry that operates in Hong Kong. They are usually used to serve remote coastal settlements in the territory's outlying islands.[1]

There are currently 78 fixed kai-to routes, mostly used to ferry passengers between the outlying islands of Lantau Island, Peng Chau, Cheung Chau, and Lamma Island, among others, to the west of Hong Kong, and to enclave villages in the Tolo Harbour, Double Haven, Port Shelter, etc. in eastern New Territories.

Certain routes within Victoria Harbour are still served by Kai-tos, including the Sai Wan Ho to Kwun Tong route.

  1. ^ Hayes, James (2006). The great difference: Hong Kong's New Territories and its people, 1898-2004. Hong Kong University Press. p. 208. ISBN 9789622097940.: "Cargo junks of the type still known as kai to or "local ferry" had long plied between NT ports, Hong Kong, and places in the Canton Delta: see e.g. the list of ports in the papers at GN 170 in HKGG, 17 November 1866. They were sometimes operated in the public interest and paid for from public funds."