Central–Mid-Levels Escalator

Hong Kong built a covered escalator up a hillside as public transport, and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable free rides in the city. The Central–Mid-Levels Escalator opened in 1993. It covers more than 800 metres and climbs over 135 metres, from Queen's Road Central near the Central Market flyover up to Conduit Road in the Mid-Levels. The Transport Department describes it as 16 reversible one-way escalators and three moving walkways, linked by covered walkways. It is the second-longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, after one in Chongqing. What makes it worth riding is the city it carries you through. The lower sections run along Cochrane Street above the lanes of old Central. Hollywood Road, with its antique and curio shops, crosses about a third of the way up. Above it, Staunton Street and Shelley Street mark SoHo. The restaurants and bars there grew up after the escalator opened and brought foot traffic up the hill. You glide past shopfronts, balconies and apartment windows at first-floor height, and you can step off at almost any cross street to explore. The direction changes with the day. From 6am to 10am it runs downhill, carrying residents to work in Central. From 10am to midnight it runs uphill. If you want to go the other way, a staircase runs alongside, with 782 steps between Conduit Road and Queen's Road Central. The full ride takes about twenty minutes, and there is no fare and no gate. Film fans will know it from Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express, and it also appears in The Dark Knight. Ride it once for the view, then use it the way locals do, as a free lift to lunch in SoHo.