（Full video recording on Youtube – airs 01/26 18:00）

"If I had the chance, I'd like to ride the Kaohsiung bus one more time, because it holds such wonderful memories for me." Rico, a 39-year-old resident of Cebu City in the Philippines and currently a teacher at a local language school, says that long ago Taiwan donated buses to Cebu. It was incredibly beneficial for them because in the past, jeepneys (the local transportation) weren't widespread, but after the Kaohsiung buses arrived, children could ride to school for free, which saved families money on transportation. Plus, since the buses were so large and children couldn't reach the handrails, they would chase each other and roughhouse on the Kaohsiung bus—a cherished memory from his childhood.

I originally thought Rico had been to Kaohsiung to ride the bus, but it turned out he actually rode buses from Taiwan while in Cebu. How did that happen?

It turns out that Kaohsiung City and Cebu City established a sister city relationship in 1970. In December 1989, the mayor of Kaohsiung at that time, Su Nan-cheng, agreed to donate buses that were about to be retired to Cebu. Thus, 192 public buses, fire trucks, and police vehicles were donated to Cebu City. Over the following 20 years, the Kaohsiung City Government continued to donate buses to Cebu approximately 10 times, with the last donation occurring on October 1, 2017. （Official records）

Because I stayed in Cebu from September 1 to November 22, 2019, studying business English, I decided to help my teacher fulfill this wish by finding the Kaohsiung bus. We first searched online and found only information from before 2011, with no record of the exact location where the Kaohsiung buses were parked—only photographs. We also asked several teachers, who said the Kaohsiung buses are no longer in operation. After all, they started being used in Taiwan around the 1950s, and by now nearly 60 years have passed, making them naturally unusable.

（Screenshot from publicly shared data by netizen Wu Lingwu）

Later, we set out to search for the Kaohsiung bus one day, though we had absolutely no idea of its exact location. We asked police officers and security guards along the way, and eventually a local transportation center employee told us there was a suspected Kaohsiung bus parked on the first floor. Although its exterior had been repainted, the interior really resembled an old Taiwan public bus. Many children unable to attend school also use the bus as a classroom on weekdays.

We also found a 1964 Taipei street scene online and what buses looked like back then, which really resembled the bus we found.

（Photo / 1964 Taipei street scene – Pinterest）

However, when we actually verified this with the Kaohsiung City Government, they replied that based on the bus photo I provided, it didn't match the vehicle type operated by the Bus Administration, and since the Bus Administration was privatized in 2014, they had no supporting documentation. In other words, it was somewhere between being and not being one. (Only in my great city of Kaohsiung!)

Unable to confirm whether it was truly a Kaohsiung bus, we temporarily declared failure. However, on November 18, during the week I was leaving Cebu, I actually found the Kaohsiung bus! It's already out of print even in Taiwan. In previous years, some bus enthusiasts even petitioned to bring old Taiwan buses back to Taiwan. Will it succeed?! （To be continued in the next episode）