Route 917, together with other Western Harbour Crossing bus routes, commenced services on 1 May 1997. It was to replace the former Route 117 which started operation on 7 November 1994. Both routes were jointly operated by Citybus and Kowloon Motor Bus ("KMB"), plying between Happy Valley and Sham Shui Po (Yen Chow Street). Route 117 used the Cross Harbour Tunnel, while Route 917 used the Western Harbour Crossing.
However, since the popularity of the revised routeing seemed not so satisfactory, the Transport Department decided to restore the original routeing and route number "117" was re-used. Route 117 started services again on 16 August 1999, and 14 August was the last day of Route 917.
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| This might be the first day that Route 917 received a low-floor bus. It was also the first day service of this Citybus Dennis Trident 2200 (HN 1822). (1997/12/18) |
| Route 917 was one of the routes that being allocated 'Cityflyers' by Citybus before the opening of the new airport at Chek Lap Kok. This Dennis Trident 2118 (HS 6714) was one of the 'Cityflyers' on the route. (1998/06/03) |  |
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 Citybus 12-metre Dennis Dragons 863 (HD 1407) and 864 (HD 1555) are seen running along the new extension of Jordan Road. (1998/02/10) |
 Citybus 11-metre Volvo Olympian 1001 (HT 3827) having the final journey towards the terminus at Sham Shui Po. (1999/03/06) |
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Comparing to Citybus, the allocation of buses by KMB to the route was quite uniform. All of the schedular buses of KMB Route 917 were 9.9-metre Dennis Dragons, while this ADS57 (GS 8755) was one of them. (1998/02/10) |
| ADS58 (GS 9293) on the last day service of Route 917. If you see this bus next time, you may have a closer look at the fleet number on the front, it is wrongly stated as ADS558! (1999/08/14) | |
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