Residents of the new town of Tseung Kwan O in New Territories East have been fighting for a direct bus connection to Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan in New Territories West for many years,[1] citing the reason that travelling by MTR between the two places requires a number of transfers in between.

[3] In October 2014, the Government announced that two variants would be available for the Tseung Kwan O to Tsuen Wan bus route, one skipping the whole of Sau Mau Ping and Sze Shun and one calling at stops within the two neighbourhoods, with the total journey time of 63 and 80 minutes respectively.

Transport Department confirmed in February 2015 that the then-unnumbered route was awarded to Kowloon Motor Bus,[5] and the company started to operate the two variants, numbered 290 and 290A, on 28 March 2015.

Rennie's Mill is the name of Tiu Keng Leng before the area was incorporated into the Tseung Kwan O New Town.

Coincidentally, the routeings of the 1989–1996 and 2015- versions of 290 are the same between Ma Yau Tong Village and Choi Hung station.