Steam carriages were much less likely to overturn, they travelled faster than horse-drawn carriages, they were much cheaper to run, and caused much less damage to the road surface due to their wide tyres.
The first mechanically propelled omnibus appeared on the streets of London on 22 April 1833. Regular intercity bus services by steam-powered buses were pioneered in England in the 1830s by Walter Hancock and by associates of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, among others, running reliable services over road conditions which were too hazardous for horse-drawn transportation. A similar service was introduced in London in 1829. Having invented the successful concept Baudry moved to Paris and launched the first omnibus service there in April 1828.
Nantes citizens soon gave the nickname "omnibus" to the vehicle. He turned the transport service into his principal lucrative business venture and closed the mill and spa. His transport scheme was a huge success, although not as he had intended as most of his passengers did not visit his spa. The first vehicles stopped in front of the shop of a hatter named Omnés, which displayed a large sign inscribed "Omnes Omnibus", a pun on his Latin-sounding surname, omnes being the male and female nominative, vocative and accusative form of the Latin adjective omnis/-e ("all"), combined with omnibus, the dative plural form meaning "for all", thus giving his shop the name "Omnés for all", or "everything for everyone". In order to encourage customers he started a horse-drawn transport service from the city centre of Nantes to his establishment. A by-product of his mill was hot water, and thus next to it he established a spa business. The name originates from a mass-transport service started in 1823 by a French corn-mill owner named Stanislas Baudry in Richebourg, a suburb of Nantes.
The theoretical full name is in French voiture omnibus ("vehicle for all"). As of the 2010s, bus manufacturing is increasingly globalised, with the same designs appearing around the world.īus is a clipped form of the Latin adjectival form omnibus ("for all"), the dative plural of omnis/omne ("all"). Recently, interest has been growing in hybrid electric buses, fuel cell buses, and electric buses, as well as buses powered by compressed natural gas or biodiesel. The first internal combustion engine buses, or motor buses, were used in 1895. Horse-drawn buses were used from the 1820s, followed by steam buses in the 1830s, and electric trolleybuses in 1882.
In many jurisdictions, bus drivers require a special large vehicle licence above and beyond a regular driving licence.īuses may be used for scheduled bus transport, scheduled coach transport, school transport, private hire, or tourism promotional buses may be used for political campaigns and others are privately operated for a wide range of purposes, including rock and pop band tour vehicles. Other types, such as elementary or secondary school buses or shuttle buses within a post-secondary education campus, do not charge a fare. Many types of buses, such as city transit buses and inter-city coaches, charge a fare. The most common type is the single-deck rigid bus, with larger loads for double-decker and articulated buses, and smaller loads for midibuses and minibuses, while coaches are used for longer-distance services. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers, although the average bus usually carries between 30 to 100. Mercedes Benz Citaro O 530: rigid, 12.A Toronto Transit Commission bus system trolleybus in TorontoĪ bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a public transport road vehicle designed to carry significantly more passengers than the average cars or vans.
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