DEVELOPMENT OF BUSES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21197, 22 June 1934, Page 7

DEVELOPMENT OF BUSES

MORE THAN 100 YEARS IN LONDON MEETING PUBLIC DEMAND i The. bus is truly the car of the man in the street, that obscure but important individual whose opinion and patronage is the criterion by which the value of any commodity, service, or organisation is assessed. With the development of the private car there has been a corresponding development in the passengercarrying public service vehicle, and the interest shown in the Commercial Motor Transport Exhibition in 1933, which was the occasion of the last exhibition of goods and passengercarrying vehicles, demonstrated the interest which the general public takes in the efforts of manufacturers to cater for their comfort. The motor-omnibus and motor-coach are rendering important service not only in securing accelerated transport with increasing comfort and safety, but also in improving the health of the town dweller and bringing an easy and inexpensive means of travel within the reach of those dwellers in the country who, until recently, have been forced to rely on poor local bus services and infrequent railway facilities. In these circumstances it is interesting to recall that 1929 marked the centenary of the introduction of the bus to London, the first omnibus being placed on the streets on July 4, 1829. This was drawn by three horses abreast, and was constructed to carry 22 passengers inside and only the driver outside. It operated from the Yorkshire Stingo in the New road (now Marylebonc, Euston, and Pentonville roads) to the Bank, and, as may be supposed, created quite a sensation. It would .be interesting to- know the feelings of those who were adventurous enough to travel in those early vehicles could they be introduced to the modern pneumatic-tyred four or six-wheeled double-decked bus now so familiar a sight to all visitors to the Metropolis. First Conveyance The idea of public conveyances was projected in Paris as long ago ns 1662, when Blaise Pascal, the famous author, with the assistance of a friend and the sanction of Louis XIV., ran a service under the title of "Carosses, a cinq sous," seven vehicles being introduced in March of that year in the presence of a large crowd. Despite an auspicious start, public support waned, and the venture had to be abandoned. In 1819 acrimonious quarrels among the bus proprietors on the Paddlngton road, together with a marked deterioration in the character of the service, and of the development of an objectional phase of ruffianism among the employees, who indulged in violent language and terrified the passengers by their reckless driving, had necessitated the adoption of measures for the public protection. Through the efforts of a number of men an organisation called "The London Conveyance Company" was formed, and a new era was introduced into the public transport service. Not only were vehicles of an improved type placed on the roads, but drivers of a more sober character were engaged. Racing was prohibited, and greater method in the observance of time-tables was insisted on. The public flocked to the support of the new movement and the belligerent omnibus proprietors, faced by the prospect of ruin, deemed surrender the better part of valour and sought an understanding with the, new company. Out of the negotiations which ensued sprang the public omnibus service which really marked the beginning of the present public traffic system.