A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but less than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for charter purposes, or through private ownership. Although the average bus carries between 30 and 100 passengers, some buses have a capacity of up to 300 passengers. The most common type is the single-deckrigid bus, with double-decker and articulated buses carrying larger loads, and midibuses and minibuses carrying smaller loads. Coaches are used for longer-distance services. Many types of buses, such as city transit buses and inter-city coaches, charge a fare. Other types, such as elementary or secondary school buses or shuttle buses within a post-secondary education campus, are free. In many jurisdictions, bus drivers require a special large vehicle licence above and beyond a regular driving licence.
Lothian operates the majority of bus services in Edinburgh, and is a significant operator in East Lothian, Midlothian and most recently West Lothian. It operates a comprehensive night bus network, three routes to Edinburgh Airport, and owns the subsidiary companies Lothian Country, East Coast Buses, Edinburgh Bus Tours and Lothian Motorcoaches. (Full article...)
An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a single-decker, and comprises two or more rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint (articulation) enclosed by protective bellows inside and outside and a cover plate on the floor. This allows a longer legal length than rigid-bodied buses, and hence a higher passenger capacity (94–120), while still allowing the bus to maneuver adequately.
Due to their high passenger capacity, articulated buses are often used as part of bus rapid transit schemes, and can include mechanical guidance. Articulated buses are typically 18 m (59 ft) long, in contrast to standard rigid buses at 11 to 14 m (36 to 46 ft) long. The common arrangement of an articulated bus is to have a forward section with two axles leading a rear section with a single axle, with the driving axle mounted on either the front or the rear section. Some articulated buses have a steering arrangement on the rearmost axle which turns slightly in opposition to the front steering axle, allowing the vehicle to negotiate tighter turns, similar to hook-and-ladder fire trucks operating in city environments. A less common variant of the articulated bus is the bi-articulated bus, where the vehicle has two trailer sections rather than one. Such vehicles have a capacity of around 200 people, and a length of about 25 m (82 ft); as such, they are used almost exclusively on high-capacity, high-frequency arterial routes and on bus rapid transit services. (
Image 242009 Volvo 9700HD NG bruck coach from Bussring. In service for Riksteatret, outside their headquarters in Nydalen, Oslo. (from Bruck (vehicle))
Image 34A Ford E450 cutaway chassis design, with more integrated bodywork (from Minibus)
Image 35Some coal mines also operate separate trolleybus systems to serve workers. Wuyang Coal Mine in Xiangyuan, Changzhi, Shanxi has the last remaining mine trolleybus system in China. (from Trolleybus)
Image 63An integral bodywork MCI 102DL3, an intercity bus owned by Greyhound Lines, typical of those used in the 1990s and early 2000s. (from Intercity bus service)
Image 109A 1965 Mercedes-Benz LPO 322 Bruck in Karlskrona, Sweden (2005) (from Bus)
Image 110A typical transit bus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The floor at the forward section of the vehicle is low to allow for easy entry and egress. (from Transit bus)
Image 111Interior of a wheelchair-accessible transit bus, with bucket seats and smart-card readers at the exit. (from Transit bus)
Image 112An operator livery complementing the bodywork features (from Bus manufacturing)
Image 113Electric buses are becoming common in some places. Pictured is an example from Toronto. (from Transit bus)
Image 137CuritibaNeobus bodied bi-articulated Volvo B12M running with 100% biofuel. At 28 metres, it is one of the world's longest buses. Each section features train-like doors for rapid exchange of people. (from Bi-articulated bus)
Image 142Fuso Canter Modern PUV, Philippines (Cab is separate and can be tipped over, unlike most conversions which weld it to the bus box) (from Combination bus)
Image 152One of the NAW/Hess articulated trolleybuses delivered to Geneva in 1992, which were among the first production-series low-floor trolleybuses (from Trolleybus)
Image 156Modern Tiyulit (Hebrew for "trip truck") in Israel used for transporting IDF soldiers in open non-paved terrain. (from Combination bus)
Image 157A ZiU-9 trolleybus in service in Piraeus, Greece, on the large Athens-area trolleybus system. The Russian-built ZiU-9 (also known as the ZiU-682), introduced in 1972, is the most numerous trolleybus model in history, with more than 45,000 built. In the 2000s it was effectively rendered obsolete by low-floor designs. (from Trolleybus)
Image 161A low-floor bus can provide accessibility for wheelchair users and those on personal mobility devices, often through the use of a wheelchair ramp. (from Low-floor bus)
Image 163Replica of the Jinghua BK670, a 1970s-1980s front-engined articulated bus model based on Huanghe JN150 trucks, in Beijing (from Articulated bus)
Image 16414.5-metre 1991 Delta Star 501 on Volvo B10M with cantilever tail lift (from Bruck (vehicle))
Image 257In some cities, such as in Singapore, double-decker buses are used, which have more seating capacity than a single-decker bus of equivalent length. (from Transit bus)
... that Sir Richard Paget encouraged his daughter to fall from the open platform (pictured) of a London bus, to demonstrate his theory that a person could do so safely due to air currents?
... that to film her role on the Glee episode "Choke", Whoopi Goldberg traveled by bus from New York to Los Angeles?
John Greenwood (born 1788, died 1851), transport entrepreneur, was the keeper of a toll-gate in Pendleton on the Manchester to Liverpool turnpike. In 1824 he purchased a horse and a cart with several seats and began an omnibus service, probably the first one in the United Kingdom, between Pendleton and Manchester. His pioneering idea was to offer a service where, unlike with a stagecoach, no prior booking was necessary and the driver would pick up or set down passengers anywhere on request. Later on he added daily services to Buxton, Chester, and Sheffield.
John Greenwood, and a number of competitors, created a network of omnibus services, often acting as feeders to the railways. When he died in 1851 he left a flourishing business to his son, also named John (II) (b. 12 May 1818, d. 21 March 1886), which in that year became the Manchester Carriage Company.
By gestation, and amalgamation, in 1880, this became the Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company, led by John Greenwood (II). Following the council taking control of passenger transport services, in 1903, the residuary operations became The Manchester Carriage Co. (1903) Ltd, led by John Greenwood (III) (b. 1856).
Julian Peddle (born November 1954) is an entrepreneur who has worked in the bus industry since the early 1980s, having owned or part-owned numerous bus companies. He spent 11 years as co-owner of Stevensons of Uttoxeter between 1983 and 1994, having previously been its traffic manager. During the late 1990s and early 2000s he ran Status Group, a group of small bus companies spread across England which included BakerBus, Choice Travel and MK Metro. He was a major shareholder in Tellings-Golden Miller and Centrebus Holdings before their sale to Arriva. (Read More)
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Sir Moir LockheadOBEDHC (born 25 April 1945 in County Durham, England) is an English businessman. He was Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of UK transport group FirstGroup. Originally a mechanical engineer, he left school (West CornforthSecondary Modern) at 15 to become apprentice mechanic in a bus garage in Darlington, before working for a short period as a management trainee with Tarmac. In 1979, he was appointed Chief Engineer of Glasgow City Transport. He joined Grampian Regional Transport in 1985 as General Manager, and went on to lead the successful employee buy-out as GRT Group.
In 2011, he was appointed Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Union. In 2014, he was re-appointed for a second three-year term. In 2014, he was appointed Chairman of the National Trust for Scotland.
Dame Ann Heron GloagDBE (née Souter; born 10 December 1942) is a Scottish businesswoman, activist, and charity campaigner. She is co-founder of the transport company Stagecoach Group.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2020, Gloag and her brother, Sir Brian Souter, are worth £730 million, a decrease of £145 million from the previous year.
In January 2023, Gloag, with her husband and two other family members, was charged with criminal offences involving human trafficking. She disputes the charges. (Read More)
The same year, Nepal Transport Service also started the first local shuttle between Kathmandu and Patan (Lalitpur), one of the three cities in the Kathmandu Valley. (Read More)
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Kathleen Andrews (néeSmith; May 17, 1940 – November 17, 2013) was a British-Canadian bus driver and transport manager. Her pioneering role as the first female Transit Operator, Dispatcher and Manager in Edmonton, Alberta was later commemorated by the city.
Kathleen Smith grew up in Rochdale, Lancashire and migrated to Edmonton aged 14. She graduated from Ross Sheppard Composite High School in 1959. Following a marriage and subsequent divorce, she sought full-time employment to support her family, which led to joining the Edmonton Transit System (ETS) in 1975. She initially fulfilled the role of Bus Information Clerk, before becoming the first female bus driver that May. After three years, she became the first female Bus Dispatcher, and was eventually promoted to manager of Special Service charter buses. She was commended by the council as being the first female in any significant management capacity in the city. She continued to drive school buses after her retirement from ETS in 1998, and died of cancer in November 2013.
In 2014, the city council created the Kathleen Andrews Transit Garage at a cost of $196 million, covering 500,000 square feet of space and accommodating 300 buses and 700 drivers. The garage did not open officially until February 2020. (Read More)
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Robert R. Kiley (September 16, 1935 – August 9, 2016) was an American public transit planner and supervisor, with a reputation of being able to save transit systems experiencing serious problems. From 2001 to 2006 he was the initial Commissioner of Transport for London, the public organisation empowered with running and maintaining London's public transport network.
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