eBay

NICE Original Letterhead

North Shore Bus Co.

Flushing, New York
1934

For offer, a very nice old Advertising engraved / lithograph design lot! Fresh from an old prominent estate. Never offered on the market until now. Vintage, Old, Original - NOT a Reproduction - Guaranteed !!

Nice graphic printing. De-Luxe Coaches for any occasion. I assume they made school buses as well. Letter to Hudson Transit Lines, Newburgh, NY. Letter signed by C. Vitriol. Has NRA logo at bottom. In good to very good condition. Small chip to right side edge. A couple light wrinkles at edge, Fold marks. NOTE: Items will be shipped folded, as found - to save on shipping. Please see photos and scans for all details and condition. If you collect 19th century Americana advertisement ad history, United States of America printing, American history, transportation, etc. this is a nice one for your paper or ephemera collection. Genealogy research importance as well. Combine shipping on multiple bid wins! 2105

The North Shore Bus Company operated public buses in Queens, New York City. It was established in 1920 as the successor to the New York and North Shore Traction Company trolley system, and operated until 1947 when it went bankrupt, and its operations were taken over by the New York City Board of Transportation.

Origin: New York and North Shore Traction Company

1891 coverage of a former NY&NST streetcar.

The company was established in 1902 as a trolley company called the Mineola, Roslyn & Port Washington Traction Company, but as it grew into Queens it was renamed in 1907 as the "New York and North Shore Traction Company." It had a line from Flushing, Queens to Roslyn in Nassau County named the North Shore Line, as well as another from Flushing to Whitestone–14th Avenue Station on the Whitestone Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, better known as the Whitestone Line. Within Nassau County, it had lines from Port Washington to Mineola which was known as the Port Washington Line, and from Mineola to Hicksville, called the Hicksville Line.

The trolley cars on this system were considered to be the largest and most powerful on Long Island and in Queens. As powerful as they were however, they still had difficulty climbing the hills of such areas as Douglaston and Manhasset.[1]

Transition to buses

By the late-1910s many trolley systems began to decline, but rather than collapse or sell themselves to other companies, the NY&NST replaced their trolley cars with buses, the majority of which operated in Queens. The economic impact of the Great Depression forced them to sell off many of their routes to other companies during the 1930s, most notably to the Triboro Coach Corporation, one of the last surviving private bus lines in New York City. In spite of this, the company was still occasionally able to purchase routes from Bee Line, Incorporated in Nassau County. North Shore acquired the Flushing Heights Bus Corporation and its Q17 and Q25 routes on September 22, 1935, although that company was never merged into NSB.[2] On June 25, 1939, North Shore acquired the remaining Bee Line routes and Bee Line's 165th Street Bus Terminal in Jamaica,[3] as part of the company's takeover of nearly all routes in Zone D (Jamaica and Southeast Queens).[4][5] By the 1940s, North Shore operated nearly all the bus routes in Zone B (Flushing and Northern Queens) and Zone D.[6][7][8]

On March 30, 1947 the company went bankrupt after its drivers and other employees went on strike. Its operations were taken over by the New York City Board of Transportation, which was superseded by the New York City Transit Authority in 1953.[9][10][11][12]

Depots

Prior to takeover by the city in 1947, the company based its operations out of two depots:

Flushing Depot

Main article: Casey Stengel Depot

The Flushing Depot of the company was located on the south side of Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, west of 126th Street and east of the New York City Subway's Corona Yard. This depot opened sometime in the 1900s, and housed buses serving northern Queens. It is now the Casey Stengel Depot under the MTA.

Jamaica Depot

Main article: Jamaica Depot

The company's Jamaica Depot was located on the west side of Merrick Boulevard just south of Liberty Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The depot lies between Merrick Boulevard to the east and 165th Street to the west, and spans about three blocks north-to-south between South Road and 107th Avenue, located across the campus of York College. This depot, which housed buses serving the Jamaica and Southeastern Queens area, opened in 1939, and expanded in subsequent years following takeover, adding bus storage areas and a washing area. It is now the Jamaica Depot under the MTA.

For many years after the takeover, both of the depots were overcrowded with buses due to lack of storage space. In 1968, the MTA, which now ran the NYCTA, acquired land to build another depot, the Queens Village Depot, to relieve crowding at the other two depots. This depot, located at 97-11 222nd Street between 97th and 99th Avenues in Queens Village, Queens, west of Belmont Park, opened in 1974, which took a number of routes from the depots, mainly those serving the Queens Village and adjacent areas. However, despite this move, the Jamaica Depot was still overcrowded, since the capacity for that depot is 150 buses and is assigned 200 buses. As a result, the 50 additional buses at that depot park on surrounding streets. A project to rebuild the depot would begin in 2018, with all of its routes and buses temporarily sent to other depots.

North Shore bus routes

Q1: Jamaica – Hillside Avenue – short lines (acquired from Bee Line)

Q2: Jamaica – Hollis Avenue – Hempstead Avenue to Belmont Park (from Bee Line)

Q3: Jamaica – Hollis – JFK airport via Farmers Blvd. (from Bee Line)

Q3A: Jamaica (Parsons Blvd. & Hillside Av.) – St. Albans – Cambria Heights via Murdoch & 113 Av. (renumbered 1988 to Q83 by NYCTA), (from Bee Line)

Q4: Jamaica – Cambria Heights via Merrick & Linden Blvds. (from Bee Line)

Q4A: Jamaica – Laurelton via Merrick Blvd. & 120 Ave. (renumbered 1988 to Q84 by NYCTA) (from Bee Line)

Q5: Jamaica – Rosedale & Green Acres Shopping Mall via Merrick Blvd. (from Bee Line)

Q5A: Jamaica – Rosedale via Rochdale Village and Bedell Street. (renumbered 1988 to Q85 by NYCTA), (from Schenck Transportation)

Q5AB: Jamaica – Locust Manor LIRR – Springfield Gardens (combined with Q5A into Q85 in 1988 by NYCTA) (from Schenck Transportation)

Q5AS: Laurelton – Rosedale Shuttle (renumbered 1988 to Q86 by NYCTA, then eliminated in 1995 due to low ridership), (from Bee Line)

Q12: Flushing – Little Neck via Sanford Av. & Northern Blvd.

Q12A: Little Neck LIRR Station – Floral Park via Little Neck Parkway (renumbered to Q79 by NYCTA, then eliminated due to low ridership and reinstated via compromise as part of the extended Q36 in 2013) (1933)

Q13: Flushing – Bayside – Fort Totten via Northern & Bell Blvds. (1933)

Q14: Flushing – Whitestone (1933) (eliminated in 2010 due to budget cuts; subsequently replaced with the Q15A route)

Q15: Flushing – Whitestone – Beechhurst (1933)

Q16: Flushing – Clearview – Fort Totten via Bayside Avenue, Francis Lewis & Willets Point Blvds. or Utopia Pkwy. (1933)

Q17: Flushing – 188 Street & Jamaica

Q17A: Jamaica – Little Neck via Utopia Pkwy & Horace Harding Blvd. (renumbered 1988 to Q30 by NYCTA)

Q17-20: Combination of Q17 and Q20 routes which operated in the 1940s and 1950s.[7]

Q20: Flushing – College Point Shuttle (renumbered to Q44FS, then to Q20 in 1990, then to Q20A & Q20B in 1999 by NYCTA, and extended to Jamaica)

Q23: 108th Street, Corona-Ditmars Avenue (before 1933); originally North Shore, transferred first to Kings Coach Company (1931??), then to Triboro Coach Corporation in 1936?, then to MTA Bus Company in 2005

Q26: Flushing – Auburndale via Hollis Court Blvd.

Q27: Flushing – Rosewood – Queens Village & Cambria Heights via Springfield Blvd.

Q28: Flushing – Bayside West (before 1933)

Q31: Jamaica – Bayside West

Q35: Flushing – College Point – Whitestone; substitute for LIRR Whitestone Branch; replaced by Q20 in 1937.

Q32: Queens Village LIRR-Creedmoor shuttle.

Q36: Jamaica – Floral Park via Hillside & Jamaica Avenues.

Q42: Jamaica – Addisleigh Park via Sayres Av.

Q43: Jamaica LIRR Station – Hillside Av. to City Line.

Q44: Jamaica – Flushing – Bronx.

Q44A: Union Turnpike – Kew Gardens – Lake Success & Glen Oaks (renumbered 1990 to Q46 by NYCTA)

Q44B: Malba Shuttle (eliminated 1990 due to low ridership)

Q44VP: Union Turnpike – Kew Gardens & Vleigh Place Shuttle (renumbered 1990 to Q74 by NYCTA, then eliminated in 2010 due to budget cuts)

Q48: Flushing – LaGuardia Airport began operating April 5, 1940[13]

The Casey Stengel Depot, formerly the Flushing Depot, is located on the south side of Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, west of 126th Street and east of the New York City Subway's Corona Yard. The depot is named after Casey Stengel, former manager of the New York Yankees and New York Mets, and is across the street from Citi Field, where the Mets play. The original Flushing Depot was inherited from the defunct North Shore Bus Company in 1947.[5][8] The depot was rebuilt by the city in the late 1940s, re-opening in 1950.[5][6] This depot suffered from structural problems due to poor soil conditions. In the early 1980s, the NYCTA decided to rebuild the depot, and in 1986 a $2.2 million contract was awarded to Howard, Needles, Tamamen and Bergendoff to design the new depot, which they finished in June 1987. They developed plans for a maintenance building and a transportation building to allow buses to continue using the depot while construction was going on. The $1.3 million contract for the foundation work for the two buildings was awarded to the Pile Foundation Construction Company in April 1987, and the contract $53.5 million contract for the depot's contrution was awarded to Carlin-Atlas Joint Venture in June 1997. This depot was rebuilt again in the 1990s, opening on August 16, 1992.[5][36] At this time, it was renamed the Casey Stengel Depot.[5] The depot's rebuilding cost $55 million. The depot, which consists of 71,000 square feet, has 11 bus lifts.[193] This depot houses the buses used on the following routes:

Flushing is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. While much of the neighborhood is residential, Downtown Flushing, centered on the northern end of Main Street in Queens, is a large commercial and retail area and is the fourth largest central business district in New York City.[4][5]

Flushing's diversity is reflected by the numerous ethnic groups that reside there. Flushing is served by five railroad stations on the Long Island Rail Road Port Washington Branch, as well as the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line (7 and <7> trains), which has its terminus at Main Street. The intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue is the third busiest intersection in New York City, behind Times and Herald Squares.[6]

Flushing is located in Queens Community District 7 and its ZIP Codes are 11354, 11355, and 11358.[2] It is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 109th Precinct.

Subsections

Broadway-Flushing

Broadway-Flushing, also known as North Flushing, is a residential area with many large homes. Part of this area has been designated a State and Federal historic district due to the elegant, park-like character of the neighborhood. Much of the area has been rezoned by the City of New York to preserve the low density, residential quality of the neighborhood. The neighborhood awaits designation as an Historic District by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Broadway-Flushing is approximately bounded by 29th Avenue to the north, Northern Boulevard and Crocheron Avenue to the south, 155th Street to the west, and 172nd Streets to the east.

Linden Hill

"Linden Hill, Queens" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Linden Hill, Ridgewood, Queens.

Linden Hill is bound by 25th Avenue to Willets Point Boulevard to the north, 154th Street to the east, Northern Boulevard to the south and the Whitestone Expressway to the west.[74]

Linden Hill was originally a rural estate owned by the Mitchell family. Ernest Mitchell owned an adjacent area known as Breezy Hill and his father owned the area now called Linden Hill.[75] The two areas are sometimes referred to as Mitchell-Linden. A major change in the rural nature of Linden Hill occurred in the early 1950s. Neisloss Brothers with architect Benjamin Braunstein envisioned a cooperative project to be set on Linden Hill and landfill of an adjacent swamp which would provide middle-income housing to veterans of World War II and the Korean War[75] under Section 213 of the Federal Housing Act of 1950.[76] Gerace and Castagna with architects Samuel Paul and Seymour Jarmul subsequently developed the larger Linden Towers several years after this. Paul was additionally the architect of Embassy Arms. In total, 41 six-story buildings containing 3,146 apartments comprising the Linden Hill, Mitchell Gardens, Linden Towers, and Embassy Arms cooperatives were erected.

Once a primarily European-American neighborhood, Linden Hill is now a diverse mix of European-Americans, Asian-Americans and Latino-Americans. The Asian-American population has expanded markedly in the southern part of Linden Hill in the past decade (as it has throughout Flushing) and the Latino-American population has also grown noticeably. Conversely, the European-American population has lessened somewhat, though European-Americans still remain in great numbers north of Bayside Avenue, west of 149th Street.

Murray Hill

Murray Hill is bounded by 150th Street to the west and 160th Street to the east and straddles ZIP codes 11354, 11355, and 11358.[77] Traditionally the home of families of Irish and Italian immigrants, many Korean and Chinese immigrants have moved into Murray Hill in recent years. Murray Hill within Flushing is often confused with the larger Murray Hill neighborhood on the East Side of Manhattan.[77][78]

Before the area was developed for residential housing in 1889, Murray Hill was the location of several large nurseries owned by the King, Murray, and Parsons families.[79] The Kingsland Homestead has been preserved as the home of the Queens Historical Society.[77] The Voelker Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden is also located in Murray Hill.[80] Comic strip artist Richard F. Outcault, the creator of The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown, lived on 147th Street in Murray Hill.[81]

Queensboro Hill

Queensboro Hill in southern Flushing is bordered to the west by College Point Boulevard, to the north by Kissena Park and Kissena Corridor Park, to the south by Reeves Avenue and the Long Island Expressway, and to the east by Kissena Boulevard. Queensboro Hill is a part of ZIP codes 11355 and 11367 and contains the NewYork–Presbyterian/Queens hospital. One of the leading churches is the Queensboro Hill Community Church, a multi-racial congregation of the Reformed Church in America. Turtle Playground serves the residents of this section of Flushing. This area is often referred to as South Flushing.

Waldheim

The Waldheim neighborhood, an estate subdivision in Flushing constructed primarily between 1875 and 1925, is bound by Sanford and Franklin Avenues on the north, 45th Avenue on the south, Bowne Street on the west and Parsons Boulevard on the east. The area is immediately southeast of the downtown Flushing commercial core, and adjacent to Kissena Park. a small district of upscale "in-town" suburban architecture. Waldheim, German for "home in the woods", is known for its large homes of varying architectural styles and is laid out in an unusual street pattern.[82]

Waldheim was the home of some of Flushing's wealthiest residents until the 1960s. Notable residents include the Helmann family of condiment fame, the Steinway piano-making family, as well as A. Douglas Nash, who managed a nearby Tiffany glass plant. Starting in the 1980s, homes in Waldheim were destroyed by the Korean American Presbyterian Church of Queens, one of the area's largest land owners.[83] In 2008 the city rezoned the neighborhood to help preserve the low density, residential character of the neighborhood. As with the Broadway neighborhood, preservationists have been unable to secure designation as an Historic District by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and as of 2017, structures in Waldheim were still being torn down.[84]

A bus (contracted from omnibus,[1] with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle designed to carry many passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers.[2] The most common type of bus is the single-deck rigid bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses while 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 do not charge a fare. In many jurisdictions, bus drivers require a special licence above and beyond a regular driver's licence.

Buses 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.

Horse-drawn buses were used from the 1820s, followed by steam buses in the 1830s, and electric trolleybuses in 1882. The first internal combustion engine buses, or motor buses, were used in 1895.[3] 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. As of the 2010s, bus manufacturing is increasingly globalised, with the same designs appearing around the world.

Name

An early horse-drawn omnibus

Bus is a clipped form of the Latin adjectival form omnibus ("for all"), the dative plural of omnis-e ("all").[4] The theoretical full name is in French voiture omnibus[1] ("vehicle for all"). The name originates from a mass-transport service started in 1823 by a French corn-mill owner named Stanislas Baudry [fr] in Richebourg, a suburb of Nantes. A by-product of his mill was hot water, and thus next to it he established a spa business. In order to encourage customers he started a horse-drawn transport service from the city centre of Nantes to his establishment. 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"),[4] combined with omnibus, the dative plural form meaning "for all", thus giving his shop the name "Omnés for all", or "everything for everyone". His transport scheme was a huge success, although not as he had intended as most of his passengers did not visit his spa. He turned the transport service into his principal lucrative business venture and closed the mill and spa.[5] Nantes citizens soon gave the nickname "omnibus" to the vehicle.[1] Having invented the successful concept Baudry moved to Paris and launched the first omnibus service there in April 1828.[1] A similar service was introduced in London in 1829.[6][7] [8]

History

Steam buses

Amédée Bollée's L'Obéissante (1875)

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.

The first mechanically propelled omnibus appeared on the streets of London on 22 April 1833.[9] 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.[10]

However, the heavy road tolls imposed by the turnpike trusts discouraged steam road vehicles and left the way clear for the horse bus companies, and from 1861 onwards, harsh legislation virtually eliminated mechanically propelled vehicles from the roads of Great Britain for 30 years, the Locomotive Act of that year imposing restrictive speed limits on "road locomotives" of 5 mph in towns and cities, and 10 mph in the country.[11]

Trolleybuses

Main article: Trolleybus

World's first trolleybus, Berlin 1882

In parallel to the development of the bus was the invention of the electric trolleybus, typically fed through trolley poles by overhead wires. The Siemens brothers, William in England and Ernst Werner in Germany, collaborated on the development of the trolleybus concept. Sir William first proposed the idea in an article to the Journal of the Society of Arts in 1881 as an "...arrangement by which an ordinary omnibus...would have a suspender thrown at intervals from one side of the street to the other, and two wires hanging from these suspenders; allowing contact rollers to run on these two wires, the current could be conveyed to the tram-car, and back again to the dynamo machine at the station, without the necessity of running upon rails at all."[12]

The first such vehicle, the Electromote, was made by his brother Dr. Ernst Werner von Siemens and presented to the public in 1882 in Halensee, Germany.[13] Although this experimental vehicle fulfilled all the technical criteria of a typical trolleybus, it was dismantled in the same year after the demonstration.[14]

Max Schiemann opened a passenger-carrying trolleybus in 1901 near Dresden, in Germany. Although this system operated only until 1904, Schiemann had developed what is now the standard trolleybus current collection system. In the early days, a few other methods of current collection were used. Leeds and Bradford became the first cities to put trolleybuses into service in Great Britain on 20 June 1911.

Motor buses

The first internal combustion omnibus of 1895 (Siegen to Netphen)

In Siegerland, Germany, two passenger bus lines ran briefly, but unprofitably, in 1895 using a six-passenger motor carriage developed from the 1893 Benz Viktoria.[3] Another commercial bus line using the same model Benz omnibuses ran for a short time in 1898 in the rural area around Llandudno, Wales.[15]

Daimler also produced one of the earliest motor-bus models in 1898, selling a double-decker bus to the Motor Traction Company which was first used on the streets of London on 23 April 1898.[16] The vehicle had a maximum speed of 18 km/h (11.2 mph) and accommodated up to 20 passengers, in an enclosed area below and on an open-air platform above. With the success and popularity of this bus, Daimler expanded production, selling more buses to companies in London and, in 1899, to Stockholm and Speyer.[16] Daimler also entered into a partnership with the British company Milnes and developed a new double-decker in 1902 that became the market standard.

Early LGOC B-type

The first mass-produced bus model was the B-type double-decker bus, designed by Frank Searle and operated by the London General Omnibus Company – it entered service in 1910, and almost 3,000 had been built by the end of the decade. Hundreds saw military service on the Western Front during the First World War.[17]

Daimler CC Bus 1912. One of five Daimler buses exported to Australia

The Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company, which rapidly became a major manufacturer of buses in the US, was founded in Chicago in 1923 by John D. Hertz. General Motors purchased a majority stake in 1925 and changed its name to the Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company. They then purchased the balance of the shares in 1943 to form the GM Truck and Coach Division.

Models expanded in the 20th century, leading to the widespread introduction of the contemporary recognizable form of full-sized buses from the 1950s. The AEC Routemaster, developed in the 1950s, was a pioneering design and remains an icon of London to this day.[18] The innovative design used lightweight aluminium and techniques developed in aircraft production during World War II.[19] As well as a novel weight-saving integral design, it also introduced for the first time on a bus independent front suspension, power steering, a fully automatic gearbox, and power-hydraulic braking.[20]

Types

Interior of a bus

Formats include single-decker bus, double-decker bus (both usually with a rigid chassis) and articulated bus (or 'bendy-bus') the prevalence of which varies from country to country. High-capacity bi-articulated buses are also manufactured, and passenger-carrying trailers—either towed behind a rigid bus (a bus trailer) or hauled as a trailer by a truck (a trailer bus). Smaller midibuses have a lower capacity and open-top buses are typically used for leisure purposes. In many new fleets, particularly in local transit systems, a shift to low-floor buses is occurring, primarily for easier accessibility. Coaches are designed for longer-distance travel and are typically fitted with individual high-backed reclining seats, seat belts, toilets, and audio-visual entertainment systems, and can operate at higher speeds with more capacity for luggage. Coaches may be single- or double-deckers, articulated, and often include a separate luggage compartment under the passenger floor. Guided buses are fitted with technology to allow them to run in designated guideways, allowing the controlled alignment at bus stops and less space taken up by guided lanes than conventional roads or bus lanes.

Bus manufacturing may be by a single company (an integral manufacturer), or by one manufacturer's building a bus body over a chassis produced by another manufacturer.

Design

Interior of a bus

Accessibility

Bus with wheelchair lift extended

Transit buses used to be mainly high-floor vehicles. However, they are now increasingly of low-floor design and optionally also 'kneel' air suspension and have electrically or hydraulically extended under-floor ramps to provide level access for wheelchair users and people with baby carriages. Prior to more general use of such technology, these wheelchair users could only use specialist paratransit mobility buses.

Accessible vehicles also have wider entrances and interior gangways and space for wheelchairs. Interior fittings and destination displays may also be designed to be usable by the visually impaired. Coaches generally use wheelchair lifts instead of low-floor designs. In some countries, vehicles are required to have these features by disability discrimination laws.

Configuration

Buses were initially configured with an engine in the front and an entrance at the rear. With the transition to one-man operation, many manufacturers moved to mid- or rear-engined designs, with a single door at the front or multiple doors. The move to the low-floor design has all but eliminated the mid-engined design, although some coaches still have mid-mounted engines. Front-engined buses still persist for niche markets such as American school buses, some minibuses, and buses in less developed countries, which may be derived from truck chassis, rather than purpose-built bus designs. Most buses have two axles, articulated buses have three.

Guidance

Guided buses are fitted with technology to allow them to run in designated guideways, allowing the controlled alignment at bus stops and less space taken up by guided lanes than conventional roads or bus lanes. Guidance can be mechanical, optical, or electromagnetic. Extensions of the guided technology include the Guided Light Transit and Translohr systems, although these are more often termed 'rubber-tyred trams' as they have limited or no mobility away from their guideways.

Liveries

Transit buses are normally painted to identify the operator or a route, function, or to demarcate low-cost or premium service buses. Liveries may be painted onto the vehicle, applied using adhesive vinyl technologies, or using decals. Vehicles often also carry bus advertising or part or all of their visible surfaces (as mobile billboard). Campaign buses may be decorated with key campaign messages; these can be to promote an event or initiative.

Propulsion

Ride On hybrid electric bus with appropriate livery

Articulated bus powered with lithium-ion batteries

The most common power source since the 1920s has been the diesel engine. Early buses, known as trolleybuses, were powered by electricity supplied from overhead lines. Nowadays, electric buses often carry their own battery, which is sometimes recharged on stops/stations to keep the size of the battery small/lightweight. Currently, interest exists in hybrid electric buses, fuel cell buses, electric buses, and ones powered by compressed natural gas or biodiesel. Gyrobuses, which are powered by the momentum stored by a flywheel, were tried in the 1940s.

Dimensions

United Kingdom and European Union:

Maximum Length: Single rear axle 13.5 meters (44 ft 3 1⁄2 in). Twin rear axle 15 meters (49 ft 2 1⁄2 in).

Maximum Width: 2.55 meters (8 ft 4 3⁄8 in)

United States, Canada and Mexico:

Maximum Length: None

Maximum Width: 2.6 meters (8 ft 6 3⁄8 in)

Manufacture

Main article: Bus manufacturing

Early bus manufacturing grew out of carriage coachbuilding, and later out of automobile or truck manufacturers. Early buses were merely a bus body fitted to a truck chassis. This body+chassis approach has continued with modern specialist manufacturers, although there also exist integral designs such as the Leyland National where the two are practically inseparable. Specialist builders also exist and concentrate on building buses for special uses or modifying standard buses into specialised products.

Integral designs have the advantages that they have been well-tested for strength and stability, and also are off-the-shelf. However, two incentives cause use of the chassis+body model. First, it allows the buyer and manufacturer both to shop for the best deal for their needs, rather than having to settle on one fixed design—the buyer can choose the body and the chassis separately. Second, over the lifetime of a vehicle (in constant service and heavy traffic), it will likely get minor damage now and again, and being able easily to replace a body panel or window etc. can vastly increase its service life and save the cost and inconvenience of removing it from service.[citation needed]

As with the rest of the automotive industry, into the 20th century, bus manufacturing increasingly became globalized, with manufacturers producing buses far from their intended market to exploit labour and material cost advantages. As with the cars, new models are often exhibited by manufacturers at prestigious industry shows to gain new orders.[citation needed] A typical city bus costs almost US$450,000.[21]

Uses

Public transport

A Mercedes-Benz O405NH CNG public transit bus in Sydney, Australia

Main article: Public transport bus service

Transit buses, used on public transport bus services, have utilitarian fittings designed for efficient movement of large numbers of people, and often have multiple doors. Coaches are used for longer-distance routes. High-capacity bus rapid transit services may use the bi-articulated bus or tram-style buses such as the Wright StreetCar and the Irisbus Civis.

Buses and coach services often operate to a predetermined published public transport timetable defining the route and the timing, but smaller vehicles may be used on more flexible demand responsive transport services.

Tourism

Tour bus being used in France

Buses play a major part in the tourism industry. Tour buses around the world allow tourists to view local attractions or scenery. These are often open-top buses, but can also be regular buses or coaches.

In local sightseeing, City Sightseeing is the largest operator of local tour buses, operating on a franchised basis all over the world. Specialist tour buses are also often owned and operated by safari parks and other theme parks or resorts. Longer-distance tours are also carried out by bus, either on a turn up and go basis or through a tour operator, and usually allow disembarkation from the bus to allow touring of sites of interest on foot. These may be day trips or longer excursions incorporating hotel stays. Tour buses often carry a tour guide, although the driver or a recorded audio commentary may also perform this function. The tour operator may be a subsidiary of a company that operates buses and coaches for other uses or an independent company that charters buses or coaches. Commuter transport operators may also use their coaches to conduct tours within the target city between the morning and evening commuter transport journey.

Buses and coaches are also a common component of the wider package holiday industry, providing private airport transfers (in addition to general airport buses) and organised tours and day trips for holidaymakers on the package.

Tour buses can also be hired as chartered buses by groups for sightseeing at popular holiday destinations. These private tour buses may offer specific stops, such as all the historical sights, or allow the customers to choose their own itineraries. Tour buses come with professional and informed staff and insurance, and maintain state governed safety standards. Some provide other facilities like entertainment units[clarification needed], luxurious reclining seats, large scenic windows, and even lavatories.

Public long-distance coach networks are also often used as a low-cost method of travel by students or young people travelling the world. Some companies such as Topdeck Travel were set up specifically to use buses to drive the hippie trail or travel to places such as North Africa.

In many tourist or travel destinations, a bus is part of the tourist attraction, such as the North American tourist trolleys, London's AEC Routemaster heritage routes, or the customised buses of Malta, Asia, and the Americas. Another example of tourist stops is the homes of celebrities, such as tours based near Hollywood. There are several such services between 6000 and 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Student transport

US school bus

Main article: Student transport

In some countries, particularly the US and Canada, buses used to transport schoolchildren have evolved into a specific design with specified mandatory features. American states have also adopted laws regarding motorist conduct around school buses, including large fines and possibly prison for passing a stopped school bus in the process of loading or offloading children passengers. These school buses may have school bus yellow livery and crossing guards. Other countries may mandate the use of seat belts. As a minimum, many countries require a bus carrying students to display a sign, and may also adopt yellow liveries. Student transport often uses older buses cascaded from service use, retrofitted with more seats or seatbelts. Student transport may be operated by local authorities or private contractors. Schools may also own and operate their own buses for other transport needs, such as class field trips, or transport to associated sports, music, or other school events.

Private charter

Due to the costs involved in owning, operating, and driving buses and coaches, many bus and coach use a private hire of vehicles from charter bus companies, either for a day or two or a longer contract basis, where the charter company provides the vehicles and qualified drivers.

An example of a private bus operating for BusWest in Perth

Charter bus operators may be completely independent businesses, or charter hire may be a subsidiary business of a public transport operator that might maintain a separate fleet or use surplus buses, coaches, and dual-purpose coach-seated buses. Many private taxicab companies also operate larger minibus vehicles to cater for group fares. Companies, private groups, and social clubs may hire buses or coaches as a cost-effective method of transporting a group to an event or site, such as a group meeting, racing event, or organised recreational activity such as a summer camp. Schools often hire charter bus services on regular basis for transportation of children to and from their homes. Chartered buses are also used by education institutes for transport to conventions, exhibitions, and field trips. Entertainment or event companies may also hire temporary shuttles buses for transport at events such as festivals or conferences. Party buses are used by companies in a similar manner to limousine hire, for luxury private transport to social events or as a touring experience. Sleeper buses are used by bands or other organisations that tour between entertainment venues and require mobile rest and recreation facilities. Some couples hire preserved buses for their wedding transport, instead of the traditional car. Buses are often hired for parades or processions. Victory parades are often held for triumphant sports teams, who often tour their home town or city in an open-top bus. Sports teams may also contract out their transport to a team bus, for travel to away games, to a competition or to a final event. These buses are often specially decorated in a livery matching the team colours. Private companies often contract out private shuttle bus services, for transport of their customers or patrons, such as hotels, amusement parks, university campuses, or private airport transfer services. This shuttle usage can be as transport between locations, or to and from parking lots. High specification luxury coaches are often chartered by companies for executive or VIP transport. Charter buses may also be used in tourism and for promotion (See Tourism and Promotion sections).

Private ownership

Police bus

Many organisations, including the police, not for profit, social or charitable groups with a regular need for group transport may find it practical or cost-effective to own and operate a bus for their own needs. These are often minibuses for practical, tax and driver licensing reasons, although they can also be full-size buses. Cadet or scout groups or other youth organizations may also own buses. Specific charities may exist to fund and operate bus transport, usually using specially modified mobility buses or otherwise accessible buses (See Accessibility section). Some use their contributions to buy vehicles and provide volunteer drivers.

Airport operators make use of special airside airport buses for crew and passenger transport in the secure airside parts of an airport. Some public authorities, police forces, and military forces make use of armoured buses where there is a special need to provide increased passenger protection. The United States Secret Service acquired two in 2010 for transporting dignitaries needing special protection.[22] Police departments make use of police buses for a variety of reasons, such as prisoner transport, officer transport, temporary detention facilities, and as command and control vehicles. Some fire departments also use a converted bus as a command post[23] while those in cold climates might retain a bus as a heated shelter at fire scenes.[24] Many are drawn from retired school or service buses.

Promotion

Buses are often used for advertising, political campaigning, public information campaigns, public relations, or promotional purposes. These may take the form of temporary charter hire of service buses, or the temporary or permanent conversion and operation of buses, usually of second-hand buses. Extreme examples include converting the bus with displays and decorations or awnings and fittings. Interiors may be fitted out for exhibition or information purposes with special equipment or audio visual devices.

Advertisement on a bus

Bus advertising takes many forms, often as interior and exterior adverts and all-over advertising liveries. The practice often extends into the exclusive private hire and use of a bus to promote a brand or product, appearing at large public events, or touring busy streets. The bus is sometimes staffed by promotions personnel, giving out free gifts. Campaign buses are often specially decorated for a political campaign or other social awareness information campaign, designed to bring a specific message to different areas, or used to transport campaign personnel to local areas/meetings. Exhibition buses are often sent to public events such as fairs and festivals for purposes such as recruitment campaigns, for example by private companies or the armed forces. Complex urban planning proposals may be organised into a mobile exhibition bus for the purposes of public consultation.

Goods transport

Main article: Bruck (vehicle)

In some sparsely populated areas, it is common to use brucks, buses with a cargo area to transport both passengers and cargo at the same time. They are especially common in the Nordic countries.

Around the world

Trailer bus

See also: Category:Bus transport by country and List of buses

Historically, the types and features of buses have developed according to local needs. Buses were fitted with technology appropriate to the local climate or passenger needs, such as air conditioning in Asia, or cycle mounts on North American buses. The bus types in use around the world where there was little mass production were often sourced second hand from other countries, such as the Malta bus, and buses in use in Africa. Other countries such as Cuba required novel solutions to import restrictions, with the creation of the "camellos" (camel bus), a specially manufactured trailer bus.

After the Second World War, manufacturers in Europe and the Far East, such as Mercedes-Benz buses and Mitsubishi Fuso expanded into other continents influencing the use of buses previously served by local types. Use of buses around the world has also been influenced by colonial associations or political alliances between countries. Several of the Commonwealth nations followed the British lead and sourced buses from British manufacturers, leading to a prevalence of double-decker buses. Several Eastern Bloc countries adopted trolleybus systems, and their manufacturers such as Trolza exported trolleybuses to other friendly states.[citation needed] In the 1930s, Italy designed the world's only[dubious – discuss] triple decker bus for the busy route between Rome and Tivoli that could carry eighty-eight passengers. It was unique not only in being a triple decker but having a separate smoking compartment on the third level.[25]

The buses to be found in countries around the world often reflect the quality of the local road network, with high floor resilient truck-based designs prevalent in several less developed countries where buses are subject to tough operating conditions. Population density also has a major impact, where dense urbanisation such as in Japan and the far east has led to the adoption of high capacity long multi-axle buses, often double-deckers while South America and China are implementing large numbers of articulated buses for bus rapid transit schemes.

Bus expositions

Euro Bus Expo is a trade show, which is held biennially at the UK's National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. As the official show of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the UK's trade association for the bus, coach and light rail industry, the three-day event offers visitors from Europe and beyond the chance to see and experience the very latest vehicles and product and service innovations right across the industry.

Busworld Kortrijk in Kortrijk, Belgium, is the leading bus trade fair in Europe. It is also held biennially.

Use of retired buses

Retired GM bus

Retired bus in Israel used as a tow truck

Most public or private buses and coaches, once they have reached the end of their service with one or more operators, are sent to the wrecking yard for breaking up for scrap and spare parts. Some buses which are not economical to keep running as service buses are often converted for use other than revenue-earning transport. Much like old cars and trucks, buses often pass through a dealership where they can be bought privately or at auction.

Bus operators often find it economical to convert retired buses to use as permanent training buses for driver training, rather than taking a regular service bus out of use. Some large operators have also converted retired buses into tow bus vehicles, to act as tow trucks. With the outsourcing of maintenance staff and facilities, the increase in company health and safety regulations, and the increasing curb weights of buses, many operators now contract their towing needs to a professional vehicle recovery company.

Some retired buses have been converted to static or mobile cafés, often using historic buses as a tourist attraction. There are also catering buses: buses converted into a mobile canteen and break room. These are commonly seen at external filming locations to feed the cast and crew, and at other large events to feed staff. Another use is as an emergency vehicle, such as high-capacity ambulance bus or mobile command center.

Some organisations adapt and operate playbuses or learning buses to provide a playground or learning environments to children who might not have access to proper play areas. An ex-London AEC Routemaster bus has been converted to a mobile theatre and catwalk fashion show.[26]

Some buses meet a destructive end by being entered in banger races or at demolition derbys. A larger number of old retired buses have also been converted into mobile holiday homes and campers.

Bus preservation

A preserved AEC Regal VI operated formerly by the MTT in Perth

Rather than being scrapped or converted for other uses, sometimes retired buses are saved for preservation. This can be done by individuals, volunteer preservation groups or charitable trusts, museums, or sometimes by the operators themselves as part of a heritage fleet. These buses often need to be restored to their original condition and will have their livery and other details such as internal notices and rollsigns restored to be authentic to a specific time in the bus's history. Some buses that undergo preservation are rescued from a state of great disrepair, but others enter preservation with very little wrong with them. As with other historic vehicles, many preserved buses either in a working or static state form part of the collections of transport museums. Working buses will often be exhibited at rallies and events, and they are also used as charter buses. While many preserved buses are quite old or even vintage, in some cases relatively new examples of a bus type can enter restoration. In-service examples are still in use by other operators. This often happens when a change in design or operating practice, such as the switch to one person operation or low floor technology, renders some buses redundant while still relatively new.

Modification as railway vehicles

Main article: Railbus