Horse News

Horses Pulled First-Ever Bus Service

October 26, 2015

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A rendering of an omnibus in Paris. Photo via Wikiwand

If you think of a bus nowadays, many things may come to mind. It may be your mode of transportation or the annoying vehicle you don’t want to be stuck behind when it stops to let passengers on and off. However, when it was first invented in 1823, the idea was that it would be less money than a taxi and less tiring than walking. And it would be pulled by horses.

An omnibus in Berlin. Photo via Wikiwand

Stanislaus Baudry came up with the idea while living in Nantes, France, Gizmodo reports. During that time transportation was limited to personal carriages, cabs and walking. Baudry, however, wanted to give people a different option. He invented what he called the “voiture omnibus.” The bus was comprised of “an elongated carriage, [with] strong horses to pull it.” The bus traveled a few times each day on a fixed route in Nantes, according to Gizmodo. From there, the omnibus went to Bordeaux, then Paris, before it was seen in New York and England a few years later.