Latin `for all' vehicle that carries
fare-paying passengers on a fixed route, with
frequent stops where passengers can get on
and off. An omnibus appeared briefly on the
streets of Paris in the 1660s, when the
mathematician Blaise Pascal introduced the
first horse-drawn vehicles for public use.
But a successful service, again in Paris, was
not established until 1827. Two years later
George Shillibeer introduced a horse-drawn
bus in London. Many bus companies sprang up
in the UK, the most successful being the
London General Omnibus Company, which
operated from 1856 until 1911, by which time
petrol-driven buses had taken over. Following
deregulation in the 1980s, private bus
operators in Britain were allowed outside
London to set up fare-paying routes.
Gasoline-engine buses came into general use
by the 1910s and provide intracity and
nationwide service through both public and
private companies.