Portal:Buses

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New Routemaster double-decker bus in London, United Kingdom

A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer 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 buses typically carry between 30 and 100 passengers, some buses have a capacity of up to 300 passengers. The most common type is the single-deck rigid 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 license.

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 omnibuses 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. 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. (Full article...)

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A 2016 XD60 (5393) on the Parsons Boulevard-bound Q111 at Jamaica Center in October 2018

The Q111, Q113, Q114, and Q115 bus routes constitute a public transit line between the Jamaica and Far Rockaway neighborhoods of Queens, New York City, running primarily along Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. The Q113 limited and Q114 rush routes provide limited-stop service between Jamaica and Far Rockaway, connecting two major bus-subway hubs, and crossing into Nassau County. The Q115 local route runs exclusively within Queens. The Q111 rush route provides limited-stop service on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard and local service on 147th Avenue, running exclusively in Queens, with the exception of select rush-hour trips to or from Cedarhurst in Nassau County. Some of the last bus routes to be privately operated in the city, they are currently operated by the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations. The Q113 and Q114 are one of the few public transit options between the Rockaway peninsula and "mainland" New York City.

The corridor was originally a streetcar line that began operation in 1897, referred to as the Far Rockaway line, Jamaica−Far Rockaway line, Far Rockaway−Jamaica line or Jamaica and Far Rockaway line. In 1933, the railroad company reorganized as Jamaica Buses and began operating buses (the predecessor to the Q113) along the route under a franchise with New York City. The Q111 and Q113 would be operated under a subsidy of the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) until January 2006, when Jamaica Buses was absorbed by the MTA Bus Company. On August 31, 2014, the Q114 was split from the Q113 to provide additional limited-stop service. On June 29, 2025, the Q115 was established to provide local service for all three routes. (Full article...)

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Aerocoach (full name General American Aerocoach Corporation) was a bus and coach manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States and was popular in the 1940s. The company existed between 1939 and 1952 when it went out of business. Its first manager was Harry Alphonse Fitzjohn, co-founder of the FitzJohn-Erwin Manufacturing Company. (

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General images

The following are images from various bus-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Trolleybus in Castellón de la Plana (from Trolleybus)
Image 2A double-deck trolleybus in Reading, England, 1966 (from Trolleybus)
Image 3Trolleybus wire switch (Type Soviet Union) (from Trolleybus)
Image 4New Flyer trolleybus in San Francisco (from Trolleybus)
Image 5A TheBus with destination marquee indicating "Express" service to Village Park on the H-1 Freeway. (from Public transport bus service)
Image 6A low-entry bus of Volgren CR228L bodied Mercedes-Benz OC500LE in Darwin, Australia (from Low-floor bus)
Image 7GAZ combination bus (from Combination bus)
Image 8Advertisement on a bus in Hong Kong (2018) (from Bus)
Image 9A Rocar DAC 217E articulated trolleybus in Bucharest, Romania, in April 2007 (from Trolleybus)
Image 10Cacciamali Urby (built on Iveco Daily chassis) in Rijeka, Croatia (from Minibus)
Image 11US school bus (2007 IC CE) (from Bus)
Image 12A Škoda 30 Tr trolleybus in Prague, which uses In-Motion Charging technology. (from Trolleybus)
Image 13Kerb-guided track and adjacent multi-user path along a disused rail line, on the Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit (from Guided bus)
Image 14Russian Police Ural-572060 also known as VM-4320 (from Combination bus)
Image 15Hess LighTram trolleybus in St. Gallen (from Bi-articulated bus)
Image 16Amédée Bollée's L'Obéissante steam bus photographed in 1875 (from Steam bus)
Image 17Public transport bus in Auckland, New Zealand in the 1920s (from Public transport bus service)
Image 18Two Optare Solo midibuses (from Midibus)
Image 19Feeder bus service (from Public transport bus service)
Image 20A Nishitetsu public bus in Fukuoka, Japan (from Bus)
Image 21Hino S'elega in Tokyo, Japan (from Coach (bus))
Image 22Curitiba Neobus 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 23A San Francisco Muni trolleybus (ETI 14TrSF) climbing Nob Hill (from Trolleybus)
Image 24Medium-sized Hino Songthaew (truck bus) as seen in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand. (from Combination bus)
Image 25Countries with double-decker buses as a form of public transport (from Double-decker bus)
Image 26A Volvo B10M chassis, bodied worldwide as a single-decker bus, articulated bus, double-decker bus, and coach (from Bus manufacturing)
Image 27An AT Metro double decker Northern Busway bus at Albany busway station (from Double-decker bus)
Image 28The Hyde Park Gate in London, erected by the Kensington Turnpike Trust. These trusts helped to stimulate a sustained period of road improvement in the 18th century. (from Intercity bus service)
Image 29Bimodal Bus-tram [ko] and Barota [ko] in Sejong City, South Korea (from Guided bus)
Image 30Early version of a midibus, the Bedford JJL (from Midibus)
Image 31The Perth Central Area Transit operates as a zero-fare basis for passengers in the Perth central business district (from Public transport bus service)
Image 32Lear Steam bus on display in Michigan in 1972 (from Steam bus)
Image 33LiAZ-6213 in Tyumen (from Low-floor bus)
Image 34MAZ-251 in Minsk, Belarus (from Coach (bus))
Image 35A bus in Finland in the early 20th century with the cargo area totally separated from the bus body (from Bruck (vehicle))
Image 36Egged Neoplan N122 Skyliner (from Double-decker bus)
Image 37Amédée Bollée's L'Obéissante (1875) (from Bus)
Image 38A double-decker bus in front of the Presidential Palace in the Historic Center of Quito - World Heritage Site by UNESCO (from Double-decker bus)
Image 39Volvo B7R / 9700S (no. 792, AAI-840, 2006) operated by ExpressBus Savonlinja at Jyväskylä bus station (from Coach (bus))
Image 40 Almazora bodied Fuso Canter Modern PUV, Philippines (from Combination bus)
Image 41Schematic of an articulated bus, showing four passenger doors and two powertrain configurations. (from Articulated bus)
Image 42The first ever internal combustion omnibus, introduced in 1895 (Siegen to Netphen) (from Bus)
Image 43Japanese low-entry bus "omnibus" in Hamamatsu (from Low-floor bus)
Image 44A Mercedes-Benz Tourismo in Berlin, Germany (from Coach (bus))
Image 45An intercity coach operated by Woods Coaches (from Public transport bus service)
Image 46MAN A95 double decker on route X25 running in Dubai, UAE in 2023 (from Double-decker bus)
Image 47Battery electric buses are in widespread service across the world. Pictured is a Yutong E12 in Zhengzhou. (from Transit bus)
Image 48Iveco Urbanway (from Articulated bus)
Image 49Passengers on board an old Leyland Titan open-top bus view the scenery in Devon. (from Open top bus)
Image 50Scania K320UA articulated bus operating for SouthLink (from Articulated bus)

Did you know? – show different entries

... that trolleybuses in Derby (example pictured) last operated in 1967, but there are still five preserved by collectors?

... that Casper the Commuting Cat is a book about the true story of a cat who was a regular bus commuter in Plymouth, England?

... that MASA, formed in 1959, was the second-largest manufacturer of buses in Mexico when it was acquired in 1998 by Volvo?

... that Nepal's first public bus service was founded in 1959 by Karuna Ratna Tuladhar and his brother?

... that television dramas have portrayed criminals riding around Weston-super-Mare on an open-top bus?

... that the UFO-like Kielce Bus Station (pictured) has been praised as "one of the most valuable" architectural designs of the last decades of the People's Republic of Poland?

... that residents of Motspur Park feel that the London Buses route K5 should be more frequent?

See more...

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Selected image

These are images selected by Wikimedia Commons, as either Quality, Valued, or Featured images.

Image 1A KMB bus, in Hong Kong
Image 2An abandoned bus in the Atacama Desert
Image 3A trolleybus in Novosibirsk, Russia
Image 4A Connexionsbuses operated Scania Omnidekka, at Thorpe Arch industrial estate, Wetherby.
Image 5An Iveco Crossway of Blaguss, Vienna
Image 6View from Slussen towards Gamla stan (Old town) and Riddarholmen. In the background Kungsholmen and Stockholm City Hall.
Image 7Buses in Oslo
Image 8A MAN Lion's City of BSAG, Bremen Hauptbahnhof
Image 9A Leyland Olympian, and the Grade II listed Angel Inn
Image 10An East Lancs bodied Volvo B10M, owned by Hilton's travel, Newton-Le-Willows
Image 11The freight trolley TG-5, Vinnitsa, Ukraine.
Image 12A Mercedes Citaro O530, of the Oxford Bus Company
Image 13A preserved BVG MAN SD200, operating Berlin bus 218
Image 14A Setra S 415 NF of the operator BahnBus Hochstift, in Paderborn bus terminal.
Image 15A Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy, Karosa B 732 in Prague
Image 16A Karosa Bus in Olomouc
Image 17A preserved Bristol SUS, which was operated by Western National
Image 18An Irisbus Agora Line vehicle in Avignon, France
Image 19A bus at the University of Nottingham
Image 20A trolleybus in Brno, Czech Republic
Image 21The Agora and de l'Assut de l'Or Bridge – Part of the Arts and Science complex in Valencia
Image 22Trolleybuses outside Salzburg Hbf, Austria

Bus People

Image 1
Julian Henry 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)
Image 2
Ann Heron Gloag DBE (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 2024, Gloag and her brother, Sir Brian Souter, are worth £815 million, an increase of £35 million from the previous year.

In 2023, Gloag put Beaufort Castle, her Category A listed residence in the Scottish Highlands, up for sale at £7.5 million. Located near Kiltarlity, 13 miles west of Inverness, the castle was originally built in the 12th century and then rebuilt in 1880. Gloag purchased the historic estate, which includes a 26-bedroom principal property, a chapel, six residential cottages and 127 acres of land, in 1994 for approximately £1.5 million. (Read More)
Image 3
Robert R. Kiley (September 16, 1935 – August 9, 2016) was an American public transit planner and supervisor known for his ability to rehabilitate transit systems experiencing serious problems. From 2001 to 2006 he was the first commissioner of Transport for London, the public organisation that runs and maintains London's public transport network.

Kiley also worked as a CIA agent, CEO of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, deputy mayor of Boston, chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and president and CEO of the New York City Partnership. He is credited as being the architect of the revival of Boston and New York's ailing public transport systems in the 1970s and 1980s respectively.

Kiley unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Boston in 1983. (Read More)
Image 4
Sir Moir Lockhead OBE DHC (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 Cornforth Secondary 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.

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1996 for services to the bus industry. He is a past President of the Confederation of Passenger Transport. He was knighted in the 2008 Birthday Honours. In 2009, the University of Aberdeen awarded him a Doctorate honoris causa (DHC). In 2010, he was awarded the VisitScotland Silver Thistle Award for outstanding services to the tourism industry in Scotland.

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.

In January 2011, First Great Western powercar 43160 was named Sir Moir Lockhead as was First ScotRail diesel multiple unit 170401 in March 2011. (Read More)
Image 5
Samuel Ledgard (1874–1952) was a Leeds entrepreneur who became a major West Yorkshire Independent bus operator. Following his death in 1952, his executors continued to operate the Samuel Ledgard bus company until 1967, when it was acquired by the West Yorkshire Road Car Company. (Read More)
Image 6
Karuna Ratna Tuladhar (Nepali: करुणारत्न तुलाधर) (23 October 1920 – 19 July 2008) was a pioneer of Nepalese public transport. He was proprietor of Nepal Transport Service which he and his brother Lupau Ratna Tuladhar founded in 1959. This was Nepal's first public bus service which linked the capital Kathmandu with the railhead of Amlekhganj, 190 kilometers to the south near the Indian border.

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)
Image 7
Kathleen Andrews (née Smith; 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)
Image 8
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).

For how this initial service developed, see Timeline of public passenger transport operations in Manchester. (Read More)
Image 9
Werner Wolfgang Heubeck (24 October 1923 – 19 October 2009) was a German–British transport executive who was managing director of the Northern Ireland transport companies Ulsterbus and Citybus. (Read More)