Portal:Buses

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The Buses Portal

A New Routemaster double-decker bus, operating for Arriva London on London Buses route 73 (2015)

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-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 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. 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 Prevost X3-45 operated by Greyhound in New York City, August 2009
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) is a company that operates the largest intercity bus service in North America. Services include Greyhound Mexico, charter bus services, and Amtrak Thruway services. Greyhound operates 1,700 coaches produced mainly by Motor Coach Industries and Prevost serving 230 stations and 1,700 destinations. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. The company is owned by Flix North America, Inc., an affiliate of FlixBus, and is based in Downtown Dallas. (Full article...)
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A classic Malta bus

Buses were introduced to Malta in 1905. As well as providing public transport across the country, up until 2011, the traditional Malta bus (Maltese: xarabank or karozza tal-linja) served as a popular tourist attraction due to their unique appearances grounded in the bus ownership and operation model employed in the country; by the end of this traditional operation, Malta had several bus types no longer in service anywhere else in the world.

The unique nature of the Malta bus stemmed from the tradition of local ownership of the buses by the drivers, and their historic practice of customising them. In addition to a high degree of customisation, detailing and decoration, several Malta buses also had a unique appearance due to the practice of in-house maintenance, rebuilding or modifying of bus bodies in local workshops.

As an iconic feature of the country, the classic Malta bus features on several tourist-related items. As the main mode of public transport across the country, the Malta bus was also used by many tourists to visit the different parts of the country. While newer Malta buses were progressively introduced that followed modern standard bus designs found elsewhere, customisation and detailing had continued for these buses as well.

On 3 July 2011, the network of service bus routes across Malta was taken over by Arriva, with traditional buses reduced to operating on only special heritage services.

Arriva introduced a fleet of modern low-floor buses, importing secondhand ex-London articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaros, retaining and repainting some of the 'newest' buses from the old fleet in Arriva colours as well as purchasing a fleet of brand new King Long rigid buses. Arriva's operation in Malta was beset by problems; three fires within a 48-hour period in August 2013 prompted the Maltese government to ban the articulated Citaros from operation in the country pending an investigation.

Arriva operation in Malta continued until 1 January 2014, when the nation's bus network was nationalised as Malta Public Transport. On 8 January 2015, Malta Public Transport was reprivatised as it was sold to Autobuses Urbanos de León (an Alsa subsidiary), who retained the Malta Public Transport brand name. The company doubled the bus fleet, which now consists of more than 400 buses.

Malta Public Transport has invested extensively in modernizing its bus fleet making it safer, more environmentally friendly, and more comfortable. The company invested in 200 new buses with the latest Euro VI diesel technology. The buses are cleaned and maintained regularly, and are equipped with air-conditioning systems for added comfort. All the new buses have two doors to facilitate boarding and alighting of passengers. (

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Did you know? – show different entries

  • ... 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 Umeå Energi set up lamps in bus shelters to avoid people getting SAD?

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