The Invention of Buses

hckrnws

The Invention of Buses

(worksinprogress.co)

by surprisetalk

InsideOutSanta
43d
The last stagecoach traveled over the Gotthardpass in the Swiss Alps in 1881, steered by Alois Zgraggen. There's a song about him that ends with:
Now I no longer travel southward,
and I pray to God: My Lord, grant me rest soon,
I’m no good for anything here anymore,
so if you would be merciful to me, let me soon pass through Heaven’s gate.
I’m no good for anything here anymore, so if you would be merciful to me,
let me soon pass through Heaven’s gate.
Then, when you call,
O God, I’ll sing merrily atop the wagon seat:
“Giddy-up, my Liesel, gently now, at an easy pace!”
1. rob74
  13d
  Interestingly enough, stagecoaches are called "Postkutsche" in German-speaking countries (because they also carried mail), and Switzerland's regional buses ("PostBus") are still operated by a subsidiary of the Swiss Post: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostBus_Switzerland. So some ideas live longer than you might expect...
  Something similar also exists in Austria and is still called "Postbus", although it's been operated by the national railway company since 2003.
  1. LargoLasskhyfv
    01d
    Can't really seperate that sort of stuff in DACH.
    The railways also did Post and Packages, as well as operating Buses, operating "Bahnbus", at least in .de.
    For some more history of that in roughly reverse chronological order:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurn-und-Taxis_Post
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiserliche_Reichspost
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omodeo_Tasso
    ( Now singing: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoch_auf_dem_gelben_Wagen )
2. lukyanovic
  13d
  Could you share the German title of the song?
  1. croisillon
    03d
    seems to be "Der letzte Postillion" https://www.deutsche-lieder-online.de/der-letzte-postillion-...
lifeisstillgood
33d
So the interesting thread through history for me was the comment on Damascus - the streets were built with houses close together and therefore carriages could not pass each other (and presumably barely in single file)
It was not possible to run a bus service until the roads were widened.
What caused that Inwonder?
In London the fire of 1666 presumably meant streets were made wider (to prevent spread of fire) - but why in Paris? New York was designed as a grid. Was this just a reaction to “urgh, we don’t want to be tired old cities like Damascus so they built wider streets?)
Was it the need to drive traffic through to supply urban areas and take out manufactured goods?
Was it better sanitation?
1. almcd
  23d
MisterTea
03d
> Ancient urban fabric of Damascus. Very few of these roads are wide enough for a carriage, and none is wide enough for two carriages to pass each other.
This stood out as I immediately thought "How the heck did they move building materials and other large items around?" Though I guess the likely answer is by hand or some kind of wheeled cart.
kj4211cash
03d
It's interesting that taxis and shared vehicles came so many years before buses. Also interesting to think about through the lens of aviation. I wonder how soon after we had powered flight someone launched a commercial fixed route service. And how much economics has to do with all of this.
stringfood
13d
"Wheeled vehicles existed for 5,000 years before someone thought of running a bus service."
Buses weren't economic until the invention of the ICE
1. DerekL
  03d
  The article says that horse-drawn buses were successful.
fsckboy
03d
another similar "business model" for transportation also did not get invented till "late": a "packet ship" is a ship that sails between ports on a schedule, independent of whether it's fully loaded. I don't know why it's a packet boat, not a big deal but I read a lot of seafaring books as a kid and it was always ship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_boat