Obsolescence
As early as the mid-1940s, trailer buses began to quickly fall out of favour for a variety of factors:
- The length of trailer buses make them difficult to negotiate sharp turns at narrow street corners;
- Each trailer bus normally requires a two-person crew, with the driver in the tractor and the conductor in the semi-trailer;
- The perceived danger of a passenger-laden semi-trailer dislodging from its tractor while under way has led to many jurisdictions in the United States, Canada and Australia prohibiting passengers being carried in towed trailers.
Trailer buses saw service until at least 1984 in South Africa, possibly due to the rugged terrain in its remote areas, and the availability of specialist bus builders as opposed to truck dealers and basic body builders.
Trailer buses are still in service in Cuba, where they were introduced under the nickname of "camellos" ("camels", from the twin-humped shape of the trailers) during the so-called "Special Period" after the fall of the Soviet Union. As of 2008, the trailer buses are reportedly being gradually retired from service in Havana city, replaced by Chinese-made buses.
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