Articulated Bus - History

History

Early examples of the articulated bus appeared in Europe in the 1920s. In Budapest, Hungary the first prototype of this bus was in service in 1960 and could carry 200 passengers. It had been manufactured without the use of blueprints. Later Ikarus's blueprints were drawn up on the basis of this existing prototype. There is an ongoing exhibition in Budapest at the Museum of Transportation in 2010 with the title "The articulated bus is 50 years old".

In the mid-1960s, AC Transit in California pioneered the (American) use of a modern articulated bus, operating the experimental commuter coach "XMC 77" (based on Continental Trailways' Bus & Car Co. Silver Eagle model) on some of its transbay lines. Articulated buses have also been used in Australia and Europe (Austria (Gräf & Stift), Italy, Germany (Gaubschat, Emmelmann, Göppel, Duewag, Vetter), Hungary (Ikarus), Poland (Jelcz AP02)) The first modern British "bendy buses" (as they are referred to in the UK) were built by Leyland-DAB and used in the city of Sheffield in the 1980s. They were subsequently withdrawn from service because they proved too be expensive to maintain.