Coach (bus) - History

History

Horse drawn chariots and carriages ('coaches') were used by the wealthy and powerful where the roads were of a high enough standard from possibly 3000 BC. In Hungary during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus in the 15th century, the wheelwrights of Kocs began to build a horse-drawn vehicle with steel-spring suspension. This "cart of Kocs" as the Hungarians called it (kocsi szekér) soon became popular all over Europe. The imperial post service, employed the first horse-drawn mail coaches in Europe since Roman times in 1650, - as they started in the town of Kocs the use of these mail coaches gave rise to the term "coach". Stagecoaches (drawn by horses) were used for transport between cities from about 1500 in the United Kingdom until displaced by the arrival of the railways.

One of the earliest motorised vehicles was the Charabancs which was used for short journeys and excursions until the early years of the 20th century. The first 'motor coaches' were purchased by operators of those horse-drawn vehicles in the early 20th century by operators such as Royal Blue Coach Services who purchased their first Charabanc in 1913 and were running were running 72 coaches by 1926.