Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 3, 1983 A new bus service began operations in the Republic of Singapore. Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS) had been incorporated the previous year. The company’s founder was entrepreneur Ng Ser Miang, who was born in China in 1949 but has lived in Singapore for most of his life. (Over the years, Ng has also... Continue Reading →
January 28, 1930 The prototype chassis for a pioneering American bus arrived in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). The Model 54A bus had been constructed and inaugurated in the United States by the Ohio-based White Motor Company the previous year. This six-cylinder bus was designed to accommodate anywhere from 29 to 38... Continue Reading →
January 21, 2016 A new line of the Mexico City Metrobús rapid transit system made its debut. Line 6 of Metrobús was formally inaugurated by Miguel Ángel Mancera, who served as the head of Mexico City’s government from 2012 to 2018. This east-west line, which runs along the arterial road Eje 5 Norte, has 37... Continue Reading →
November 18, 2002 A new bus terminus was opened in the city of Chennai in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu. Originally called Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus, this facility provides an extensive range of bus transportation services and has become a major gateway in and out of the city. The terminus is specifically located on... Continue Reading →
August 28, 1946 Ricardo De Lara Paras and his brother-in-law Florencio P. Buan established a pioneering bus service in the post-World War II Philippines. Philippine Rabbit Bus Company, Ltd., which was incorporated as Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines exactly 11 years later, came into existence less than two years after the liberation of the Philippines from... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1861 In present-day South Africa, the legislature of the British colony widely known as the Cape Colony (in existence until 1910) passed an act allowing the creation of a company to provide transit services between Cape Town and the suburb of Sea Point. This legislative authorization led to the development of the Cape... Continue Reading →
November 14, 1877 Ralph H. Carpenter, who launched and led one of the largest manufacturers of school bus bodies in the United States, was born in southern Indiana. As a teenager, Carpenter set up his own blacksmith shop in the city of Mitchell in the Hoosier State. A significant part of Carpenter’s job as a... Continue Reading →
October 22, 1946 Ground was broken at Chester Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, for the construction of a bus terminal to be exclusively used by the Greyhound Corporation. The terminal was built as a part of Greyhound’s strategy to set up its own nationwide network of distinctive bus stations in larger cities. The Cleveland terminal – the... Continue Reading →
July 30, 1928 Dwight E. Austin, an engineer at the California-based bus company Pickwick Stages System, finished building the first model of one of the most unique motor vehicles to grace America’s highways up to that time. The vehicle was the Nite Coach (also spelled out as Nitecoach), a double-decker bus with sleeping accommodations for up... Continue Reading →
One of the first bus routes in Norway began regular service between Steinkjer and Namsos in the central part of the country. This bus route also had the distinction of being the first one in Norway to transport mail, with stops en route at a total of six post offices. This considerably shortened the time... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 