The word bus comes from the Latin omnibus which means for all. The concept of for all is what the London coach builder George Shillibeer had in mind in 1829 when he set up Britain’s first bus service which ran between Paddington and The Bank. The success of Shillibeer’s, horse drawn, hourly bus service led to a flurry of competition from a number of other operators. The buses were initially single deck with a top deck known as a knifeboard appearing in the 1850s

Despite their success, buses faced a new type of competition from the first Tram service which appeared in 1860 and ran from Woodside Ferry to Birkenhead Park and was able to carry up to 48 passengers. Ironically the Tram service was introduced to Britain by a man named George Francis Train.

Trams offered more comfort than buses because they ran on rails and because of the relative stability of the surface they were able to carry more vehicles and passengers. The 1880s saw the electrification of the Tram system which spelt the end of the predominance of the horse power.

Despite their comfort trams were restricted to routes with rails in contrast to buses which could travel almost anywhere. Buses continued to improve and with the replacement of the ‘Knifeboard’ seat with ‘The Garden Seat’ comfort and capacity increased further.

A major turning point in the history of the bus was the appearance in 1904 of Edinburgh’s first motor bus service using the Milnes Daimler Motor Bus ‘Daimler Petrol Wagonnete’. The petrol engine bus had arrived and with further innovations including forward facing seats and the replacement of ladders with staircases the advantages of the Tram were slowly disappearing.

The success of petrol engine buses led to an explosion in bus manufacturing and Milnes Daimler Motor Bus went on to produce the ‘Straker Squire’. By 1908 over 1000 were in use on the streets of London. With a front mounted engine and transmission initially driven by drive chain and later by drive shaft, the ‘Straker Squire’ became a big success.

In 1910 the London General ‘B’ type was introduced which was an amalgamation of all the innovations and success of previous bus designs. With a speed of 35mph and improved reliability the ‘B’ type became part of the biggest bus fleet in London.