Truckswithall

A Bus vehicle is a self-propelled, trackless, automotive-truck vehicle that carries passengers, often along a specified route as part of a public transportation system. Millions of people rely on buses for daily transport or longer trips. The term bus is short for the French word omnibus, which refers to a slow or local train. It is probable that more people ride buses than any other kind of commercial motor vehicle. Buses carry passengers over certain routes in cities and towns and between communities of all sizes. They provide inexpensive but relatively slow transportation and can go where airplanes and trains cannot.

City buses operate within cities and travel at slow speeds. They have one or more entrances and exits on the curb side and low-backed seats. City buses are equipped with handles on aisle seats, plus several poles and bars, for standing passengers to grasp so that they are not thrown off balance. Some suburban buses, designed for short trips between communities, have high-backed seats, luggage racks, and a single front entrance. Intercity buses, which carry people on long journeys, have a large area for luggage and freight. They offer very comfortable seats, individual reading lights, and air conditioning, and many have a lavatory. An intercity bus of the type used to cross the United States weighs 26,000 pounds (11,800 kilograms) and carries more than 40 passengers. Typically it has a 285-horsepower engine, air suspension, four-speed transmission, and air brakes. Most school buses consist of a bus body mounted on a truck chassis with a long wheelbase.

The design of buses may vary widely. For example, double-deck buses, which are popular in England and elsewhere in Europe, have two levels of passenger seats connected by a stairway. This design was originally meant to minimize the street space occupied by the bus by taking advantage of a shorter wheelbase without loss of passenger capacity. Newer double-deck buses, however, are longer.

Articulated buses are single-deck vehicles that pull a trailer section connected by a flexible joint. An articulated bus standing still looks like a single unit. The flexible joint can best be seen when the bus makes a turn. Trolley buses have an electric motor and receive power from an overhead wire that extends along their route. These vehicles are relatively inexpensive to operate and do not pollute the air, but they cannot maneuver well around obstructions or function during a power outage.

The world's major bus manufacturers include the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Venezuela, India, Canada, New Zealand, Poland, and Brazil. A number of bus manufacturers are subsidiaries of automobile companies, but others are independent firms. Most bus companies sell their vehicles both in their own countries and to other nations. Bus production, however, is relatively small compared with the millions of automobiles made every year. The world total in the mid 1980s amounted to about 3.5 million buses.

Buses are manufactured for both durability and low-cost operation. Because of their heavy use, buses must be repaired much more often than cars. Bus-operating companies have their own repair facilities and mechanics who keep a full stock of spare parts on hand. These companies want vehicles that can be kept running easily with standardized parts and procedures. Bus operators also prefer buses that can be cleaned quickly and easily.

The first bus was probably a large, steam-driven stagecoach that operated in England in 1830. The early vehicle was called an omnibus, a Latin word meaning ''for all,'' later abbreviated to bus. In 1895 an eight-passenger bus powered by a four- to six-horsepower, single-cylinder engine was built in Germany. From 1905 to 1962 buses in Berlin pulled trailers that carried additional passengers. By 1915 bus service had started in many larger towns throughout the world. In a number of communities, city buses replaced horse-drawn or electric trolley cars. Suburban and intercity bus transportation also began about that time.