A bus
is a bus
is a bus
right?
Well
actually no.
It depends on what job said vehicle is doing at the time (and its configuration as well) that determines whether its actually even a bus at all.
OH Noooooooooooooo!
Its a Bonus Feature!!!!!!
That is a correct observation, and
Id advise you go watch reruns of the Simpsons rather than spend time reading the rest of this post. But
we spent a lot of time on buses and most of the folks reading this will also have spent a lot of time on buses in their travels around The World. This being the case, I felt that a closer look at this humble mode of transportation was in order.
So what exactly is a bus?
That seems simple enough and a quick perusal of the nearest dictionary confirms our suspicions:
Bus /bəs/
1. Noun: A large motor vehicle carrying passengers by road, esp. one serving the public on a fixed route and for a fare.
But
is it really that simple?
Consider this accompanying definition from the same dictionary:
5. Noun: (electronics, computing) a substantial, rigid power supply conductor to which several connections are made, or a set of electrical conductors (wires, PCB tracks or connections in an integrated circuit) connecting various "stations", which can be functional units in a computer or nodes in a network.
Now why is that so? And
is it related in anyway?
Again, we get a yes and no answer. Yes, it is related in origin
no, it has nothing to do with vehicles
(per say).
Aaaaarrrrrrgggggg!
Cant you just give me a straight answer?
OK, I guess its time to go back to the beginning. As usual we will start with some history.
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The concept of a bus as a mode of transportation began in France in about 1828 when someone came up with a clever idea for a business venture. They started with a coach (which is not exactly the same thing and we will be getting to that in a bit), and striped it down to the basics. The result was pretty much just a wagon with seats in the form of benches down each side. They then used this new form of conveyance to offer an innovative type of public transport that (and this next bit is key) was open to everyone,
of any social class. This was ground breaking and radical social engineering for its day. It was also an instant moneymaker and quickly spread as a business model. The designation our unnamed venture capitalists chose for their brainchild was:
voiture omnibus
meaning: carriage for all.
Like I said
the business model traveled quickly and the name of this new vehicle of trade traveled with it. Upon its arrival in England though, the Brits took one look at this haughty French phrase and immediately shortened it (I mean really
voiture was obviously just foreign rubbish, but that other word did happen to be classical Latin and they could live with that). So now this rig would simply be known as an Omnibus (for all in Latin). The now shorter name traveled back across the Channel to the continent just as quickly and soon became the accepted nom de guerre for this new type of public transportation.
Once internal combustion engines were available and reliable enough, they replaced the horses and the new arrangement was at first known as an Autobus
The word Omnibus would remain a fixture in the legal names of the business that operated these vehicles (as youll notice in the last picture), but the public, for ease of conversation, would shorten it farther to bus (oddly they dropped the all part of the word thus keeping only the for something or other suffix, but this was unintentional, as most folks never even questioned why it was called an Omnibus in the first place). This kind of shortening of names has always been common. I mean seriously, why on earth
would we all agree that this common device
should be referred to as a quiet
(the Italian translation of piano).
The answer is simple: gravicembalo col piano e forte
(meaning: gravity assisted harpsichord with both soft and loud capabilities)
was just way too dang many syllables to be allowed. Outside of Italy, it was immediately shorted to pianoforte (again without any real thought as to actual meaning of the word, keeping only a contraction of the classical Latin words which this time translates to: soft-loud) and then shortening that word down to the modern: piano.
Funny ol world
aint it.
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Now then
remember that other definition for the word bus; the one that had to do with things electrical? Well its short for omnibus-bar and that word came to electrical engineering via politics.
Whoa
what!!!
Yep politics.
Shortly after the appearance of the word omnibus, the more learned (remember that Latin used to be taught in school) quickly understood that this verbal bit of ancient Rome which had recently wedged itself into the vernacular could also be used to describe anything that was intended to be for all. Some have credited Washington Irving as the first to realize this fact. For the record, he did use it in his commentaries; describing a particular piece of 1831 legislation thus: The great reform omnibus moves but slowly (Poetry
sheer poetry!). In this instance, a large number of somewhat unrelated reforms were all rolled together into a single piece of legislation. To this day
omnibus bills (especially omnibus spending bills) are a common tool of the US Congress (along with gridlock which is something that buses are actually supposed to alleviate).
After the politicians succeeded in adding a new definition for omnibus to the language, it should not come as a surprise that engineers would see it as a good thing, pick it up and run with it. Electrical engineers chose to make practical use of the for all meaning of the original Latin when they borrowed it to describe a devise known as an omnibus bar. This device was originally a long metal bar that was electrified. Multiple separate devices would then be attached to said bar and all of them would derive their power from this single source. As is true with many names, this description was shortened over time and ended up as the same three-letter word used to describe a vehicle.
That is why these three guys
were so concerned when this particular warning light on the Odysseys master control panel flickered on
Of course there were a lot of things (rather bad things) going on at the same time, but what that warning light was telling them is that every device which was attempting to use the omnibus-bar connected to fuel-cell B (the middle one) as its main source of power, was no longer capable of doing so.
This was very not good.
Its also why:
weve got a main bus B undervolt
was the second thing Commander Lovell stated right after the more famous sentence:
Huston
weve had a problem.
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OK, fine
now weve learned about the alternate meanings of the word bus and we know why the vehicle in question is called a bus, but is a bus always a bus? Nope. Depends on how the device is configured or used.
One of the first developments was the Tram which replaced the wagon wheels of the omnibus with the steel wheels and rails that were in common us in the mining industry.
These first showed up in Scotland (not surprising given the mining background). The word (which was already in use for the carts used in the mines) probably derives from the Middle Flemish tram meaning: "beam, handle of a barrow, bar, or rung" and referring to the rails that they ran on. The advantage of a tram is that the reduced friction of the steel wheel/rail system allowed fewer animals to pull vastly greater amounts of weight. When electricity became available as a source for powering these trams, the name changed (in the US at least) to Trolley. That word was derived form a device used in warehouses at the time called a troller which worked in a similar fashion.
Trolleys also made a significant contribution to Baseball. It seems the electric trams were so ubiquitous in the NY borough of Brooklyn around the turn of the 20th century that even crossing the street could become quite the adventure. As such, the local residents were derisively called Trolley Dodgers; a name that they chose to embrace and even gave to their first professional baseball team. It was later shortened to be just: Dodgers. As the U.S. grew, demographic and economic factors altered the game and, Dem Bums were moved to Los Angeles. If your were to ask a fan from LA what exactly a Dodger is and youll likely receive an answer like: ummmmmmm
. But now you can straighten em out. They are routing for a team named in honor of Brooklyn working class folks who had to avoid being run over by trolleys while crossing streets, which was later forceable moved from brook line to the city of angles.
Clear as mud eh
Oh
speaking of transplanted ball teams
while youre at it, ask that LA fan just what a Laker is.
Another adaptation of the omnibus had more to do with how it was used. The Charabanc (pronounced: char-à-banc or sometimes: chara-bang`) was popular mainly in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. These were used mostly for sightseeing or day trips and were usually open topped to allow for the best field of vision.
Again, first conceived of in France in the 19th century, once more it was the French that named the contraption. This time: char à bancs (meaning "carriage with wooden benches"). The Brits just rammed the words together this time. Originally horse-drawn like the Omnibus, they were quickly adapted to use combustion engines once available. At first these were much disdained by the more refined citizenry who called them rolling pubs because of the tendency for them to be operated by public houses who encouraged their clientele to imbibe during the various outings. Over time these early tour buses would have roofs added, but generally remained open sided so as not to block the view. Im sure youve ridden on one or two of the modern variations of these devices (although they are often mistakenly referred to as trams)
So why is it that we dont see Trolleys much anymore (and certainly not many Charabancs outside of those that work the parking lots and fine amusement areas). Well
most of them were killed off by the bus.
Wait a minute
they are buses
what are you talking about?
A conspiracy; thats what Im talking about. Really! You can check the court document out for yourself if you dont believe me. General Motors along with Firestone and several other parts manufacturers and satellite companies were actually convicted of conspiracy to buy out trolley lines and other types of rail transportation in a number of cities and replacing them with buses.
They also offered lost-leader deals on start-up costs and worked behind the scenes with a number of city officials to convince growing municipalities to also make the shift. The result it that intercity buses are common (although rarely is there enough capacity to properly service the city you find them in) and rail transportation is much harder to come by (and since the original infrastructure was ripped out in the past, the start-up costs for light rail are now astronomical. One slightly related thing you will see in some of the larger markets though is the Trolley-Bus
These hybrid critters make use of the previously existing overhead powered wire system to drive electric motors rather than diesel engines. Obviously their routes are limited by the existing infrastructure but the do tend to be less expensive to operate in the long run (assuming you had the wiring in place in the first place). Another interesting thing about that last image is that the bus is articulated. Its two buses that have been hooked together and having a joint in the middle to help it navigate the curves and turns of urban streets while carrying greater passenger loads. This is also a feature seen from time to time on free-rolling buses, but its much more commonly found among the Trolley-Bus fleets.
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So
now yall now know everything that need be known about those busses that we rode around in all week
right?
Welllllllll
As it happens, I learned something else while researching bus history that I was otherwise unaware of. It turns out that we werent riding on buses at all. Those are coaches.
Oh
give me a break!
Now I suppose youre going to talk about those now huh?
Indeed I am.
You see
a bus is used for short duration travel.
A coach is used to convey people (and sometimes cargo) over longer distances. Trough out history, the well to do and the powerful could afford better modes of transportation then the regular rabble (this goes without saying). Before the wheel, theyd be carried; afterward theyd be carried along in various types of carriages. By the 15th century, the best carriages were being built by the wheelwrights in the city of Kocs (pronounced "kotch") in Hungary. These were light (and therefore swift
an important feature for avoiding the highwaymen of the day), steel-sprung (to deal with the roads of the day), well appointed (well, because they were built for the wealthy at first) and yet rugged. Their common name is derived from the Hungarian word "kocsi", literally meaning "of Kocs".
Because of their speed and durability, these would come to be used to carry mail and would travel in stages from one town to the next thus acquiring the name stage-coach. Being long haul vehicles it was an obvious adaptation for businesses with mail charters to take passengers along with the mail as they traversed the countryside. As railways were developed the mail and passengers naturally move onto the larger devices and the name followed them. Again, as omnibuses developed and could be considered robust enough for long distance travel, they offered similar services to the passenger market that allowed folks to travel to spots that might not be as easily reached via rail.
As you can see form the last image, former stagecoach operators were among those to adapt the bus concept for long haul travel. A coach very similar to that last one actually became a bit of a movie star. Specifically, this photogenic GM bus operated by Greyhound Bus Lines that appeared in the 1934 Best Picture Oscar winning
comedy (you dont see those words strung together anymore): It Happened One Night
I love all the license plates that were attached to interstate vehicles of the time. This picture also illustrates some other differences between a coach and a general-purpose bus. Coaches will usually have a luggage hold separate from the passenger cabin (which also causes the passengers to be positioned higher off the ground), interior racks or shelving for additional storage, more comfortable seating and other conveniences in the more modern examples. You can see these changes in height and configuration a bit more clearly in the coaches from the late 30s and 40s.
Roll forward another decade or so and they start to take on the form that most of us are more familiar with.
At least thats what a coach looked like when I was growing up and through most of my adult years. Somewhere in the 1990s they started getting somewhat sleeker and a bit more boxy. All the rounded edges and aircraft look faded away and the more modern vehicles that now fill the highways began appearing. The names of the manufactures have changed over the years as well. Many (if not most) of the buses and coaches built now are produced by European firms like this example here
.
That
is a VanHool C2045 built somewhere between 2002 and 2006; one of the most common long haul buses on the market. Built by a Dutch company, it is their twentieth coach design series (thus the C20) and in the US is generally built to forty-five feet in length (the 45 on the end of the C2045 designation). As buses go, these are pretty good. At least the five of them that we spent our time on during this trip were able to get us from point-a to point-b pretty reasonable.
OK
now everyone remember where we parked