page_title: Intercity bus service
section_title: Motorbuses
hierarchical_section_title: Intercity bus service / History / Motorbuses
caption_attribution_description: 1959 model Chevrolet Viking bus of Nepal Transport Service shown here in 1961.
context_page_description: An intercity bus service or intercity coach service, also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, highway, or Greyhound bus or coach service, is a public transport service using coaches to carry passengers significant distances between different cities, towns, or other populated areas. Unlike a transit bus service, which has frequent stops throughout a city or town, an intercity bus service generally has a single stop at one location in or near a city, and travels long distances without stopping at all. Intercity bus services may be operated by government agencies or private industry, for profit and not for profit. Intercity coach travel can serve areas or countries with no train services, or may be set up to compete with trains by providing a more flexible or cheaper alternative.
  Intercity bus services are of prime importance in lightly populated rural areas that often have little or no public transportation.
  Intercity bus services are one of four common transport methods between cities, not all of which are available in all places. The others are by airliner, train, and private automobile.
context_section_description: The development of railways in the 1830s spelt the end for the stagecoaches across Europe and America, with only a few companies surviving to provide services for short journeys and excursions until the early years of the 20th century.
  The first motor coaches were acquired by operators of those horse-drawn vehicles. W. C. Standerwick of Blackpool, England acquired its first motor charabanc in 1911, and Royal Blue from Bournemouth acquired its first motor charabanc in 1913. Motor coaches were initially used only for excursions.
  In 1919, Royal Blue took advantage of a rail strike to run a coach service from Bournemouth to London. The service was so successful that it expanded rapidly. In 1920 the Minister of Transport Eric Campbell Geddes was quoted in Punch magazine as saying "I think it would be a calamity if we did anything to prevent the economic use of charabancs" and expressed concern at the problems caused to small charabanc and omnibus operators in parliament.
  In America, Carl Eric Wickman began providing the first service in 1913. Frustrated about being unable to sell a seven-passenger automobile on the showroom floor of the dealership where he worked, he purchased the vehicle himself and started using it to transport miners between Hibbing and Alice, Minnesota. He began providing this service regularly in what would start a new company and industry. The company would one day be known as Greyhound.
  In 1914, Pennsylvania was the first state to pass regulations for bus service in order to prevent monopolies of the industry from forming. All remaining U.S. states would soon follow.
  The coach industry expanded rapidly in the 1920s, a period of intense competition. The Road Traffic Act 1930 in the UK introduced a national system of regulation of passenger road transport and authorised local authorities to operate transport services. It also imposed a speed limit of 30 mph for coaches whilst removing any speed limit for private cars.
  The 1930s to the 1950s saw the development of bus stations for intercity transport. Many expanded from simple stops into major architecturally designed terminals that included shopping and other businesses. Intercity bus transport increased in speed, efficiency and popularity until the 1950s and 1960s, when as the popularity of the private automobile has increased, the use of intercity bus service has declined. For example, in Canada in the 1950s, 120 million passengers boarded intercity bus service each year; in the 1960s, this number declined to 50 million. During the 1990s, it was down to 10 million.
caption: A Chevrolet bus of Nepal Transport Service in 1961.
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