Tayo the Little Bus

Tayo the Little Bus 꼬마버스 타요

Image Description
The series' Logo

No. of Seasons
7 (6 completed, 1 yet to premiere)

No. of Episodes
156

Writer
Choi Jong-il

Director
Kim Min-sung (Season 1)Shin Chang-hwan (Season 2)Song In-uk (Season 3 - Season 4)

Production Company
Iconix Entertainment

Original network
Educational Broadcasting System (EBS)

Original Release
August 23, 2010 - present

***Tayo the Little Bus*** (Korean: 꼬마버스 타요; RR: *Kkoma-beoseu Tayo*) is a South Korean computer-animated television series created by Iconix Entertainment, Educational Broadcasting System and the Metropolitan Government of Seoul. The show was produced with the help of Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration. It began airing in South Korea on EBS in 2010 and an English-dubbed version of the series began airing on Disney Junior (Asia) in 2012, with Disney Junior (Australia and New Zealand) following in 2013. In the United States and Canada, Hulu is the exclusive distributor of the series, though the third and fourth seasons are on Netflix. In Indonesia, the series is distributed by RTV.
The series is about four buses in a city populated with anthropomorphic vehicles: Tayo (Bus 120), Rogi (Bus 1000), Lani (Bus 02), and Gani (Bus 1339).
Each episode in the start, middle, and end features a brief narration and it has six seasons. A spin-off series to Tayo, known as "Titipo Titipo", premiered between the main series’ fourth season and fifth season. Titipo focuses on the titular character named Titipo, a young passenger train the show is named after along with all his train friends. After the end of Titipo's first season, Tayo's fifth season premiered for English-speaking audiences on October 22, 2018. Titipo the Little Train returns on the Korean channel for the second season. Titipo's second season premiered for English-speaking audiences starting November 19, 2020. In late 2020, *Tayo the Little Bus* 10th anniversary spinoff *Tayo and Little Wizards* (Korean: 마법버스 타요) was released. This spinoff premiered on Netflix on September 17, 2021. The sixth season aired on September 1, 2021 on the Korean YouTube Channel. Titipo the Little Train once again returns on the Korean YouTube Channel for the third season. After the end of Titipo's second season, Tayo's sixth season premiered for English-speaking audiences on July 7, 2022. 4 months after the sixth season ended on November 19, 2022, Titipo's third season premiered for English-speaking audiences on April 7, 2023.

Episodes
*Main article: List of Tayo the Little Bus episodes*

Characters
Main Characters
The series features seven main characters. Each of the four original characters (Tayo, Gani, Lani & Rogi) is based on the four actual colors and types of Seoul Buses.
* **Tayo** (Bus 120, blue) is friendly, playful, and sometimes mischievous. He is the 3rd largest and 3rd oldest of the four buses. In the fourth-season episode, Who Is The Real Tayo?, it is revealed that he has a clone of his named Star Tayo, which was in one of his dreams. Tayo also appears as a minor character in the *Titipo Titipo* series and has appeared in the Season 1 episodes: Going to Choo-Choo Town, Genie Makes a New Friend, and Titipo and Tayo. For Season 2, he appeared in the episodes: *A Long Haul: Part 1*, *Fix and Lift's Music Battle*, *Loco the Fabulous Freight Train*, *Oh Please, Genie*, *Diesel and Rogi* and *Genie's New Friend*.
* **Rogi** (Bus 1000, green) he is conceited, outgoing, and also mischievous, but he is good-hearted. although the two often get into fights with each other. Funny and mischievous himself, Rogi also has an interest in detective work, as can be seen in episodes like *Rogi the Detective!* and *Prank Call Madness*. Rogi appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episodes: *Oh Please, Genie*, *Diesel and Rogi* and *Genie's New Friend*.
* **Lani** (Bus 02, yellow) She is cute, cheerful, kind, and sweet-natured however, she is timid, sensitive, and temperamental. Possessing little tolerance for arguments, she often acts as a mediator between Tayo and Rogi. She is the smallest and youngest of the four buses and is often considered the *cute* one of the group. Lani appeared in the second season episodes of Titipo Titipo: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle*, *Welcome, Jenny* and *Oh Please, Genie*.
* **Gani** (Bus 1339, red), who is hardworking, warm-hearted, and shy, while also slightly timid and insecure. He is the largest and oldest of the four buses and often acts as the most *mature* one of the group. Gani appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episodes: *Oh Please, Genie* and *Diesel and the Baby Cars*.
* **Peanut** (Bus 03, white and turquoise) is an eco-friendly city and tour bus that is good-natured and mellow. As he is shaped just like a peanut on the top, he gains this name. He can cause mischief sometimes but is a very kind bus. He was introduced in Season 4 along with the city tram Trammy.
* **Trammy** (Tram 270, purple) is a city tram that was introduced in Season 4 along with Peanut.
* **Sky** is the control center and garage of Trammy, he is located on the mountain top near the reservoir and is accessible by the mountain tram and bus stop.

Supporting Characters* **Hana** is a kind mechanic, who takes care of the little buses and works in the bus depot repair shop. She then appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episodes: Fix and Lift's Music Battle and *A Gift for Teo*.
* **Citu** (sometimes spelled **Cito**) is a red double-decker tour bus who serves as a father-figure for Tayo, Rogi, Lani, Gani, Peanut and Trammy. He often chastises Tayo and Rogi for driving too rough in the garage. However, in the second-season episode, Cito's Secret, it is revealed that he had a boisterous past himself. An old mentor of his, Booba, appeared in this episode.
* **Heart** is Hana's kind pink helper car. Previously, brown was her color in the third-season episode, *The New Friend, Heart*. Speed has a bit of a crush on her. Heart appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *A Gift for Teo*.

Frequent supporting characters* **Nuri** is a calm and professional transgender taxi who first met Tayo in the first-season episode, *A Day in the Life of Tayo*. She/he is very nice to Tayo and his friends, often visiting them at the bus depot. She then appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episode: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle*.
* **Rookie** is a police officer who sometimes goofs up with his job because he is new to it.
* **Pat** is an experienced police car who is always serious when working. Rookie is Pat's police officer.
* **Speed** (whose original name was **Speedy**) is a red car that likes to go really fast and is a little mischievous. Speed has a bit of a crush on Heart, but she is oblivious of it. Speed later appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episode: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle*.
* **Shine** is an overly proud and vain yellow car who likes to show off, repeatedly leading to his own embarrassment. Shine is Speed's best friend. Shine later appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episode: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle* alongside Speed.

Recurring supporting characters* **Toto** is a yellow tow truck who is really responsible with his job. Toto also made an appearance in the *Titipo Titipo* season 1 episode *Titipo and Tayo*.
* **Air** is a red helicopter who is part of the rescue team.
* **Bong Bong** is a very chipper light blue baby van modeled after the classic VW minibus. He made his first appearance in the episode *Tayo and Bong Bong*. Bong Bong appeared with Oli and the other baby cars in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *Diesel and the Baby Cars*. Bong Bong is also named after a meme in social media.
* **Oli** is a very chipper light green baby car. His first appearance was in the second-season episode, *Tayo and Bong Bong*, and named for the first time in the fourth-season episode, *Who Is Cooler?*. Oli appeared with Bong Bong and the other baby cars in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *Diesel and the Baby Cars*.
* **Carry** is a vehicle transporter akin to a mother or babysitter for Bongbong, Oli, an unnamed blue baby pickup truck, and an unnamed baby yellow taxi. Carry does not appear in the second season of Titipo Titipo and in season five of Tayo the little bus but Carry is also known as a male car carrier.
* **Champ** is a turquoise countryside Land Rover, who got praised and follows Cooku's invitation.
* **Cooku** (whose name was originally **Coco**) is a white and blue countryside bus.
* **Tony** also known as Cracker (not Cracker) is a little truck that obeys traffic laws and likes to teach other cars about traffic laws. In the first-season episode, I Want New Tires, he was so busy teaching other cars about traffic laws that he got late delivering Tayo's new tires to the garage. Tony appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episode: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle*.
* **Alice** is an ambulance who works in a hospital who likes to work with Frank when there is a fire. She is responsible for taking ill people to the hospital right on time. Alice appeared alongside Jay in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *Troublemaker Chichi*.
* **Frank** is a fire truck who works with Alice when there is a fire. He is very serious about his job and is responsible for fighting fires and saving people in danger.
* **Big** is a big container truck that delivers goods to the airport to be sent overseas.
* **Billy** is a yellow bulldozer who works at the construction site with Poco, Chris, and Max. He is good at juggling. He appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episode: *Oh Please, Genie*.
* **Poco** is a yellow excavator who works at the construction site with Billy, Chris, and Max. He can rotate himself and spin his chassis around and around. He appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episodes: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle* and *Oh Please, Genie*.
* **Chris** is an orange cement truck who works at the construction site with Billy, Poco, and Max. He mixes up cement for new foundations. He shares Max's model. Max appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episode: *Oh Please, Genie*.
* **Max** is a green dump truck who works at the construction site with Billy, Poco, and Chris. He can dump a huge pile of sand for a job. He shares Big and Chris's cab model. Max appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episodes: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle* and *Oh Please, Genie*.
* **Met** is a subway train who knows about everything - even in the first-season episode, Rogi's Hiccups, he showed this by helping Rogi to stop hiccupping. If anyone feels down, Met will know what to do. He is modelled after the second generation of Korail Class 341000. Met has not appeared on the show since the 21st episode of Season 4.
* **Nana** is a bus living in the countryside with Ractor, Cooku, and Champ. She idolizes Tayo. She first appeared in the second-season episode, Nana Visits the City.
* **Wondie** is an old blue-and-beige bus who was scrapped a year before the first season, but also make cameo appearances.
* **Ractor** (whose name was originally **Larry**) is a red tractor who lives in the countryside with Cooku, Champ, and Nana.
* **Rubby** is a cleaning truck that likes to clean up garbage. He first appears in the second-season episode, A New Playground!.
* **Iracha** (sometimes mistakenly referred to as **Lracha**, **Ratch**, and **Vroomy** and also known as coconut in uk dub) (Not coconut is a clumsy dark blue pick-up truck who shares Tony's model. He constantly makes mistakes, but knows that he is more careful, and runs on time as Jay showed him how.
* **Booba** is an old van that used to keep scolding Citu for constant mischief when the latter was younger. It was revealed that he used to ride with Steam in "Booba's Vacation". He then appeared in Titipo Titipo in the second season episode: *Fix and Lift's Music Battle* alongside Steam.
* **Ms. Teach** is a car with a white-and-purple livery. With a yellow medallion on her carneck She always teaches the other vehicles in school.
* **Princess Ray** is a princess from another planet on a spaceship who helps Tayo defeat Bully the space pirate.
* **Kinder** is a Kindergarten school bus who takes kids on field trips. He seemed to replace Kindy Bus. He appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *Eric is the Best*.
* **Duri** is a cheery boy who lives where Jerry used to live. He is one of Tayo's best friends.
* **Jay** is a rescuer and a member of the team of the emergency center. She appeared alongside Alice in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *Troublemaker Chichi*.
* **Joy** (whose name was originally **Joey**) is a magician.
* **Andy** is an artist who formally started off as a graffiti artist but has changed his ways. He appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episodes: *We're Sorry, Eric*, *Eric is the Best* and *A Gift for Teo*.
* **Candy** is Andy’s colorful countryside land rover truck who is very identical to Champ but is colorful.
* **Asura** is a mischievous wizard who pulled magic pranks on the buses but has learned to make friends.
* **Star Tayo** is actually a fake Tayo who looks almost identical to the real Tayo.
* **Star Kinder** is actually a fake Kinder who looks almost identical to the real Kinder.
* **Jimmy** is a guitarist musician who plays his guitar on the street in front of people. He appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *We're Sorry, Eric* alongside Jenny.
* **Jenny** (not to be confused with the train introduced in Titipo's second season) is a singer who she teams up with Jimmy. She appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *We're Sorry, Eric* alongside Jimmy.
* **Hana's Aunt** is the aunt that Tayo meets in Hollywood, California.
* **Hans** is a blind musician with a seeing dog who plays the cello at a concert.
* **Princess** is a cat owned by the little girl.
* **Blackie** is a black stray dog who was found by Tayo and later gets owned by Duri.
* **Miley** is a famous superstar actress from Hollywood, California in the United States.
* **Black** is a black car agent who protects Miley.
* **Titi** is a mother cat who protects her baby kittens.
* **Chirp-Chirp** is a mother bird who builds her nest and lays three eggs and protects it.
* **Lolly** is a friendly tour bus that speaks with a British accent, but unlike other little buses, she lives in a different city.
* **Moo Moo** is the cow who blocks the road and gets in Tayo's way.
* **Bird Expert** is a man who's an expert on studying birds and relocating their nest.
* **Santa Claus** is a jolly man who rides the flying sleigh with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. He appeared in Titipo Titipo's second season episode: *A Special Day for Diesel*. He tasked and rode on Diesel to deliver presents at Christmas to and from his workshop while his steam engine sleigh was being repaired. The model is based on Steam.
* **Rudolph** a reindeer that can magically fly and pulls the sleigh, he is Santa Claus pet.
* **Villain** the leader of the Researchers on a hunt to capture Tino.
* **Villain's Secret Agents** are a group of secret agents who are looking for the alien T-rex baby dinosaur Tino to take it away for research.
* **Professor** is the boss of Villain.
* **Tino** is a young dinosaur. He is based on Tyrannosaurus who has telekinetic powers to lift objects off the ground.
* **Tori** a toy car with mouse or bear ears. He is from the film The Tayo Movie Mission: Ace.
* **Blo** a toy army truck with is Tori's friend. He is from the film The Tayo Movie Mission: Ace.
* **Anne** is Hana's mother who's a paleontologist and is hunting for dinosaurs.
* **Guardian X** (whose name was originally **Fireball**) is the hero in the city.
* **Thunderbolt** is Guardian X's car who shares Leo's model.
* **Long** is a container truck who works at the port.
* **Cargo** is a cargo plane who delivers cargo by air to its destinations.
* **Towing** is an airline pushback tractor who works at the airport alongside **Loader** and **Tug**.
* **Loader** is an airport vehicle who loads cargo to the planes' bay. He also works at the airport alongside **Tug** and **Towing**.
* **Tug** is an airport baggage tractor who works at the airport alongside **Towing** and **Loader**.

Reception
At a Vietnamese seminar for addressing the struggles of the Vietnamese animation industry, Korean animators named *Tayo the Little Bus* a series that has been "dominating" the Korean market. These animators also noted that the series is popular in China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Cultural impact
In 2014, the Seoul Metropolitan Government commissioned buses designed as the characters Tayo, Gani, Rogi, and Lani, to run around the Gwanghwamun Square area of the city. This was done as part of an initiative to teach children how to use the bus. The initiative was a massive success, drawing crowds of over 40,000 in a single day. People from all across the country came to see the buses. Although the buses were originally set to run from March 26 until Public Transport Day at the end of April, their popularity led to an extension until Children's Day on May 5. The number of buses was also expanded from the original four to 100. In wake of this success, it was reported that the local governments of other cities in South Korea were considering adopting the campaign. Officials for the city of Seoul initially opposed this on copyright grounds, but they consented in April to letting other cities use the characters for non-commercial purposes.
Jaeyeon Woo of *The Wall Street Journal'*s blog Korea Real-Time, speculated in an April 2014 article that the success of this initiative led both of Gyeonggi Province's gubernatorial candidates, Kim Sang-gon and Nam Kyung-pil, to adopt public transportation issues as a key part of their campaign platforms. Seoul-mayor Park Won-soon, who began the initiative, has been criticized by some of his political rivals, who feel that he took credit for the series, even though the series was begun by his predecessor's administration.
On October 16, 2014, a South Korean group called the Teen Astronauts, launched a space balloon designed as the character Tayo from the Space Science Park in Korea's National Science Museum.
In late 2018 there's a tayo bus phenomenon in Indonesia due to its theme song, often used as a joke or prank by many people. It become one of the 15 top trending searches in Google in Indonesia in 2018.
In August 2019, in Banjarmasin, there's a BRT called "Tayo bus" due to its size and color.

Films and Specials* *The Tayo Movie Mission: Ace* (2016)
* *Tayo's Vroom Vroom Adventure* (2017)
* *Tayo's Toy Adventure* (2019)
* *Tayo's Dino Kingdom Adventure* (2019)
* *Tayo and Little Wizards* (2021)

Tayo's Sing Along Show
*Tayo's Sing Along Show* is an animation program that aired on EBS in the first season from July 5 to September 27, 2013, and the second season from July 3 to September 25, 2015. It is an extra work of Tayo. The program is a new type of animation in which children's friend, Tayo, the Little Bus, decorates an exciting song with various car friends.