The First Public Bus Was French – But the British Made it Work

It all started with an idea. A carriage. A fare of five sols. And the streets of Paris in 1662.

When Blaise Pascal proposed the notion that transport should be structured and shared, he wasn’t thinking about fame. He was thinking about logic, about utility, and perhaps unknowingly, about laying the first cobblestone in a journey that would one day lead to Heathrow.

A Short Ride Through Paris

Imagine it: wooden wheels rattling along narrow Parisian roads, a fixed route, a fixed price, and no need to be noble to board.

These were the carrosses à cinq sols – public carriages that dared to treat movement as a common right, not a private privilege.

But Paris wasn’t ready.

Within 15 years, class restrictions, politics, and dwindling use pulled the reins. The carriages disappeared into history, their tracks barely visible today.

The Omnibus Idea That Changed Cities

Fast forward 162 years. Manchester, 1824. John Greenwood, a local businessman, introduced what would become known as the horse-drawn omnibus — a public carriage running on a fixed route between Market Street and Pendleton.

It wasn’t revolutionary, but it worked and people used it. Every day.

That was the difference. While France experimented, Britain committed. And in doing so, created the backbone of what we now call public transport. Regularity became expectation. Schedules became promises. Cities adjusted not to the vehicle but to the rhythm of shared movement.

From there, things accelerated. London built its double-deckers. Liverpool and Birmingham stitched networks into their growth. And suddenly, movement wasn’t a luxury or a miracle. It was infrastructure – predictable and visible.

But public transport didn’t freeze in place. As cities grew and technologies advanced, new attempts to modernize the urban ride emerged.

In 1897, London became the first city in the world to introduce a fleet of electric taxis, known as Bersey Cabs. Designed by Walter Bersey, these vehicles were capable of 12 mph and offered passengers a cleaner and quieter alternative to horse-drawn carriages. However, high maintenance costs and battery limitations led to their withdrawal by 1900.

Petrol-powered taxis first appeared in 1903, beginning with French-built Prunel vehicles. At that time, London still had over 11,000 horse-drawn cabs operating in parallel with the new motorised fleet. It wasn’t until 1947 that the last licensed horse-drawn cab was officially retired, closing a chapter that had lasted for over two centuries.

According to historical transport records verified against public collections held at institutions such as the University of Bristol Library, London maintained over 11,000 licensed horse-drawn cabs as late as 1903. The final retirement of horse cab licenses occurred in 1947, marking the formal end of an era that had shaped the city’s transport identity for over two centuries.

From Five-Sou Carriages to Airport Transfers

At first glance, there’s little in common between a carriage in 1662 and a modern chauffeur-driven Mercedes waiting outside Terminal 5. But look closer.

Pascal imagined predictability. Greenwood delivered it. And today, services like ours at Airport Taxi Express continue that logic: coordinated pickups, fixed pricing and a professional standard that turns chaos into calm.

Clients no longer wait in the rain. They book in advance. They track their driver. Their journey is integrated into broader systems – flights, roads, live traffic.

What Pascal dreamed of as fixed is now dynamic. What Greenwood delivered with leather reins, we now deliver with code.

Why We Still Talk About 1662

It would be easy to dismiss it as trivia, a historical footnote. But the idea behind those carriages – that movement can be shared, structured and fair – never disappeared. It evolved.

Today, it underpins logistics, algorithms, vehicle fleets and how we time our days. It shapes how cities grow and how families plan. It’s why an airport taxi isn’t just a car, but a link in a chain of decisions, reliability and systems.

When a client steps into one of our vehicles, they may not think of Pascal or Greenwood. But they’re part of that legacy. A trip from Gatwick to Central London is more than distance. It’s coordination, trust and efficiency passed down through centuries.

Innovation in transport rarely comes as explosions. More often, it arrives in routines. It’s a driver showing up on time. A fare that’s what it says it is. A car that waits, not wanders.

Pascal had the idea.

Greenwood gave it legs.

Britain gave it roads, rules and reach аnd we keep giving it relevance.

From 1662 Paris to 2024 Britain, the bus never really stopped. It just changed names.