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A horse-bus or horse-drawn omnibus is a large, enclosed and sprung horse-drawn vehicle used for passenger transport before the introduction of motor vehicles. It was mainly used in the late 19th century in both the United States and Europe, and was one of the most common means of transportation in cities. In a typical arrangement, two wooden benches along the sides of the passenger cabin hold several sitting passengers facing each other. The driver sits on a separate, front-facing bench, typically in an elevated position outside the passengers' enclosed cabin. In the main age of horse buses, many of them were double-decker buses. On the upper deck, which was uncovered, the longitudinal benches were arranged back to back. A small open wagon with or without a top, but with an arrangement of the seats similar to horse-drawn omnibuses, is called a wagonette. ==Etymology== ''Bus'' is a clipped form of the Latin word ''Omnibus''. A legend promoted by the French transportations Museum website, says the name is derived from a hatter's shop of the Omnes family in front of the first station opened in Nantes by Stanislas Baudry in 1823. "Omnes Omnibus" was a pun on the Latin sounding name of that hatter Omnès: ''omnes'' meaning "all" and ''omnibus'' meanings "for all" in Latin. Thence, the legend concludes, Nantes citizens gave the nickname of Omnibus to the vehicle. Though it is undisputed that the term arose with Stanislas Baudry's company, there is however no record of any Omnès hatter living in that street. In 1892, the son of Baudry's bookkepeer wrote in the ''Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Nantes'' that ''omnibus'' had a simpler origin. Baudry used to call his horsecars ''Dames blanches'' (White ladies), a name which, critics told him, made no sense. He then replied, with the Latin word: "Then, these are ''omnibus'' cars!" (cars for all). The name catch up immediately. Other stories about the name origin quickly spread out. The term 'omnibus' carried over to motor vehicles. The 1914 book ''Motor Body-building in all its Branches'' By Christopher William Terry, described an omnibus as having longitudinal seats in rows with either a rear door or side doors. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Horsebus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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