German version

Motorized Daimler bus in England, 1899

Four different models for between six and sixteen passengers, engine output ratings from four to ten horsepower: the first bus series was launched by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in May 1898. The automotive pioneer thus became the world’s first supplier of a complete series of motorized buses.

Hoofs, steam and electricit

There had been a large number of forerunners: horse-drawn buses had been operating in cities and industrial areas for quite some time. Experiments with steam-powered buses had been made in Britain as early as the 1820s, and in 1882, Siemens presented an electrically powered trolley bus in Berlin. The bus as a means of passenger transport had been preceded by railways, streetcars and taxis.

Carl Benz had produced a motorized bus as early as 1895; in the same year, it started operating in regular line service on the 15 kilometer route between Siegen and Deuz. The eight-seater bus set out in Netphen at 6:00 hours in the morning, commuted between Deuz and Siegen four times in the course of the day and finally returned to its starting point at 8:55 p.m. A journey along the complete route cost 70 Pfennigs. However, this bus was still a clearly visible derivative of the horse-drawn coach, featuring an eight-seater landau bodywork and a single-cylinder engine installed horizontally at the rear.

The first motor coach in 1895. At the wheel: Karl Otto from Nauholz