Editing Bus (section)

===Steam buses===
{{main|Steam bus}}
[[File:Obeissante.jpg|thumb|[[Amédée Bollée]]'s ''L'Obéissante'' (1875)]]

Regular intercity bus services by steam-powered buses were pioneered in England in the 1830s by [[Walter Hancock]] and by associates of [[Goldsworthy Gurney|Sir Goldsworthy Gurney]], among others, running reliable services over road conditions which were too hazardous for horse-drawn transportation.

The first mechanically propelled omnibus appeared on the streets of London on 22 April 1833.<ref>{{cite news |title=Centenarxy of the Omnibus |newspaper=The Times |date=28 April 1933 |page=16}}</ref> Steam carriages were much less likely to overturn, they travelled faster than horse-drawn carriages, they were much cheaper to run, and caused much less damage to the road surface due to their wide tyres.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Rise and Fall of Non-Government Roads in the United Kingdom |pages=263–264 |title=Street Smart: Competition, Entrepreneurship and the Future of Roads |author=Benson, Bruce L.}}</ref>

However, the heavy road [[Toll road|tolls]] imposed by the [[turnpike trusts]] discouraged steam road vehicles and left the way clear for the horse bus companies, and from 1861 onwards, harsh legislation virtually eliminated mechanically propelled vehicles from the roads of Great Britain for 30 years, the [[Locomotive Act 1861]] imposing restrictive speed limits on "road locomotives" of {{cvt|5|mph|km/h}} in towns and cities, and {{cvt|10|mph|km/h}} in the country.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url={{GBurl|RMgDAAAAQAAJ|page=388}} |chapter=Locomotives Act, 1861 |title=Pratt's Law of Highways |edition=10th |publisher=Shaw & Sons |date=1865 |page=388}}</ref>