Missing the last bus
The last horse-drawn bus operated by the London General Omnibus Company in central London ran on October 25th, 1911, between London Bridge and Moorgate Street. In August 1914, the last horse-drawn bus that ran anywhere in London ceased operation, and many of the horses were subsequently used for war service.
It had been a distinguished story, with the first regular horse-bus service started by George Shillibeer in 1829. The first ones could take 16-18 passengers in a single-deck vehicle pulled by three horses. He ran four or five services a day between Paddington Green and the Bank, charging a fare of one shilling (5p).
The services proliferated, and by 1888/89 the two Underground companies, the Metropolitan and District lines, provided horse buses as feeder services for their stations, selling through tickets that covered the bus and the tube trip. They ran for about 15 hours a day, usually with passengers facing each other on long bench-like seats that ran parallel to the direction of travel. The driver sat on a forward-facing bench. Side windows enabled the lower deck passengers to see out, but the upper deck travellers were exposed to the elements.
They were mainly patronized by the middle classes, because from the 1870s the working classes used the horse tramways with their cheaper fares. Typically, the horse buses were drawn by two horses, had smaller front wheels than rear ones, and were boarded by steps at the back. A third horse would normally be added on hilly routes.
Those who like to hark back to the days before London became polluted with motor vehicle exhausts might reflect on the pollution caused by horses. In 1900 London had several thousand horse-drawn buses, each needing 12 horses a day. To these were added 11,000 horse-drawn hansom cabs making a total of 50,000 horses.
Since each horse produced about 15 - 35 lb of manure a day, this meant that about 600 tons of manure was being deposited each day on London’s streets. It attracted flies that spread typhoid and other diseases. Small children would ply street corners, and for a small coin would sweep the road ahead of gentlemen and ladies so their clothes would not be soiled. Each horse also produced about 2 pints of urine a day, and when their working life was over - usually after about 3 years, their bodies had to be disposed of. Sometimes they were left to rot on the streets.
There was a Great Manure Crisis of 1894, when the scale of the problem drew concerned attention. The Times newspaper predicted that “In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.” But the solution was not far off. In September, 1901, the same paper announced the introduction of “a service of motor-cars…to carry passengers, at omnibus fares, between Piccadilly Circus and Putney.” The new motorized transport was cheaper and more efficient, since the engines only had to be fed when working. Within a few years it displaced the horse for passenger transport in the metropolis. With the horses went the excrement, the urine, and the carcasses.
Technology solved the problem of horse pollution without people needing to change their bahaviour or limit their travel. It replaced horse pollution with exhaust fume pollution, but that, too is being solved by the technological innovation of the electric car. Had there been Extinction Rebellion protesters in 1900, they would doubtless have campaigned to ban horses and their manure from the streets, and to have people travel less. Such a campaign was not needed because innovative modes of transport made it unnecessary. As always, humans are quite good at solving problems.