Várnagy Zoltán: Urban Transportation - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)

The first büs starts on its way

There were open and dosed ones, single and double deckers, and coaches with benches along the sides or across the body.

The omnibus did not disappear from the streets of Budapest with the appearance of horse-drawn and, later, eledric trams. There were routes where it would not have been profitable to lay rails, but where there were still enough passengers to make running omnibuses financially feasible. Although previous ventures had gone bankrupt by 1895, a new company was formed, Budapest Omnibus Co., which maintained five routes with fifty vehicles servicing them. However, there was no steady custom for any length of time, and the company was only helped out by periodical upsurges due to some major event such as the Millenary celebrations. In 1897 Budapest Omnibus, too, went out business, but in 1898 another company, First Hungarian Transport, was established. This was then bought up by the Municipal Council for 1.8 million koronás. The largest number of passengers carried by the company was 13 million, in 1913. However, by 1919 the annual passenger count had dropped to two million.

In spite of competition from the electric and horse- drawn trams, omnibuses were doing increasing business at the turn of the century, but then another competitor appeared on the scene-the motor bus. In 1909 Phönix Automobile Co. started a seasonal service between Sváb and János Hills. The route became very

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