New Zealand - Bus - Auckland Bus Service Centre - Washing buses at the Auckland Bus Service Centre - 1976 - Williams, Basil Photo #bus New Zealand Bus - New Zealand’s first ‘bus’ was used in Nelson in 1862 to travel the 1km stretch of road between the city and the port. It was a heavy wooden vehicle hauled by horses along a set of tracks. - At the beginning of the 20th century a number of cities and some towns had tram or bus networks but most were still horse drawn with attempts to modernise the industry haphazard, and largely unsuccessful. Many of the early buses were in fact large cars. - Early pioneers included Hot Lakes Transport Company (Rotorua) and and the Mount Cook Motor Company who began driving passengers between Auckland and Rotorua and the Hermitage respectively before also taking on postal services. - 1900 marked the first significant technological development in the New Zealand bus and coach industry with the introduction of an electric tram in Dunedin, this was soon followed with the first extensive tramway in Auckland in 1902. - The first organisation in New Zealand of long distance route and tourist service operators was the AARD Motor Services Association of NZ, formed in 1918. (Reference: read more at https://www.busandcoach.co.nz/about-us/late-1800s-1930s) --------------------- Image source: Auckland Bus Service Centre, 1976 Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1727-050 https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/89074