Friday Video: Where Was the First Public Bus Route in the World?

How long, exactly, have the wheels on the bus been going round and round? If you include “shared, publicly available horse-drawn carriages running on a fixed route” under the umbrella of the term “bus,” the answer is actually a lot longer than you think — and you’ll never guess which surprising historical figure was involved in launching the whole thing.

Check out this video from British YouTuber Tim Traveler, who travels to the likely birthplace of public transit in Paris and even takes a ride. And along the way, he learns how one of history’s most famous mathematicians, inventors, and philosophers may also be able to add one more accolade to his resume: “father of the bus.”

Give it a watch, and then dive into the comments for more examples of early transit that might challenge Paris for the title.