You might think our personal quest to rescue Regent Low Height #3 is a quest to save a REALLY old double-decker bus... but of course, it's not that old in the grand scheme of the old buses that ran the streets of London and other places...

In fact, in 1857, Le Compagnie Générale des Omnibus de Londres (the company which would eventually become "London General" and then "London Transport",) was running horse-drawn coaches with an open-upper deck through London's main roads...

Click here for more information on these buses...

Granted, most people when they ask me about the first "double-decker" really want to know about motorized buses... the first one to ply the streets of London was a steam powered bus operated by Motor Omnibus Company in 1899. The first "petrol" (gas) bus was run by the Motor Traction Company which ran a 12 horsepower Daimler bus in 1902. London General didn't take the "petrol plunge" until 1904 when they ran an American Fischer petrol-electric chassis mounted with a double-decker body.

Of course, London wasn't the only place to run double-deckers... as the bit about the "American Fischer" tells you above... The Toronto Transit Commission right here in our home town had five double-deckers... and they ran right passed where we live today!

The buses, one Associated Equipment Company 404 (AEC is the same company that built the bus this site and blog are really about, RLH 3,) and four Fifth Avenue Bus Company models ran the route from Annette down to Humber along Runnymede... basically to the West side of Sunnyside.

Most major American and Canadian cities ran double-deckers at some point... until the urban landscape changed and electrical wires and other hazards made it more-or-less impossible to continue their use.

Granted, with London's recent decision to eliminate the venerated Routemasters from their routes, it's likely that at least Toronto would have gotten rid of them long before because of the issues with wheelchair access amongst other things.

On a positive note, however, double-deckers will SOON be back in regular (not "tours only") service in the Toronto area through GO Transit who will shortly take on new twelve Dennis Trident buses...

Above - Photo Credit to Paul Bateson

The picture above is the "borrowed" Dennis Trident GO Transit used to test the waters... If you look near the rear doors, you'll see the "GO" logo on a window...

So, as a living bit of history, GO will be bringing the first double-deckers in regular service to our neck of the woods since the 1930's!

Of course, we hope to have OUR bus, Regent Low Height #3, also plying the fair streets of Toronto soon... with some help, of course... click here (opens a new browser) to read about that.

...and never let is be said I lack a historical angle on the other blog... Click here (opens a new browser) to read all about Regent Low Height Buses in general!

Did double-deckers run in your town? My best advice to find out is to "Google" your local transit authority and add the word "history" into the search... you may be surprised that they did indeed run these wonderful vehicles...