Compagnie Générale des Omnibus de Londres formed--The London General Omnibus Company starts work--Businesses purchased by the Company--It offers a prize of £100 for the best design of an omnibus--The knife-board omnibus introduced--Correspondence system tried--Packets of tickets sold--Yellow wheels--The L.G.O.C. becomes an English Limited Liability Company--The first board of directors--Present position of the Company--The Omnibus: a satire--The Omnibus: a play 79 CHAPTER VIII The opening of Holborn Viaduct--An omnibus is the first vehicle to cross it--“Viaduct Tommy”--Skid-men 95 CHAPTER IX A new Company--The London and District Omnibus Company, Limited--The London Road Car Company, Limited--Its first omnibuses--The garden seats--The flag and its meaning--Foreigners’ idea of it--The ticket system--The great strike--The London Co-operative Omnibus Company--Mr. Jenkins and advertisements--The Street Traffic Bill--Outside lamps 100 CHAPTER X The Motor Traction Company’s omnibus--An electric omnibus--The Central London Railway--The London County Council omnibuses--The “corridor ’bus”--The latest omnibus struggle--Present omnibus routes 119 CHAPTER XI “Jumpers”--“Spots”--Some curious passengers--Conductors and coachmen--The Rothschild Christmas-boxes--Mr. Morris Abrahams and the Omnibus Men’s Superannuation Fund--Horses--Cost of omnibuses--Night in an omnibus yard 137 CHAPTER XII Pirate omnibuses--Their history and tricks 164 PART II--CABS CHAPTER I The introduction of hackney-coaches--“The world run on wheels”--The first hackney-coach stand and the oldest cab rank in England--Sedan chairs introduced--Charles I. and Charles II. prohibit hackney-coaches--Hackney-coaches and the Plague--William Congreve--Threatened strike of hackney-coachmen--Hackney-chariots introduced--Prince of Wales drives a hackney-coach--Licences--Funeral coaches ply for hire in the streets--A pedometer for hackney-coaches suggested--Dickens on hackney-coaches--Origin of the word “hackney” 181 CHAPTER II Cabs introduced into England--Restrictions placed upon them--A comical-looking cab--Dickens on cabs--Hackney-coachmen wish to become cabmen--The cab business a monopoly--Restrictions are removed--_The Cab_ paper--The Boulnois cab invented--The “minibus”--The “duobus”--Bilking--A peer’s joke 205 CHAPTER III