Article: Coach

This article is about vehicles called coaches. For other meanings of the word, see coach (disambiguation).

Original meaning and etymology

The original meaning of the term coach was: a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of more than one passenger — and of mail — and covered for protection from the elements. The small Hungarian town of Kocs (pronounced "kotch") was the place of manufacture, from the 15th century onwards, of an exceptionally well designed example of such a vehicle with durable and comfortable suspension and steering; and from the Hungarian word Kocsi (meaning "from Kocs") the name spread to several other European languages (compare Spanish coche and German Kutsche).

Railway coach

Main article: Coach (rail)

A railway coach — also known, especially in the United Kingdom, as a railway carriage — is a vehicle designed for the conveyance of passengers by rail (the first such vehicles were, in fact, often road coaches mounted on frames equipped with railway wheels). A railway coach can be self-propelled (such as the Budd Rail Diesel Car, in which case it is known as a railcar), form part of a multiple unit of self-propelled vehicles, or be pulled or pushed by one or more locomotives either singly or together with other railroad cars.

Motor coach

Late model Greyhound Lines Bus with seating for 55 passengers. Photo credit: Robert Redden, Redden Archives

In British English and Australian English, the term coach is also used to refer to a large motor vehicle for conveying passengers. It is similar to a bus but usually more comfortable and designed for longer-distance travel or touring. The term coach appears in the formal names of many such firms in the US, though most people still call them bus lines.

There are two category of motor coach: long distance interstate coach service, and urban-suburban bus line.

Intercity coach service is in competition with other means of long-distance travel, including but not limited to trains, planes, and automobile. Thus, to make the trip comfortable, most often these coaches have reclinable upholstered seats, carry a toilet, and are air-conditioned. Many other equipments are designed similarly to an airliner, with storage bins for carry-on luggage, small tables for small snacks, small televisions to show TV shows and/or videos, and individual lighting which enables passengers to choose whether to read at night or to sleep. Likewise, there are luggage storage below the floor, accessible from outside panels. Due to the fact that it is designed for long distance travel(instead of having to take on and discharge many passengers for very short runs), it is very rare for a motor coach to have more than one door, save for a wheelchair-lift access, and there are usually no standing room, especially interstate services.

This version of coach is also the common vehicle among charter service, touring industries, and private ownership. Prices for coachline is usually cheaper than other mode of long distance transportation.

On the other hand, urban-suburban bus line is usually under the category of public transit. Usually these routes cover a relatively long distance in terms of most transit bus routes, but still short — usually 40 miles in one direction. As indicated from the name, an urban-suburban bus line usually connect a faraway suburbs to the downtown core.

Orion V, here used by Greater Vancouver's TransLink for suburban services.

The bus can be something as simple as a mere refited school bus (which usually have overhead storage racks already), or a standard transit bus modified to have some of the functionality of full blown insterstate coach. One example, shown here, has the same dimension as a standard transit bus, but with one door and is air conditioned. It provides accommodations for the disabled (through a lift at the front), and thus have a few high-back seats, usually in the front, that can be folded up for wheelchairs. The rest of the seats are reclinable upholstered seats, and like its bigger cousin, it also has individual lights and overhead storage bins. Also, due to the fact that it is a commuter bus, it has some (but not much) standing rooms, devices to alert the driver about the stops, and fare boxes near the driver. This model also has bike racks at the front of the bus to accommodate two bikes.

In terms of services, the appearance of each bus are usually not as frequent; additionally, they may have very limited stops available. One common arrangement is to have a few at the beginning of the trip, and a few near the end; the majority of the trip is spent on a highway. Additional restrictions may also applied, with some in terms of boarding (some stops are boarding only and some stops are discharge only). Some routes goes even further, to the point of only having some trips in the morning, heading to the urban core, and some trips in the evening, heading toward suburban only.

Example of motorcoaches

• Scenicruiser

Examples of long distance coach line

North America:

• Gray Coach and Gray Line Worldwide
• Greyhound Lines and Greyhound Lines of Canada
• Laidlaw
• Stagecoach Group
  • Coach USA and Coach Canada
• Trailways Transportation System
• Chinatown bus lines
  • Fung Wah Bus Transportation Inc.
• Greyhound Australia

Europe:

• Eurolines

Example of urban-suburban bus line

• Translink, Lower Mainland, Canada
• Laidlaw
• Virginia Overland Transportation

See also

• Basterna, ancient predecessor to the modern stagecoach
• Carriage
• Stagecoach
• Passenger car
• Dining car
• Sleeping car
• Double decker bus