Stanislas Baudry (1780-1830) was the proprietor of a Parisian bathhouse; he was also a bus operator who provided clients with transportation to his spa. Baudry did not invent the horsedrawn bus—horsedrawn carriages of various kinds had long been in existence—but in 1826 he instigated the use of the term "omnibus," and he is therefore credited with inventing the omnibus as a concept. His inspiration came from the name of a hat-maker's shop (Omnes Omnibus, Latin for Everything for Everyone) that he regularly passed on his way to the baths.
Baudry's concept of a means of transport available to all, regardless of social class, spread across the globe and evolved into various forms with varying numbers of horses, alternative seating configurations within the vehicle, and, no doubt, different tariffs depending on their clientele. The buses survived the test of time and eventually the horses were replaced by diesel engines. Latter-day concerns for the environment have seen petroleum-based engines phased out in some countries in favor of engines run on fermented sugar. Buses powered by this technology are already in use in Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.
As the success of Baudry's concept showed (it proved much more popular than the baths it was intended to promote), public transport is a vital economic need for any society. It increases trade and the exchange of knowledge, bringing consumers to companies and experts to employers, enabling a country to maximize its intellectual and commercial potential. Baudry unintentionally identified an important factor in the evolution of society.
