It's a mode of transport that every tourist in London wouldn't miss for the world: the famous red double-decker bus, which has become one of the symbols of the British capital. Some may not know it, but it was in France, and more precisely in Paris, that the double-decker omnibus first saw the light of day. That was in 1853. Launched at the time by CGO, the Compagnie Générale des Omnibus, these machines were horse-drawn.
While the first motorized omnibus arrived in 1905, these double-decker buses disappeared in 1911, a few months after a double-decker omnibus overturned on the road at Place de l'Étoile in Paris.
But RATP wanted to repeat the experience, introducing the double-decker bus again in 1966. But the return of the double-deckerbus brought with it several constraints, starting with the need for the City of Paris to regularly prune the trees lining the capital's avenues and streets. Another negative point? At the time, RATP was noticing that passengers didn't climb to the top floor of the bus when making short journeys. The highest level of the bus was also being neglected by the elderly. So the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens took the tough decision to do away with double-decker buses once and for all, starting in 1977.
Today, the only double-decker buses on the streets of Paris are those intended for tourism and owned by private companies.
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