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Kōrero: Public transport

Horse buses

Image
Horse buses

The horse-drawn bus was the first form of public transport in New Zealand. In this 1904 photograph of Wellington’s Cambridge Terrace, passengers have just transferred from the horse-drawn trams in the background to the horse-drawn buses in the foreground. The trams ran in the inner-city area while the buses would take passengers on to outlying suburban areas.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Tramway Workers Union Collection

Reference: PAColl-D-0925-3

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Adrian Humphris, Public transport – Early transport options, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/22509/horse-buses (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Adrian Humphris, i tāngia i te 12 April 2010.