American school buses are painted Glossy National School Bus Yellow — the exact shade was standardized at a 1939 Columbia University conference. From Blaise Pascal's 1662 Paris carriages to London's iconic Routemaster, from Greyhound's 1914 founding in Hibbing, Minnesota, to Bogota's record-breaking TransMilenio BRT, the bus has carried humanity through nearly four centuries of urban transport evolution. This quiz covers inventors, engineers, firsts, and the global variants that keep millions of people moving every day.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll trace bus history from the 17th-century omnibus through steam buses, horse-drawn services, the Siemens Elektromote of 1882, and the Benz-Omnibus of 1895. You'll meet icons like London's Routemaster and Greyhound, explore why school buses are yellow, learn about Curitiba's Bus Rapid Transit revolution, and discover global variants from Philippine jeepneys to Kenyan matatus.
School bus yellow was standardized in April 1939 at a conference organized by Frank W. Cyr at Columbia University's Teachers College. The shade — now called National School Bus Glossy Yellow — was chosen for maximum visibility in dim light and peripheral vision, especially for black lettering.
Blaise Pascal proposed the first public transit in 1662 Paris with horse-drawn carriages called carrosses a cinq sols. The modern omnibus arrived in 1823 when Stanislas Baudry launched scheduled service in Nantes, France, later extending it to Paris in 1828.
The AEC Routemaster is the iconic red London double-decker bus built between 1956 and 1968, designed by Douglas Scott. A total of 2,968 were produced and it remained in regular service until 2005. Heatherwick Studio designed its modern successor, the New Routemaster, in 2012.
Last updated: April 2026