The unlikely story of Bianconi: The enterprising Italian who developed Ireland’s first proper bus service

Drivers were instructed to keep a seat vacant for any man carrying a sack or a woman with a child. Provided they were honest, they received sick pay and pensions, and were welcome to visit Bianconi at home to discuss problems while he relaxed in his bath before the fire

Carlo Bianconi: a precursor of Irish transport

“Forty years ago a person going to Dublin from the interior should make almost as much preparation as some now make for America”, commented topographer Rev. G. Hansbrow in 1835.

Carlo Bianconi admitted to being “the greatest dunce” at school. Instead of doing his homework, the boy with curly black hair preferred watching the slowly turning wheel of his father’s silk-mill, and dreamed of owning “much land” and “many white horses”.