Image: Bianconi car (Irish transport)

Description: Open horse-drawn coach, drawn by Irish artist Michael Angelo Hayes. Hayes, writing in Charles Bianconi: A Biography 1786-1875, states (p 116): The first car he started ran between Clonmel and the picturesque little town of Cahir, a distance of about eight miles. [Mr. Bianconi explained]: “It was the only town to which I could make the journey there and back with one horse …” [However], scarcely anybody went by the car. People were used to trudging along on foot, and they continued to do so, thus saving their money which was more valuable to them than their time. Another man would have abandoned the speculation, but Mr. Bianconi did nothing of the kind. He started an opposition car, at a cheaper rate, which was not known to be his, not even by the rival drivers who raced against each other for the foremost place. The excitement of the contest, the cheapness of the fare, the occasional free lifts given to passengers, soon began to attract a paying public, and before very long both the cars every day came in full.”
Title: Bianconi car (Irish transport)
Credit: Mary Anne (Mrs. Morgan John) O'Connell (1878) Charles Bianconi: a biography, 1786-1875 - Public Domain - https://archive.org/details/charlesbianconib00oconiala/page/n8/mode/1up
Author: Michael Angelo Hayes, artist
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No