Bianconi system

Bianconi system, started by Charles (Carlo) Bianconi (1786–1875), an Italian immigrant who came to Ireland in 1802 as a pedlar of prints. On his journeys he saw the need for a regular and inexpensive system of transport. In 1815 he started his first service, a one‐horse, two‐wheeled car to carry passengers, goods, and mail on the 8‐mile Clonmel–Cahir route in Co. Tipperary. This was such a success that many other routes followed. Bianconi was able to purchase high‐class horses and cars, due to the low price of horses following the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and a carriage tax which led many to sell off their jaunting cars cheaply. His open‐topped cars, unlike the stage coaches whose routes radiated from Dublin, ran mainly between provincial towns. By the 1840s his cars, affectionately known as ‘Bians’, were working daily over 3,000 miles of road. His larger cars, known as ‘Finn McCools’ and ‘Massey Dawsons’ (the latter after a popular landlord), could carry up to 20 passengers. This veritable transport revolution made most of rural Ireland more readily accessible, greatly furthered trade, and reduced the price of many goods. Many ‘Bians’ were to continue on Irish roads until their replacement by railways and later motor buses.

Peter Collins