You know how on city buses, you press a panel to tell the driver you want to get off at the next stop? When I was a kid, you pulled on the wire over your head, above the window. I’m sure I’m not the only kid who found it thrilling to be the one who got to light up the “Stop Requested” sign for the driver.
Horse-drawn omnibuses in the mid-nineteenth century were also rigged up with wires or straps that ran along either side of the roof of the bus. Each strap ended in a ring, which the driver wore around each arm. If you wanted to get off on the left, you tugged the left strap, and for the right, the right strap. As there were no lanes or traffic lights, the driver would cut across the road to stop on whatever side the passenger had asked for, which must have made for some harrowing traffic snarl ups.
