Fiacre (carriage)

[3] In 1645, Nicholas Sauvage, a coachbuilder from Amiens, decided to set up a business in Paris hiring out horses and carriages by the hour.

He established himself in the Hôtel de Saint Fiacre and hired out his four-seater carriages at a rate of 10 sous an hour.

Within twenty years, Sauvage's idea had developed into the first citywide public transport system: les carosses à 5 sous ("5-sou carriages").

These 8-seater carriages, forerunners of the modern bus, were put into service on five "lines" between May and July 1662, but had disappeared from the streets of Paris by 1679, almost certainly because of the spiralling cost of fares.

[4] Although the public transport system had suffered a temporary demise, private hirers were quick to fill the gaps with carriages including the "vinaigrette", a two-wheeled chair powered and guided by two people; the cabriolet, a dangerous two-wheeled buggy pulled by a single horse; and the more traditional four-wheeled fiacres.