World's largest bus carried 144 people and was so big it was like an Airbus A380 on the highway

The world’s largest bus, built by Neoplan, was so large that it carried 144 people, making it the equivalent of an Airbus A380 for the highway.

The bus was one of the greatest inventions in the transportation world, and it provided invaluable transport to billions of people around the world.

Some are, of course, bigger than others, but one from the 1970s can lay claim to being the largest bus ever made, the famous Jumbocruiser.

This is the equivalent of having an A380 or Boeing 747 on the road, and the behemoth remains an icon of its time.

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How the huge Jumbocruiser came into being

The Neoplan Jumbocruiser took the idea of high-volume passenger transportation to a new extreme.

The bus was created to help solve a transportation problem that was faced by many Europeans at the time.

This was the lack of affordable plane tickets, as some tickets were still quite expensive even into the 1960s.

Neoplan wanted to help solve that problem by making a vehicle that could take as many people as a jet across the world, but with cheaper tickets.

Chief designer Bob Lee deduced that one large bus would still be cheaper to run than two separate ones.

The first step towards this was the NH 22 Skyliner, debuting in 1967.

After that, however, it wanted to go a step further, and in came the Jumbocruiser N138/4.

The Jumbocruiser became the world’s largest bus

This leviathan took its name from the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet.

The N in its name stood for Neoplan, the 1 for luxury coach, and the 38 for rows of seating, with the 4 meaning four axles.

Due to its size, it maxed out all of the size and weight limits in its native Germany.

The Jumbocruiser was 59ft long, 8.2ft wide, and 13.1ft tall, weighing in around 61,729lbs.

Baggage space was provided, and it even had a bar, lounge, and kitchen.

It really was like an airliner for the road.

Some could carry up to 144 passengers, while others saw that come down to 80.

Power came from a 400hp Mercedes V12 turbo-diesel engine.

Neoplan only sold a handful of the world’s largest buses, and legal issues prevented further sales in the 1980s.

France, for example, would ban articulated buses in 1980.

But it was the advent of low-cost airlines that brought the bus runs to an end.

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