In previous post “China General Omnibus Company“, I got interested in Old Shanghai bus networks in the former International Settlement. After some more research, I found the complete list of the bus network in all three parts of the city.
This is an extract from a 1931 short guide to transport in Shanghai. The tourists guides did not really address buses network, as I guess tourists of the time were travelling in luxury. This particular guide was dedicated to service men, published by the Navy YMCA. Route N1 was following a communication line of Shanghai then, and of Shanghai today: Bubbling Well (Jing An Temple today) to Hongkew Park (today Hong Kou Gong Yuan). It went down Nanking Road (today Nanjing Road), the Bund, North Soochow (today Bei Suzhou Lu) and North Szechuen Road (Today Sichuan Bei lu), to reach Hong Kou Park.
Others roads included a few surprises. First of all, there was a bus line driving up Hong Qiao road, ending close to Hong Qiao airport. This route 4, from Siccawei (today Xu Jia Hui, English spelling, French spelling was Zikawei) to Monument road (today Suining lu, next to Hong Qiao airport). Although Hong Qiao Road was already lined with villas in the 1930s (including Eve the one of Sir Victor Sassoon, see post “Shanghai Grand” for more details), it is still surprising to see public transportation go that far West.
The other interesting part is that there was Express Route for buses, on the top of the normal routes. The four of them were ending at the Bund, starting from Jessfield Park (today ZhongShan Park) or Brenan Piece (in the North of the international settlement). They took the main West-East roads of Shanghai, being today’s Nanjing Road (Bubbling Well Road followed by Nanking Road), and today’s Yannan Road (Avenue Foch, followed by Avenue Edouard VII). Express Route A was competing with a tramway track (see post “Old Shanghai Tramways” for more details) and is very much following today’s metro #2.
The most interesting bit of the guide was surely the most unexpected, the French Concession bus routes. As explained in post “China General Omnibus Company“, buses in the French Concession were operated by the “Compagnie de tramways et d’éclairage électrique de Shanghai“. There were only 2 bus routes, along with 4 tram lines.
Bus N21 was going from the very East to the very West of the French Concession, from the French Bund to Zikawei (today Xu Jia Hui, French spelling). It had the same start and finish than the main tramway line of the French Concession (see post “Old Shanghai Tramways” for more details).
Bus N22 was loop route from the French Bund and back to it. I went through the small street of the French Concession including Route des Soeurs (today Ruijin Lu, see post “Brooklyn Court, Route des soeurs“), Route Lafayette (today Fuxing Lu), Route Frelupt (today Jiang Guo Xi Lu), Route Dufour (today Wulumuqi Nan Lu, see post “Shanghailander Cafe and Bakery“). This is probably the stop where the original inhabitant of my former home, or rather their staff, would take the bus (see post “Leaving route Kauffmann” for more details). The bus would then go back on Avenue Pétain (today Hengshan Lu), Route Pottier (today Baoqing Lu, where my first home was located, see post “first home in Old Shanghai” for details) and then back to Route Lafayette all the way to the Bund.
Most residence at the furthest point of this loop were built in the late 1920s or 1930s creating need to transport people from and to an area that was previously not really developed, so the line must have been pretty recent in 1931. Cars and buses were driving left-hand side (this changed only in January 1946), so a number of road the bus took are now one-way streets, in the wrong direction. Similarly, Route Lafayette was driven in both ways, when it is now mostly a one-way-street. Traffic direction and driving side may have changed, but the main lines of communication in today’s Shanghai are still similar to the ones in Old Shanghai.
Hugues:
Bravo! the bus route stuff is (for me) new and fascinating. Good sleuthing.
All the best,
Graham
Hugues,
Really interesting information! Your research is really – as Graham mentions – truly fascinating! You’re bringing the city’s history to life!
Sincerely,
Paul
Hugues,
I am exploring your pages with interest because I am hoping to trace the career of my Uncle Patrick Cassidy who, with his wife Caroline, took up residence in Shanghai in 1909. Patrick had initially immigrated to Glasgow from Ireland and worked there, first as a tram conductor, then as a driver and eventually, having studied engineering over several years of night classes, as an engineer in the Glasgow Tram Company. He was subsequently appointed to the task of setting up a tram service in the French Concession in Shanghai.
He and his wife crossed Russia in 1909 on the Transiberian Railway, followed by a further journey south to Shanghai. Patrick went to work on setting up the proposed tram service which proved a successful enterprise.
My father, Maurice Cassidy, Patrick’s younger brother, also worked in the Glasgow tram company. He left Glasgow and went to America in 1916, to avoid British Army conscription. He worked on the trams there too, in New York. He came back to Ireland in 1919 to fight in Ireland’s War of Independenc, then went back to America when that war ended with the 1922 Treaty. His plan to save for a few years before coming home to set up his own bus company didn’t work out at that stage – he lost most of his savings in the US financial crash of 1928/29 and came home with a lot less money than he had planned. He bought a secondhand bus in England, drove it home to Fermanagh, and got a licence to operate a bus route between Enniskillen and Bundoran. Not easy with just one bus. His brother Patrick heard and shipped him a couple of used buses from Shanghai, to help him get started. With 3 buses, the Erne Bus Service took off. It proved a successful business. It grew and flourished till the Northern Ireland Government nationalised the company in 1957.
In 1934, or perhaps a later year, Patrick, Caroline and their children made a visit back to Glasgow. They intended travelling on to visit the Cassidy family in Ireland but Patrick died suddenly in Glasgow. He is laid in the Cassidy family plot at Arney Church in Co Fermanagh.
I hope I haven’t bored you with my family lore. If you can point me towards further detail about Patrick Cassidy’s life and work in Shanghai, I will be very interested.