Magical Transportation:
The Knight Bus
"Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anwhere you want to go."
-- Stan Shunpike
The Knight
Bus is a triple-decker, violently purple bus which has The Knight Bus written
over it's windshield in gold letters. The Knight Bus provides emergency
transport for the stranded witch or wizard; all they need to do is hold
out their wand hand. It is also possible to book a seat (bed, really) on
the Knight Bus for trips around Britain (PA ).
The conductor of the Knight Bus is Stan Shunpike. He wears a purple uniform, has large protruding ears, and quite a few pimples. Stan is about 18 years old. The driver is Ernie Prang, an elderly wizard wearing very thick glasses.
The
driver and conductor sit in the front of the bus in armchairs. There are
no other seats on board, rather the Knight Bus provides a half a dozen
brass bedsteads per level. Lighting comes from candles in brackets on the
walls. A small wooden staircase leads to the upper floors. The ride is
somewhat bumpy as the bus seems to jump erratically from one place to another.
The fare from Little Whinging to London is eleven sickles. For an extra two sickles you get hot chocolate and if you pay two more besides, you get a hot water bottle and a toothbrush to boot.
According to Stan, the Knight Bus travels anywhere you want to go, as long as it's on land.
(PA3)
Where
does the name "Knight Bus" come from?
by Morag Traynor
"Knight Bus" is a play on "Night Bus" - Night Buses run through the night in London and, after the Tube and trains stop running (around midnight) are the only public transport available. They are a very welcome sight when they (eventually) turn up to take you home, and are the traditional red double-deckers, so it can feel as if a knight in shining armour has come to rescue you. The roads being clearer at that time of night, once you are out of the centre, the bus bounces along at a considerable pace, for a bus, tree-branches rattle along the roof and you're sure the driver's never going to make that corner (but he always does) so the whole experience is not unlike the Knight Bus - apart from the comfortable beds, panelling and chandeliers, of course! I also love the name Ernie Prang - "prang" is old RAF (based on Malay, I think) slang for "crash", extended to road traffic, and is associated with a rather insouciant attitude to crashes, as in "pranged the Jag last week - what a bore!". The Knight Bus is another example of JKR finding the magic in the everyday, or, in this case, every night.
copyright 2001 by Morag Traynor
