City in Sound; Greyhound Bus Terminal

This is Jack Angel with city and sound, stories out of Chicago, city of the greatest movement on earth, city of all things, among them transportation center to the world, and tonight we meet the bus. May I have your attention, please, bring home through turn -like express from people filled up here and New York, now all right, thank you. The big square -cut Greyhound bus terminal is in the center of the center on Clark and Randolph, backed up by the perpetual neon of the loop theater role, and it would seem in Congress that a short pace apart and below the marquees, the heaviest concentration of the nation's bus traffic moves day and night. This is the nation's largest bus terminal. Right now we're standing on the lower level where these Greyhound buses and the people that ride

them come and go. Hi, ma 'am, I'm Jack Angel in Chicago here. Thank you. Did you enjoy the trip? Yes, very much. Where'd you come from? From New York. New York? They were exact. And the minute every place? Do you travel by bus very much? Well, I have a timer, too, and went from the rate of Texas to Mexico City that may be realized that it would be all right to do it. Well, fine, thank you very much. Here's a lady with a little baby here. I wonder if I can talk to you a minute, ma 'am, is this your home here? No. I come from England. Oh, from England? Yes. Well, how very interesting. Is this the first time that you've been on an American bus? Yes. How does it compare with the English buses? Well, it's a lot spring here. I see. Well, now are you over here for keeps? Or are you on a visit? No, I'm here for keeps. I see. Well, fine. It's wonderful to have you with us. Are you going to live in Chicago? Or are you just stopping in? We're just stopping. We're going to Wisconsin. To Wisconsin. Is that your home, ma 'am? Yes. Wonderful. And this red hair

fell out down here. How old is he? Nine months. Do you do a lot of traveling by a bus? No. Do the British travel much by a bus? Well, yes, but not such great distances. Did you come along with a child? No, my husband's over there. Yes. All right, fine. Thank you very much and we certainly hope that you enjoy it here. My happiness. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. You're the driver of this big bus here. What's your name, sir? George Sigler. George Sigler. How long have you been driving a bus? 30 years. 30 years. Yes, sir. You have to take physical examinations along the way, do you? Yes, sir. We do. We have to take them twice a year. If you've driven a bus 30 years, you must like it pretty well. Well, I do like it very well. It's very interesting. Is there such a thing as glamour? I mean, wow. I don't know as there is. I can't see that there's any glamour in it. Would you just as soon be driving a bus, say, flying a plane or an engine? Wow.

If I were capable of doing it, I probably would like it and wouldn't mind doing it. In other words, you like to go places. I like to travel. Yeah, I like to be out on the go all the time. I can't stand to be inside. I'd like to be outside on the go. Have you driven all over the country, or are you? Well, I've driven all the way from New York to St. Louis with a bus. Uh -huh. It was the section through the eastern section and central. Do you have any idea how many miles you've driven in this 30 years? Well, no. I wouldn't really know. I have never stopped to figure out just how many miles I have really driven. But over a period of 30 years, in fact, I've reached about 250 miles a day. I imagine it's the way up in the in close to the millions anyway. In one per enemy. Yes, it's certainly what. Out of the buses you drive now, here like this big double dexeta cruiser, compared to the ones you used to drive, both very 20 years ago. There are probably 90 % easier than the ones we had 20 years ago. Well, how about the driving hazard? Other drivers on the road? Well, the hazard now is much more serious than it used to be. More people on the

road, more cars on the road, traffic is faster. And you've got to be on the alert more so than it used to be. It's much more hazardous than it used to be. Our people, good drivers, bad drivers, are narrowly they are. Yes, or are narrowly very good drivers. There's a few of them that like to get out and show off, you know. And that's natural, of course. But most of them are very good drivers. Thank you Mr. Secretary. You're welcome, sir. Well, if you've ever seen your neighborhood garage or service station, you've never seen anything like the Greyhound Company's garage. And here's the man who is in charge of the whole maintenance operation. Mr. Parker Fry, about how many men work for you in this operation, sir? About 251 people, sir. And they fix these buses, repair them, maintain them, keep them on the road, is that the idea? That is right. Mr. Fry, you told me that you started out as a mechanic. Do you find much difference in fixing a bus maybe 20 or 25 years ago than you do now? Is it tougher now? Very much so. Very much so. Why is that?

Well, we have the modern buses is so much more complicated. I mean, by that, where we used to have one engine, we used to power these jobs. Now then, we have two engines doing the same job. Consequently, we have to have a lot more equipment to handle the various functions of these motors. So it takes a higher degree of knowledge. That is right. Quite a lot. Mr. Fry, we're standing here in front of E5591 that's just come in from New York. Would you describe it a little bit for us? How long is that bus? Well, this bus is 40 foot long. It is about 11 feet high. It has dual wheels on the rear. In other words, there is 10 tires on the ground on this vehicle. As I said before, it is powered by dual engines. It seats

43 passengers. What's the biggest maintenance problem? Is it weather? Is it wind? Just lead operation? I would say just plane operations. I wouldn't say that we have any particular major problem. Of course, weather does enter into it. I will have to admit that they are a little harder to maintain in severe weather. But overall, it's just a general maintenance program because, as you know, we do preventive maintenance all the time. In other words, we try to look ahead and catch anything that might happen before it happens. I see. About how long does the bus last? That is hard to say. Normally, we figure about seven years. But there's various things that would change that figure, I'm sure. You keep replacing them all the time. That is right. Well, now that we've talked to Mr. Fry about

keeping these buses going, let's find out about the people that arrived them. Let's look at the passenger service. What did you say your name was? Charlotte Bates. Charlotte, where are you going? I'm going to Tucson, Arizona. Oh, that's fine this time of year I hear. Uh -huh. My bus. Where are you from? Chicago. Chicago, is this your vacation? No. I'm just going down to live with my folks now. Oh, fine. Are you leaving Chicago for good? I'm not sure. I see. Well, you know what's nice in the summer, with that Tucson sun. Well, thank you very much. Have a nice trip. Thank you. Well, we're standing here in the main con course with Mr. Loyal Hibbs. Always the sales manager for the central region here in Greyhound. I can see that he has an awful lot of buses, and there certainly must be an awful lot of passengers who ride those buses. Correct, Jack. Approximately 50 million passengers a year are handled by a Greyhound all over the nation. Well, that's a lot of travel

miles. A lot of people who ride the bus. Oh, tremendous number. And it's our privilege to take good care of them, Jack. Well, is it difficult to sell a bus ride, Mr. Hibbs? No, no. It's really a privilege. Because with our scenic cruiser service, the single level and the dual level scenic cruisers, with the air suspension ride, the large air proof windows, the lavatory facilities, it gets pretty, a very nice ride. How long have you been in the bus business, Mr. Hibbs? Well, I've all my life, not in the bus business, but I come from a transportation family, directly and indirectly, Jack, since 1924. Since 1924, and I'll dare say the bus business has changed a lot in that time. Oh, tremendously, tremendously. I don't see any of those old dust catches around here. I see a tremendously modern array of equipment. Now, is this a typical alignment here, Mr. Hibbs? Yes, it is, Jack. You see here our

single level scenic cruiser, our dual level scenic cruiser, all very fine equipment. Well, you've got a lot of buses to travel on here, sir. Yes, we do have. Now, as you probably know, Jack, we have about 600 arrivals and departures here daily in the Chicago Greyhound terminal. Thank you very much, sir. It's a pleasure, Jack. Well, Mr. Hibbs, now that we've seen how the passengers are served here, and found out a bit about them, let's go into the dispatch office and find out how they're routed. Now, you're going to find that very interesting, Jack. Well, we've talked a good bit about the passengers, and we've certainly seen a lot here at the bus depot. Well, I'd like to talk now to a man who is responsible for the passengers leaving and getting there, in a very crucial sense, namely the dispatcher. This is Mr. Jim Steepack, who has been with the bus company How Long? August 1, 1928. That's a long time. Sure is, but be here a long time, you know. Well, you've got a kind of a subterranean control tower. Here, you're a couple of floors under the ground, and I see

these huge bus ramps that lead in and lead out. And here comes one now, and what are you doing, sir? Well, this particular bus now is coming in. Stopping for a signal into which dock he is to pull down load his passengers. We have 30 docks here. This particular bus will be going into dock 21. It's an arrival from Rockford, Illinois. And you just pressed 21. Now, what does that do? That driver will pull into dock 21. Now, we'll go over to the board and press a button, which will show and tell the passengers in the terminal where this bus is coming from, and where it's unloading. So people that are waiting for their friends and folks to come in will know just where the bus is at. Well, you've got a console here that lights up like a pinball machine with multi -colored lights. Is this kind of a complex system, or does it take very long to understand it, or just how simple is it? Well, it's very simple. It's a board with 30 numbers on it, and lights, which represent a 30 loading and unloading docks in this terminal. What do the green lights mean when they light up? When the green light comes up, that shows the driver

what dock to go into. How about the red or orange light? What is that? Those are merely lights that are called assignment lights. I see. It shows that buses in service, or that the dock is occupied. I see. How about this radio contact with the buses? I notice that you have some contact here with a radio system. How does that work? Well, we can contact these buses and drivers report their delays if they are delayed. Or anything that might happen out on a road, or anything why we notify different people, or occurrences that might transpire dangerous points in icy weather, and so on, or motorists that are in trouble, we help them out at all times with our radio. Well, we do know that airplanes and trains and even buses are late from time to time. What is the principal cause, would you say, on the bus? Well, I would say the principal cause here would be weather. Sir, can I have your name? Bob Thompson. Bob, where are you from? Chicago. Where are you going? I'm going to the Kansas City. Kansas City. I'm going to work there, just visit there. Yeah, I'm going to

visit on there. Do you ride the bus a lot? Well, once before I did. Once before, do you like it? Yeah. We're here with Mr. James Heffrenen, who is a regional manager of the Greyhound organization in these parts. How long have you been in this business, Mr. Heffrenen? Since 1930, Mr. Angel. Well, you've kind of grown up with these big buses around here. That's a fact, yes sir. Well, I understand that the Greyhound company used to be a collection of independent companies and smaller companies that finally sort of pooled their buses, didn't they? Yes, that is correct, actually. A grouping of cars, you might say, back in the early history of the business. Greyhound actually takes back to 1914 when the iron range country, the transportation facilities were poor. One of our men, the originators of the company, had an interest in an automobile business in Alice Hibbing area, Minnesota area. And because he couldn't dispose of his automobile, he stretched it out to start handling miners for fee

between the two towns, four miles apart. And business grew so rapidly that he took in a partner. That's the actual origin of Greyhound through then -acquisition purchases and consolidations and so forth. We have what is today the nationwide Greyhound system. Well, it's very interesting. Would you know about this famous Greyhound symbol, the dog on the bus? You know how that got its origin? Yes, that was originated on an operation out of Muskegon to Chicago. And in the early days of the Greyhound lines and became right in the beginning of the business, so to speak, the trademark of Greyhound. Though you think very brightly of the company's future here, you say that transportation on rubber belongs to the future of this country. Is that because we're building these spans of intercontinental highways and toll roads and what is the future of Greyhound? Oh, very bright. And unquestionably ties directly into the new Federal Highway Program and the toll road

program, which points up with emphasis today's highway travel. Greyhound has an important place in the travel plans and habits of millions of people. Greyhound, as a result of the highway program, is constantly improving its services as a result of the expanding highway program. The opening of turnpikes and expressways improves service. For example, out of Chicago, we have service on expressway. That is the tollway. Chicago to New York City in 17 hours and 50 minutes. Mr. Hefferen, and I can look out the dispatcher's window here and see buses coming and going from all directions. Yes sir. How many buses do you have under your jurisdiction here? Here in Chicago proper, we have that are allocated to the Chicago garage. There are approximately 250 coaches maintained at Chicago for so -called major servicing and so forth. And they go to all parts of the nation? Out of here to

all parts of the nation and then by the same token, buses from other cities such as Chicago work into Chicago and in turn tie into an overall fleet totaling 6 ,000 coaches. Let me ask you this. What do you say to the customer who comes up and says, well, it's much faster to fly. We get there in the hurry, we get on, we get off. What's the advantage in taking a bus? Well, we counter that, of course, by the comfort that we have to offer with the, in the scenic cruiser service, in that we are now riding all of our passengers on air. The conventional spring no longer is in the picture. The greyhound buses of today actually operate on air bottles and air suspension service. We have to counter also that type of service or that competitive service with the scenic beauty of the ride that was available to you by traveling greyhound. Mr. Hefferen, and we know of course that you go places here, but could you describe to us some of the other phases

of your services? Certainly. Of course, our primary business is the passenger transportation carrier of passengers. We have charter service available, escorted tours, package express service, which is very rapid. Post house restaurants, as I mentioned to you earlier. Rent a car, greyhound rent a car, grey van service, the moving of furniture, and parking lots, national parking lot facilities. Provides a very fine diversification. And your name was what, sir? Elwood, McAllister. Elwood, where are you from? I'm from Melrose Park. Melrose Park, and why are you here at the bus terminal? Well, I'm going to go down to Pontiac, see my daughter. I'm going to go down to Pontiac, short run on the bus. That's right. All right, thank you very much. Thank you. Well, here right in the middle of this modernistic bus terminal, it says bus information. And I suppose the man to ask is the man next to me, Mr. John A. Milligan, who's the terminal supervisor. Mr. Milligan, what happens when a passenger gets off the bus

and comes up here? What then? A passenger arrives in the terminal proper. Incidentally, we're standing one level below the street level, which is the waiting room and the ticket office. We have a gray -own post house, cafeteria. If anybody's hungry, they can go there and eat. We have an information counter in the center of the terminal, at which they can get any further information they desire. Buses traveling to other point. But what happens, Mr. Milligan, when someone phones in here for service or for information? How do you handle that? The operators in the information room handle all such calls. They are greeted with a courteous good morning, gray -own information operator number three, or whatever the case might be. The passenger asks the questions and we do our best to answer them, and they get pretty involved sometimes.

In the event that it's quite involved and will take quite a bit of research, the passenger normally is asked for his or her phone number and is told that we will call back. But the emphasis is on service. The emphasis is definitely on service. Is this the biggest bus terminal in the nation? It is known as the biggest privately owned bus terminal in the nation. It's qualified due to the fact that there is a port authority terminal bus terminal in New York City, which is larger, but it is owned by the city of New York. That private, correct? Have you ever taken a check on how many people come here each day that take the bus or to use the post house or shop in some of the stands around here? Or just generally being here as part of the terminal? We've arrived at an estimate of approximately 10 to 12 ,000 people a day. You've got a pretty full house.

Well, we have the facilities to serve them. Of course, fortunately, they're not all here at the same time. Mr. Milligan, how much did this terminal cost to build? The terminal itself cost approximately $7 .5 million. The property that it's on cost approximately $2 .5 million. So we call it the $10 million terminal. Now, one thing, how do buses get in here? We're one level below Randolph Street here. The bus concourse is still another level below. How do the buses get in here to the very heart of the loop? The buses arriving at this station never enter the loop. They approach the terminal through the lower level of Wacker Drive. They turn into Garvey Court halfway between Wacker Drive and Lake Street. There is a tunnel which passes under Lake Street. The tunnel is approximately 700 feet long. And the buses enter Andy Park from the terminal through his

tunnel. So that accounts for the fact that we never see him on the streets around the loop. That's correct. We keep him underground in the loop. I understand. You're going to take a trip, man. Where are you going? We're going to San Francisco. San Francisco. Is that your home? Well, it will be shortly since we get there. Oh, you're moving from Grand Haven, are you? South Haven. South Haven. Michigan. And this is quite a family, haven't you? Yes, he is. Children are there here. Five. Who's this little girl here? What's her name? Mona. What's your name? Mona. Mona. Have you ever ridden the bus before? Yes. Do you like to ride the bus? Yes. And who's this here? Danny. Danny. Danny, how old are you? Chick. Oh. Six or no. Well, he's good at multiplication. And who are you? Laura. Laura. That's a pretty name. And are you going to ride the bus with your mommy? Do you like to ride the

bus? Well, she's not. Not in her head here. Say yes. Yes. First trip? No, that's right. She's had another bus trip. Another bus trip? Why? Well, I hope you have a nice trip, a pleasant journey, and I hope you like it in your new home. Thank you. Thank you. We look out from this terminal to the greatest time of road building this nation has ever known. And we can look back and measure the distance between. Back to the era of dust, roads, and deep ruts, of side curtains and mudguards, of the top racked buses with the baggage tightest skew, and the radiator laboring every grade. Today, the vast span of the roads bind the nation together in all that it is, the strength of its cities, the charm of its villages, the wealth of its soil, the grandeur of the land. The destination is everywhere and anywhere, and we are more one people because of it.

This is Jack Angel with George Wilson, an engineer whose recordings here have imprinted city and sound.