Greyhound Looks Ahead

It is highly fitting that the transportation  system that pioneered mass travel by highway should now be pioneering mass travel in the air. The busy Greyhound terminal of today, with  its luxurious super coaches, is a far cry from the original touring car, which bred the  thousands of greyhounds that have followed. Eat successively better. Until today, highway travelers  in America ride in deep cushion comfort on schedules that offer  practically doorstep service. Take a map of the United States, any part of it. Here is a typical section dotted  with cities, towns, and villages. Now, watch the network of  highways that connect them. No other form of public  transportation has coverage like that. In fact, 54,000 communities, half of the  United States, are covered only by highway. Let us trace a single Greyhound route. From Bay City down through Saginaw, Flint,  Pontiac, and intermediate towns to Detroit, and on down through Monroe  to Toledo and points beyond. Now then, how does Greyhound propose to  integrate local air service with its bus route? Again, starting in Bay City, fast cabin  helicopters will hop directly to Saginaw, Flint, Pontiac, Detroit, Monroe,  and Toledo, and points beyond. Of course, other routes fly northwards from Bay City and in all directions  from centers like Detroit. Now, let's see how this works out. Suppose you live in Clarkston, Michigan. It's a quiet, friendly little country town  with tree-shaded streets and pleasant homes. But in public transportation, Clarkston is directly connected with the  outside world only by the Greyhound bus. But with fast, frequent schedules, folks  around Clarkston say, "That's enough." Now, suppose you wanted to get to  Toledo in a hurry, or Cleveland. You board the bus in Clarkston. Like this young couple who got on there. He's promised her a new thrill today. She sees something out the window. "Oh, look, honey!" "Yeah, that's part of the surprise." "Why, it's coming down!" "So we can ride it." "Oh, can we?" "Out here in the country?" "Yeah, sure." Our feeder bus comes in from a side  road and up to the main highway at a natural junction point with a southbound bus. In the proposed air bus operation, the transfer of passengers will be  made normally at regular bus stops. But for the purpose of this experimental test, and further to demonstrate the flexibility  of integrated air bus service, this first exchange is to take place as though with  connecting buses along an express highway. The Greyhound helicopter sweeps in swiftly  and surely and settles lightly to the ground. So far, there's nothing involved about this. It's novel and interesting, but it's no  more complicated than changing buses. "Hey, what about the baggage?" "Oh yes, there's a place for  that too, just like on a bus." Meanwhile, the passengers who came in  by helicopter are boarding the bus. Buses will not only bring people into  combination bus and helicopter depots but will carry helicopter passengers on to their  destination when they lie beyond the flight stop. The first takeoff is always exciting. Effortlessly, you are lifted into the air. You are flying. No matter how many times you've  been up, there's always the thrill. A thrill now brought closer by the  helicopter to millions of people. The world at your feet. A winding river slips by beneath  you and another little country town, as your helicopter makes the beeline  for its next test rendezvous. There is the spot now, beside that giant  cloverleaf where three superhighways cross. Not only an underpass and an  overpass but a middle pass. The first bus reaches the intersection. Right on time, bus number two rolls in. Sure enough, here comes the third. Now, where's the helicopter? There she comes. Continuing these test exchanges, they  set her down this time on a little knoll. The other buses pull into position. In actual travel, had the young couple been  going to Toledo, they would have set down there. Or if they'd been going to Cleveland, the  helicopter would have dropped them at the Detroit airport, where the regular airlines could  have carried them across the lake to Cleveland. So the helicopter will also  serve as a feeder of bus and helicopter passengers to the regular airlines. But since these are only experimental transfers,  our young couple gets back on another bus, and in their place, these three young  ladies next try a sample flight. Up again and away, while the three  highway cruisers resume their variant run. The adaptability of the helicopter can  make it another Greyhound bus of the air. It will make air service available  to 70 million persons, residing in smaller cities and towns not  served by existing airlines. Today's trial ship holds only three passengers and  the pilot, but Greyhound engineers, who cooperated with the automobile makers to produce the super  coach of the highway, are already working with aircraft manufacturers to bring out the next  helicopter to hold twelve passengers and the crew. Still another reason why it is logical  for Greyhound to develop this local bus of the air—Greyhound has the terminal  and maintenance facilities already, and personnel trained and experienced  in popular transportation. A network of post houses and bus terminals  from coast to coast can readily be adapted for landing helicopters close to  the business district in cities, or in all sorts of places not  otherwise accessible by air. For the third and last trial of the day, the Greyhound helicopter drops in  and settles on a patch of greensward. The three young ladies descend to  the ground, convinced that they are in at the exciting beginning of a new epic in  transportation—integrated local air bus service. They have seen how the Greyhound helicopter  can pick up its passengers at a small-town bus station or at junction points along  the highway and deliver them either right downtown or out to the airport, bringing  at last the advantages of air travel to the people of small towns with the flexibility  and convenience typical of bus travel. Here is one of the promises of the post-war world,  not something still in the far distant future. This is just beyond the threshold of today. Yes, you can expect a lot, for there is a lot  to expect from the greyhounds that learn to fly.