https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/61f70a2d7f3f56b37a80887a2e01263b.pdf dd1d5adda2410a7156c654e339c089fc PDF Text Text CASPER CITY BUSES Casper Motor Bus Company, 192U. Drivers, left to right: Van Hathaway, Pat McKay, Oscar Gibson, C. K. Coltrane, Andy Endicott, Pat Kelly, Ray Holmes, Loyd Kidder, Mr. England, unidentified, Tom Cheney, unidentified, unidentified. Flip Heffernon, Wally England, Bill Utizinger, Ben Edwards, Clyde Skinner, Al Gallagher, Howard Houseworth, Bill Mitch­ ell, Jimmie Murphy, Park Griswold, Skip Carroll. Photo courtesy Gladys Julian Casper first attempted to create a mass transit system in 1 911| when the city council granted a franchise to a private company for the construction of a street railway line. The line was never built and Casper had to do without public transportation until 1918 when the city fathers decided to try a less compli­ cated form of transportation, city buses. Accordingly, on May 20, 1918, the city council granted a public bus franchise to the Casper Transit Company which immediately began running buses be­ tween the hospital on East Second Street and the Midwest Refinery on the western edge of town. In the autumn of 1922, a controversy developed over the Transit Company’s intention to increase the bus fare from five cents to a dime. Nobody wanted to pay the extra fare, and the issue was hotly debated until W. L. England and Scott Loveland pro­ posed a bus system that would not only maintain the more popular nickel fare, but would greatly expand the existing service to include the entire city. On November 9, 1922, the city council granted the two men full public bus privileges for Casper. Initiating service on January 1, 1923, England and Loveland named their new firm the Casper Motor Bus Company and put into use two 25"f’oot long yellow buses manufactured by the White Motor Truck Company. The Casper Motor Bus Company was an in­ stant success and within eight months could boast of carrying thousands of passengers along Casper’s paved streets. Further, by the end of 1923, the company had increased the number of its buses from two to nine. The first years of bus service were boom years for Casper, and the boom did not last. Even before the Great Depression of 1929 had befallen the rest of the country, Casper’s economy had begun to cool off as a result of the local refineries’ reduced activi­ ties. Faced with declining profits in the mid-1 920s, the Gasper Motor Bus Company officials requested of the city council, and received with little difficulty, permission to raise the bus fare to 7^ cents per ride. In the summer of 1930 the fare was raised again, this time to the once controversial ten cents. �Over the next twenty-eight years, 1930—39^8, the Gasper Motor Bus Company was to change owners and names several times. In the early 193O’s it became the City Rapid Transit Lines, Inc., operated by Leslie W. Davis. Then in the early 194O’s it again changed hands and was renamed the Western Transit Company. Prior to the Korean conflict it became The Casper Bus Company and operated under that name until it went out of business April 19, 1958. Shortly after the demise of the Casper Bus Company, William Guthrie and James Ross purchased six reconditioned buses in Denver and brought them to Casper to begin a new bus service. The new service did not succeed and Mr. Guthrie switched to pro­ viding bus transportation for school students. In the late autumn of 1958 he conceived the idea of "shopper special" buses that would provide two morning and two afternoon bus trips from the outlying areas to the downtown shopping districts. This service, scheduled to begin operation on November 1, 1958, also did not succeed, and for the next ten years Gasper was without public transportation. In 1969, in an attempt to fulfill Casper’s apparent need for public transportation, Tom StroQck and Gene Eaton started a bus line. This service used van-type vehicles and charged a fare of twenty-five cents. During its five months of operation it amassed an indebtedness, of over $18,000. These experiences may indicate that the concept of public trans­ portation has little future in Casper unless the energy shortage forces an end to two cars per family or makes it economically advantageous to ride the bus again. Second Street looking east from Center Street, circa 1928. Vtyoming State Archives and Historical Department. Photo: �New buses added by the Western Transit Co. in 19H6. Casper’s new housing additions and in­ creases in population following World War II were good for the bus business. These buses more than doubled the fleet operat­ ing in Casper during the war. Photo: Casper Tribune Herald. A city bus traveling south on the 200 block of South Center Street. The corner of Center and Second formed the hub of the transit system. From there the buses fanned out to make their loops through the outlying areas of Casper. (See map on page U.) Two of the reconditioned buses imported from Denver by William Guthrie and James Ross in April of 1958. These ^buses saw very little service before the dissolution of the Guthrie-Ross venture. Photo: Casper Morning Star. Fare Token used on Casper buses. �Map courtesy of the Casper College Goodstein Foundation Library, Sources: Newspapers; Gasper Weekly Press, July 10, 19141 p. 2. Gasper Daily Press, May 21, 1918, p. 1. Casper Daily Tribune, September 29, 1922, p. 1. Casper Daily Tribune, November 9, 1922, pp. 1 & 4. Caspef Sunday Tribune, August 12, 1923, PGasper Daily Tribune, July 8, 1930, p. 1. Gasper Morning Star, April 1^, 1958, P* 1Casper Morning Star, April 22, 1958, pp. 1 & 3* Gasper Morning Star, April 25, 1958, p. 1. Casper Morning Star, October 4^ 1958, p. 10. Interviews: Gene Eaton Gladys Julian Jimmie Murphy Tom Stroock Casper City Directories: Compiled by: Published by: 1922-59. Walter Jones Wyoming Field Science Foundation, Casper, Wyoming � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Walter R. Jones Manuscripts and Other Writings Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Description An account of the resource Manuscript versions of Walter R. Jones's Sand Bar and other pieces of his writing, published or unpublished. Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Walter R. Jones Papers, NCA 01.v.1996.01 US WyCaC. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context NCA 01.v.1996.01 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Casper city buses Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Subject The topic of the resource Casper (inhabited place) Description An account of the resource Article written by Walter R. Jones on the Casper city buses. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Walter R. Jones Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Walter R. Jones Papers, NCA 01.v.1996.01 US WyCaC. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context NCA 01.v.1996.01_CasperCityBuses Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Extent The size or duration of the resource. 4 pages