Part 2: Buses: Freewheeling Era

Buses have been driving around Baltimore for close to 100 years. Helton says on page 33 that the first motorized buses hit the streets of Baltimore in 1915, in response to hundreds of independent jitney drivers.

When National City Lines bought out the Baltimore Transit Company in 1946, more buses started showing up on the streets to replace some of the routes where streetcars were disappearing. The first buses to have large numbers hit the streets were GM diesel and ACR Brill gasoline buses, according to page 85 of Baltimore's Streetcars and Buses.

Above is an "old-look" GM bus, which were the dominant bus in Baltimore, and what may consider to be the classic city bus. GM revealed their "new-look" bus in the early 60's. Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Transit Archives.

Above is the ACF Brill gasoline bus that was widely seen in the first few decades after WWII. Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Transit Archives.

The Baltimore Transit Company was in charge of operation of the buses even after the streetcars had left streets. Gary Helton explains on page 85 that they regained control of them until April 30, 1970, when control was assumed by the State run Mass Transit Administration. The BTC was finally liquidated five years later in 1975.

Pictured above is the replacement for the GM old-look and ACF buses. This is a GM new-look or "fishbowl" bus. This bus is important in Baltimore because the new shipments of these were ordered to replace the last of the streetcars. Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Transit Archives.

The new buses conformed to the culture of automobiles and suburbanization better than streetcars. Not having fixed routes, they had more routes. They could also be operated on the newly planned roadways in downtown Baltimore, unlike streetcars that ran on tracks. Buses could also get to suburbs quicker than streetcars, so they were more appealing to many of the vehicle-less people commuting from a suburb into the city. In the post-war era when so many highways were being built, more and newer buses seemed like the obvious choice to most.

Buses dominated Baltimore mass transit for decades. Buses were the only form of mass transportation in Baltimore from the time of the last trolley in 1963 until a new metro system was opened twenty years later in 1983.

Buses have been the lasting form of transportation through the ups and down of other forms. They were originally considered to be much faster and more comfortable than streetcars, and even today with other options available, buses are not in short supply.