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GENDER AND IN THE SERVICE SECTOR THE AMERICAN INDUSTRY

Maggie Walsh University of Nottingham

[The presentation of this paper will be illustrated] Introduction:

The long distance bus industry emerged in the early twentieth century and matured in a competitive market when Americans could make choices between trains, cars and eventually planes to reach their destinations. Pioneer bus enterprises were widely scattered local operations started up with minimal capital investment. Within 15 years many of these small family operations were absorbed into larger corporate organisations. The dualistic structure that developed by the mid 1930s remained in place for much of the remainder of the century. At the centre were two national companies surrounded by regional and local operators. The Greyhound Corporation and the Trailways Amalgamation quickly adopted the structures and systems of managerial capitalism; the smaller firms often remained family businesses retaining a personal ambience and focusing on narrower goals.1 For both types of enterprise, but particularly the former, markets were always impersonal and anonymous, requiring the attention of ‘modern’ retailing techniques. Advertising became the common means of communication and persuasion, promoting scheduled and special services for all potential customers. But as standards of living rose in the post Second World War years and consumers became more demanding and advertising became more sophisticated in both its style and its targeted audiences. It did not, however, succeed in increasing the bus industry’s share of the market.

Bus passengers were and are female as well as male: indeed the few and scattered relevant statistics, the general descriptions of the passenger survey variety and photographs of buses in operation suggest that the majority of passengers were likely to be female. Initially bus owners and operators did not consider that gender distinctions were of importance in attracting business. Men could use the bus to travel to work; women could use the bus for domestic purposes, whether this was household shopping or visiting relatives and friends. Families could take the bus for leisure purposes. The omnibus was perceived to be gender neutral and the use of its services was related to the time of the day, the day of the week and the season of the year. Gradually managers and their advertising agencies moved on from this appealing-to- all approach to attracting customers by portraying images, if not print messages that were more appealing to women. The bus became a second automobile and a family friendly vehicle by acclaiming its safety, ease of access and comfort. As families started to acquire cars, it became more important to emphasise the special features that were distinctive to bus travel. The Second World War proved to be a turning point in bus travel. Car-owning Americans were forced out of their vehicles onto and they did not like the crowded and often irregular service provided. When freed from wartime constraints, they quickly bought automobiles, moved to the suburbs and turned wholeheartedly to personalised transport.

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As car owners, increasingly numbers of Americans spurned the commercial modes of surface travel and bus operators found that they faced an uphill task in persuading people that the bus offered them a superior and convenient service. In their quest to locate bus passengers, they had to learn that class rather than gender was the key ingredient. Increasingly those who travelled by bus either could not drive or did not own a car and as automobile ownership spiralled upwards, making two car families more visible, the white middle-class bus traveller became less frequent. Certainly students remained on the buses as did many foreign tourists who were attracted by the bargain and the variety of places they could visit. Minority groups continued to use motor coaches, as did personnel in the armed services and truck drivers returning from deadheaded trips. Bus travel had limited appeal and advertising agents recognised that they must narrowcast rather than broadcast their messages. They continued to portray the bus as a safe, cheap and convenient vehicle offering scheduled services for those without a second car. They also learned that buses could still be made more attractive for excursions. Here it was possible to serve middle class communities of special interest groups for particular occasions in improved motor coaches, especially as more personnel in middle management were likely to be female from the 1970s onwards. A different dualistic structure was emerging; scheduled services and tours and excursions. These attracted passengers from different classes and life-styles with income as the critical ingredient.

Bus Advertising: The Pioneering and Early Years

When early motor or jitney owners started advertising for custom in the second decade of the twentieth century the American nation was already moving away from the Victorian cultural mores that had attempted to define separate spheres for women and men. That norm had been subject to modifications some fifty years earlier as more women participated in consumerism and in the commercial transactions of shopping and travelling by train and on local urban transit. Furthermore the long- standing involvement of middle-class women in philanthropy or semi-professional social work and then the increase in employment opportunities for all working-class women and for young middle-class women, together with the advent of female suffrage in 1920, helped break down any remaining traditional constraints of femininity. Men too had moved away from prescribed Victorian roles. Their traditional masculinity based on assertive behaviour in the labour market and authority in the political arena had been softened by the rise of the white-collar service sector which incorporated many softer, feminine virtues like dexterity, submissiveness, tact and respect. They had also moved inwards from the margins of the domestic sphere through participating in companionate marriage as partner rather than patriarch. Society was in flux, with part of the nation looking forward to a landscape in which sexual equality was becoming more of a reality while other parts held to a value system which perceived traditional gender divisions.2

Initially when the bus was still a novelty and road travel was an adventure in the years prior to the mid 1920s, there was little concern to do more than announce the existence of a bus service. Word-of-mouth often sufficed, though entrepreneurs would also insert a statement about times and places of pick-ups and destinations in the local newspaper. These men devoted little effort and investment to stimulating business. They were more concerned with the problems of equipment, maintenance and operation, which could become critical in times when motor coaches could easily 3 break down. Early vehicle malfunctions, especially with wheels on dirt-top road surfaces and delays resulting from variations in the weather, were at the top of the bus owners list of concerns. They thus provided minimal or basic information, usually as timetables printed in local newspapers and as placards posted in hotels and shops in central business districts. The press might occasionally boost a new bus venture by a short description of the service. As pioneers expanded their operations they then paid more attention to publicising their new routes or schedule changes, but supplying factual information, with the occasional line drawing was still their main form of communication. They had not yet set aside a proportion of their income to create a regular advertising budget and were satisfied with announcements in the press. The novelty of a local service that offered greater and faster mobility to workers on a regular basis and to shoppers, families and leisure travellers on a weekly or occasional basis was still deemed adequate to generate the interest, enthusiasm and business from passengers of both sexes.3

When bus routes were expanded in the mid and late 1920s operators needed to pay more attention to consolidating and up their services through disseminating the advantages of buses. They advertised the benefits of safety, economy, reliability and convenience to regular passengers who were usually travelling to work. They also increasingly turned to claims of leisure mobility, adventure and enjoyment for casual passengers and others who had yet to venture onto a commercial motor vehicle. As coach manufacturers were by then designing more comfortable vehicles with improved safety features, bus operators realised that many Americans could be persuaded to alter existing or to acquire new travel habits. In a period when cars registrations were rising rapidly, but driving automobiles was still a challenge because of poor road conditions, temperamental vehicles and lack of mechanical knowledge leading to driver insecurity, buses could be promoted as an attractive means of mobility. Many operators realised that to do this they needed to set aside part of their working capital. Funded increasingly by a regular advertising income of between 1½ and 4 per cent of gross annual receipts they informed the public of the benefits of travelling by motor coach. Their newer-style advertisements became more eye-catching and alluring, picturing scenic points reached by the particular route being promoted, providing a brief commentary on the pleasant features of the journey and emphasising the idea of a refreshing, novel trip or a modern American experience. Soon vacation brochures and folders as well as timetables of scheduled routes were available not only at new bus depots, but also at hotels and shops and the offices of chambers of commerce.4

As yet bus operators were only distinguishing between work and leisure markets, though they clearly recognised that there were peak and slack periods of bus usage in the day and in the week. These two types of travel, however, can be perceived as partial surrogates for gendered announcements. Using the most widely circulating local medium, the newspaper as their main means of advertising but also pointing to other literature and information accessible at the bus depot or available by phone, they printed weekday and weekend schedules for those commuting to work, whether male or female and those who were shopping or visiting nearby relatives and friends, whether female or male. More male passengers were travelling to work while more female passengers were visiting and shopping, leastwise during the week. Weekend schedules were more difficult to predict as Saturday afternoons and Sundays became periods of leisure. Here bus operators designed more attractive print 4 madia advertisements and brochures for those considering day trips out to a local beauty spot, a sporting event or city in the vicinity. Anyone reading the newspaper or seeing the buses on the streets could easily find out information about the variety of bus services.

So who might respond to the advertising and whom did the bus managers wish to tempt onto their coaches? Workers travelling to nearby towns were daily peak-time commuters were familiar with bus schedules and bus stops and were informed by drivers about imminent changes. They were regular patrons and were relatively easily configured as such. More passengers, however, were needed during the slack daytime periods between 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p m. Women were perceived to be potential ‘seat-fillers’ at these times as most were’ free’ to travel then. They could be tempted to consider shopping trips, visits to nearby towns for entertainment or to visit friends and relatives. Even though there might be a family car by the mid 1920s it might not be available for their personal use or they might prefer not to drive the vehicle. Some bus managers deliberately targeted women claiming that they would benefit from greater travelling comfort than at less busy periods. Many more, however, piggybacked their appeals onto the more attractive style of advertising that was developing in the 1920s. This implicitly assumed that women were the main daytime passengers and that they made family decisions about recreational travel at the weekend because they managed between 80 and 85 per cent of household budgets. Indeed as bus advertisements became less like statements of fact so they became more emotional, portraying idealised visions rather than real situations and including short and personalised messages rather than technical details. Such an approach was assumed to be feminine in its appeal because these were feminine traits. To buttress this type of appeal, which also was attractive to men, well dressed, attractive, even glamorous women regularly featured in pictorial copy often accompanied by a gentleman or by their family. Women were thus both directly and indirectly targeted to become passengers because they could use buses when they were likely to be empty and because of domestic and leisure activities.5

At the same time as bus operators and their advertising departments were making their pictorial messages about bus travel more feminine and more family focused, they faced the dilemma of working in a minority service industry. Even in its most optimistic and buoyant early years the bus industry only attracted some three per cent of intercity travellers in the United States. As automobile sales rose in the 1920s - in 1925 17.5 million cars were registered or one car for every 6.6 persons - these vehicles quickly dominated passenger transport, being responsible for over 80 per cent of the total. Private vehicles suited the individualistic tastes of Americans of both sexes and the growing recognition of their love affair with the car became visible in the increased expenditure on roads and an automobile infrastructure that included such necessities as petrol stations and garages. 6 Clearly in this social setting long- distance bus operators needed to focus on their actual and potential constituency. They worked primarily with the proven advantages of bus travel and regularly publicised flexibility, convenience, efficiency, safety and economy. They also attempted to portray themselves as setting trends by emphasising, modernity, fashion, leisure and value for money. Their efforts at persuasion on the radio as well as in the print media were directed to both women and men, but their inclusion of women and children in their advertisements suggested that they were aware that women were more likely to be bus passengers once men were able to drive to work. Women were 5 also more likely to be persuaded to use the bus as a family vehicle for leisure purposes.7

By 1929 several bus companies worked on a regional level and in that year the first transcontinental bus service was activated. To draw attention to this latter phenomenon, the sales managers of the Greyhound Corporation advertised in popular national magazines. Journals like Saturday Evening Post and American Magazine had circulations in millions, and were perceived by many leading companies as major and successful outlets for their publicity. Greyhound wanted to be regarded as being on a par with well-known manufacturers like Campbells, Lucky Strikes and Kodaks. Colour printing, available in such middle-class journals, offered the further potential of suggesting that buses were modern, attractive, romantic and fashionable as well as offering new vistas of mobility. Readers might have already seen striking billboards or have sent for brochures, but now they were regularly faced with suggestive pictures which enticed them to go on short day excursions or on holidays to any part of the country at any time in the year. Women were more likely to respond to such emotional appeals, whether married or single. The former were key decision-makers in family activities as was clear from the artwork of the advertisements. The latter were frequently enticed by representations of fashionable women enjoying a ‘good time’. Bus travel was a quality option that was readily available because it was convenient and reasonably priced.8

But was such travel value for money in times of economic straights? During the ‘Great Contraction’ of 1929-1932 the number of intercity bus operations declined from 3910 to 2760. By 1933 25% of the American labour force was unemployed and many more were underemployed. All bus carriers faced both a capital and cash flow shortage when the economy slumped. The larger operations, particularly Greyhound at the national level, managed to reorganise both their financial and administrative structures to make system-wide savings, but smaller firms either collapsed or were merged into regional operations. By 1935 the number of bus companies had fallen to 2120. Notwithstanding this restructuring of the bus industry, passenger miles increased by 21% from 6.3 to 7.6 billion between 1932 and 1935 and then rose again by 32% to 10 billion passenger miles in 1937 before the recession of that year temporarily halted progress. Passenger miles climbed again reached above the 1937 total in1940.9 Bus operators were actively promoting business throughout these difficult economic times.

How did they promote themselves during the major economic crisis of the 1930s? Newspapers communicated factual timetabling information to local residents and these advertisements asked passengers either to pick up a timetable or to phone the information bureau at the terminal for more details. Scheduled routes remained at the centre of bus business and companies hoped to build up their regular trade in a period when their reasonably priced and flexible service was suited to a population that was hard hit economically. They might also steal customers from their main commercial rival, the railroad because they offered more flexibility of route and cheaper fares. Newspapers also carried occasional ‘spot’ or ‘smash’ advertisements designed to appeal to local residents. Featured as quarter or half pages rather than single columns these ‘eye-catching’ features both attracted attention and enticed Americans into a ‘one-off spend’. These advertisements were aimed at both sexes. Sports events were targeted specifically at male supporters while advertisements in 6 the leisure section of the newspaper or on the radio hoped that women and their families would be encouraged to enjoy a scenic day trip or perhaps a visit to a site of historic interest. Bus operators considered that part of the population still had some money for leisure purposes.

Indeed the Greyhound Corporation and after 1935, Trailways, as national firms, continued to support a major bus advertising campaign even though managers were uncertain about its precise outcome. By the mid 1930s Greyhound advertisements were carried in yet more popular magazines like Colliers and Cosmopolitan , in women’s, country homes, romance and movie and travel periodicals and in travel magazines. In many of these outlets women were much more likely to be the readers and the text had a specific feminine appeal although the subject matter was similar to that inserted in the Saturday Evening Post, the nation’s advertising showcase. Even in a major depression bus operators were well aware that women made many of the family decisions. They also considered that middle-class incomes might not have been as badly affected as working-class incomes. An appeal to join the good society might well pay dividends. Travellers were not only offered frequent and direct services, but also liberal stopovers, different return routes at no extra costs and one ticket to any part of the country and all in comfortable coaches that provided a smooth and pleasurable ride. Remaining optimistic about the potential of their industry, operators continued to advertise because they were well aware that publicity was not only good for business, but was essential to well being. 10

War Changes the Message

Though the economic conditions of the Great Depression may have created difficulties for those promoting the American long-distance bus industry, the institutional crisis of the Second World War brought new complications. Shortages of fuel, rubber, vehicle parts and motor vehicles forced many private automobiles off the roads and put many Americans onto public transport for the first time. Business increased noticeably. In 1942 intercity carriers hauled 134 per cent more passengers than in 1941 and by 1944, the last full year of the war buses had quadrupled their business of 1939. As early as 1942 Greyhound, the largest bus operator, reported a load factor or a ratio of seats to occupancy of 69 per cent in contrast to the 56 per cent of the previous year. Buses were an essential part of the nation’s transport system. At the same time as stimulating business war also created adverse riding conditions. Bus companies faced shortages of essential parts and loss of crucial manpower as employees either volunteered for military service or were drafted. In these circumstances bus travel deteriorated as services became less frequent and were interrupted more often. Furthermore government restrictions, most notably the 35- mile per hour speed limit imposed in 1942 in order to conserve fuel and rubber, contributed to slower and more tedious journeys.

How did bus managers advertise their services in these emergency conditions? Acutely aware of the need for good public relations during the war bus companies and their trade organisation, the National Association of Motor Bus Operators (NAMBO), opted to retain a public profile by combining their commercialism with a hefty dose of patriotism. Their advertisements displayed a remarkably rapid adjustment from selling a range of travel possibilities for a highly mobile people to coming to terms with the wartime environment of scarcity, hardship and self-denial. This ‘about-change’ was in 7 part stimulated by war stringencies that threatened to cut advertising business by as much as 80 per cent and by the intervention of the government in the media through such agencies as the Office of War Information and the Office of Facts and Figures. But the bus industry, like the professional advertising agencies of Madison Avenue, considered that the best way forward was to promote war messages free of charge on the basis that commercial sponsorship would bring positive results, both in terms of good government relationships and long-term product-consciousness by the American public.

These advertisements did not have a gender specific message, because the war effort took priority and total war involved everyone on the home front. Bus companies considered that much of their wartime traffic was composed of military personnel, war workers and essential business travellers and that these passengers were their main concern. They thus appealed to civilians and other workers either to delay their travel or to travel at less busy times. Their initial theme of ‘Serve America Now’ rather than ‘See America Now’ promised a good future in exchange for a present sacrifice while later advertisements went further to advocate investing the money thereby saved into US War Bonds or Stamps. At times women featured strongly in promoting pictorial representations of sacrifice and savings; at other times they were perceived to be waiting patiently while others, including former bus company workers were involved directly in fighting. Occasionally they were visible as war workers. The promotional literature of both individual bus companies and the industry’s trade association tried to please everyone while re-assuring those who did ride the bus that the wartime conditions on both the buses and in the terminals were a result of emergency conditions rather than sloppy business arrangements. The road ahead would be much brighter.11

Bus Consumerism and the Great Economic Boom

Indeed for many Americans the post-war years were a lot brighter as the nation entered what many commentators have called the great economic boom. The American economy surged into an expansion of consumer expenditure in which citizens rushed to use their wartime savings, and aided by better access to finance and encouraged by the mass media, to spend their wages on goods and services. Bus companies had anticipated being part of such a boom, but as a result of the higher social expectations of Americans they found that they were working in an environment that was not conducive to the mass marketing of commercial surface passenger transport. Increasingly Americans moved out to the suburbs that were not readily accessible to central city terminals and more importantly they took to the automobile for both work and leisure pursuits. Car sales increased from 2.1 million in 1946 to 5.1 million in 1949 and continued upwards reaching 7.9 million in 1955. By then 52.1 million automobiles were registered. A decade later in 1965 car manufacturers sold 9.3 million cars and 75.3 million cars on the road. The years of the great economic boom were years in which the United States witnessed the spread of autopia. There was not only one motor vehicle per household, but increasingly there were two or more. By 1965 24 per cent of American families owned more than one automobile. In such an individually mobile society it was going to be much more difficult to sell communal travel as an attractive opportunity. 12

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It was also more difficult to persuade Americans to become bus passengers because of the negative legacy of wartime travel. Despite the effort and expenditure given to positive and upbeat wartime advertising more Americans remembered the crowded terminals, the long waits, the slow journeys and the vehicle breakdowns than the need to conserve fuel and spare parts and the lack of new buses. Bus operators were also hamstrung by post-war inflation and a major federal government investigation. Rising prices created labour unrest as workers used the strike weapon to press for pay increases and improved working conditions in 1945 and 1946. These increased costs together with higher prices for both vehicles and for created financial difficulties as the capital accumulated during the war years became insufficient to meet higher expenditures. The late 1940s also proved to be problematic because the nationwide investigation of bus fares instituted by the Interstate Commerce Commission in July 1946 lasted until December 1949 during which time the industry was reluctant to take any significant new steps to modernising. Furthermore the development of a faster and more efficient interstate service it was stymied by differing state laws on the size and weight of vehicles.

In such circumstances bus operators knew that they would need to pay special attention to public relations and to positive image building if they wished to retain their wartime business, let alone expand their trade. Promotional efforts were renewed vigorously in the print media. Information about scheduled services was regularly available in local newspapers, in timetables from the bus terminal or in travel bureaux and by phone. In an attempt to attract the business executive bus companies put on special scheduled services that were either a ‘thru (non-stop) service or a more luxurious service with extras such as hostesses, beverages and pillows. Once again major advertising campaigns in a variety of national, specialist and travel journals broadcast the benefits of recreational travel. These tableaux emphasised the ability to travel anywhere again and pledged a new quality service. Life would be more comfortable, convenient and relaxed when travelling buy bus for pleasure. Chartered bus services were marketed as available for any type of trip. The Greyhound Corporation here attempted to evoke an air of luxury by suggesting that its chartered buses offered services akin to having a and a private chauffeur at one’s beck and call. This was part of a more general approach to raising the social status of bus travel. Oral and visual media in the shape of the radio and the more popular television of the 1950s provided supportive coverage and offered more graphic imagery of these opportunities, but for several years bus officials remained convinced that the print media was the most effective means of reaching audiences.13

As passenger figures fell in the 1950s it became clear that bus companies were not selling their message. The socio-economic changes that had given many white Americans a higher standard of living typified by suburban detached housing, an automobile and access to shopping malls also moved them away from bus travel. The male head of household either drove downtown to work or commuted by train; his wife either drove him to the rail station and used the car for domestic tasks or rarely travelled any significant distance unless in the car. Yet bus operators continued to market their services as though they could attract such patrons of whom a high proportion were women. The Lady Greyhound advertising campaign illustrates the pitfalls and promise of this strategy. In the late 1950s Greyhound’s account-holder Grey Advertising designed a campaign focused on the pedigree dog, ‘Lady Greyhound’ who was to become the corporations’ ‘living symbol’. Initially seen in 9

April 1957 on the popular Steve Allen comedy-variety show, the dog became a star in her own right thanks to her rapport with a mass television audience. By the end of the year she had been interviewed by most important syndicate news writers, had more than 100 fan clubs with over 500,000 members and was insured for $300,000. Seizing on the fame of this pedigree dog the company organised a vast publicity programme that included opening terminals, giving press, radio and television interviews, and becoming associated with animal and human welfare programmes. She was being marketed as ‘America’s First Lady of Transportation’ and was perceived to be a significant advertising tool for the bus industry as a whole. But was she an effective marketing tool? What had been a new approach to publicity, both in terms of television tie-ins and multiple appearances throughout the country turned into a cute but ineffective gimmick in the early 1960s. Deciding that Lady Greyhound was particularly appealing to women and children, the Greyhound advertising team turned her into a fashion queen. She was given an ‘haute couture’ wardrobe, appeared at fashion shows and became an icon at the New York World’s Fair in 1964/5. By moving in superior circles she implied that the bus company, and indeed bus transport in general, was equally ‘top notch’. There is no doubt that Lady Greyhound stimulated a positive audience response and that the Greyhound name was enhanced. But being popular and selling bus tickets were not synonymous. Women and their families did not stream back to the buses, on the basis that buses too were high-class and provided a modern mode of travel. It may be that the Greyhound sponsorship of the Mrs America contest with its emphasis on homemaking skills and its film coverage had a more personal impact on women. But even this campaign emphasising the ‘domesticity’ that was so favoured by American culture in the 1950s and early 1960s could not convert suburban housewives to use the scheduled services of long-distance buses. 14

Why did such an upbeat and expensive canine campaign not reap dividends in terms of expanding business? For some Americans it was a publicity stunt that had little relevance to mobility. It might have been fun, especially for children, but it was surreal. Those millions of Americans who had moved to the suburbs increasingly wanted to travel at their own convenience and not that of commercial schedules, unless they were flying to cover long distances quickly. They also had little inclination to commute ‘downtown’ to the bus stations, regardless of whether these were new stations, opened with such fanfare by Lady Greyhound or modernised terminals. Not only was the journey to the terminals difficult in terms of connections with local transit or use of their own motorcars, but also urban terminals were developing a ’negative’ reputation, partly because of their very location and their perceived security risks and partly because of their clientele.

Concerns about personal safety and disreputable environments, particularly at night, were genuine, but the dangers of violence and contact with drug users and alcoholics were exaggerated by media coverage of incidents at or near downtown terminals. Nevertheless this harmful image would not go away and middle class families rarely considered using long-distance buses. There was also another aspect to their concerns for their well-being. They did not like the prospect of mixing with unknown passengers in the confined interior of a motor coach, however modern and comfortable. By the early 1960s bus passengers everywhere were notable for their lack of income and age. Most had lower than average earnings, frequently belonged to ethnic and racial minorities and were students or senior citizens. Occasionally 10 personnel from the armed services, truck drivers returning from a deadheaded trip, rural Americans and foreign tourists also rode the buses. Many of these passengers often did not own a car, while some did not drive, but they were not the ‘people’ with whom white middle-class Americans wanted to associate themselves in terminals, let alone the closed spaces of a bus where they lost personal control.

This confinement did not deter less affluent or economically disadvantaged groups who continued to travel on buses because it was cheaper than other alternatives and because there were discounted fares. There continued to be more female than male passengers, especially as the number of female-headed families in poverty became a more notable feature of American life in the 1960s and 1970s. Whether working or not such mothers faced severe difficulties in enjoying a comfortable standard of living. Segregation in the labour force resulted in a gender gap in wages while many mothers with young children could not work full-time. When they travelled they needed to use the most economic mode of transport. Male passengers were more likely to be single. They were more likely to belong to ethno- racial minorities, but there was also a scattering of white males who were unemployed, were going to college, or who did not wish to drive because of age and who found that buses were much more flexible in terms of their destinations than were trains or planes. In addition to these mixed native-born passengers were the perennial foreign tourists attracted to the bus by special fares and by the ability to see large expanses of the country easily and without the strain of driving. Familiar with buses in their native countries, which were later in adopting the car as an essential family possession, they did not worry unduly about the need to share their mobility with strangers. Indeed that only added to the attraction of seeing and getting to know America. This newer pattern of scheduled bus travel based primarily on economic grouping defined by income and secondarily on social grouping defined by age remained for the rest of the twentieth century. When gender appeared to become a solely female issue, as for example in creating attractive advertising materials or in designing vehicles with easy access and wide aisles for the convenience of mothers with young children, its appeal could be interpreted to be neutral. Equal rights, progressively more visible since the 1970s suggested that similar issues increasingly affected fathers and older men as affected women and that cultural mores had become gradually more feminised. Despite major campaigns to make regular routes more attractive to a wider range of consumers by offering faster through service, using the latest equipment and by relocating some terminals to the suburbs, the middle classes saw bus travel as an undesirable option. Minority economic or ethnic communities or both provided the bulk of bus passengers. The middle classes remained in their cars or increasingly took a short ride to the more accessible and relatively cheap air services connecting with multi-hubs throughout the country. 15

They were not, however, unresponsive to chartered buses that could be perceived as private transport for hire. Recreational travel had originally been piggybacked onto the scheduled service and tourists had used the services of bus information bureaus to plan their recreational trips to best advantage. All-inclusive organised holiday trips had then been added to some bus company portfolios, often through separate subsidiary companies. While these services continued to be offered as a small part of bus business, charters became more important to both the smaller and the large operators. Such hired vehicles offered special groups, whether they were 11 the local ladies sewing circle, the girl scouts, the church choir, a football team or another company’s annual outing, a choice of with whom they mixed and when and where they travelled. Charter buses were in fact a vehicle full of ‘like-minded persons. They were increasingly managed and marketed by women who had taken advantage of the equal opportunities legislation of the 1960s and 1970s to move into white-collar occupations in what has been a traditionally masculine industry. Women served in decision-making and managerial roles at all levels and in all categories, but were most visible in planning, marketing, public relations and finance. As the public face of chartered services, women, rightly or wrongly, were able to build up business by combining the traditional masculine qualities of efficiency, authority and proficiency with the more caring feminine attributes of supportiveness, courtesy, help and flexibility. As such women helped to create both the image and the reality of an industry that could provide private comfortable vehicles as a door-to-door service for community outings. Charters were becoming a more important part of business that was not easily typecast by either gender or class. They were an option for diverse groups.16.

What difference does a consideration of gender make to understanding the marketing of the American long-distance bus industry? The masculine domination of its managers and operators and their masculine or at best gender insensitive approach to business meant that initially women were hidden in the advertising to a public eager to consume a modern, convenient and efficient service. When it became clearer that they were the important decision-making members of families who needed to be attracted to bus services, advertisements became more emotional, romantic and picturesque, qualities that were supposedly feminine. Perhaps such an approach made gender an important ingredient in bus mobility, but the major depression of the 1930s and then the impact of the Second World War created uncharacteristic travel patterns. Post-war affluence facilitated American automobility and then class rather than or as much as gender became significant in influencing who were passengers on scheduled routes. The convenience of chartered vehicles for communal activities has more recently suggested a possible growth area in which social and cultural interest groups have become consumers. By this time operators realised that they needed niche marketing campaigns that targeted specific groups in which men were equal to women. But these groups remained a minority in a nation that has prioritised individualism and has thus taken the automobile to its heart.

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Table 1

The Intercity Bus Industry in the United States Selected Statistics 1925-1985

YEAR NUMBER OF NUMBER OF ROUTE BUS MILES PASSENGER COMPANIES VEHICLES MILES (millions) MILES (billions) 1925 3610 21 430 218 601 n.a. n.a.

1930 3520 14 090 318 715 1230 7.1

1935 2120 11 160 330 216 960 7.6

1940 1830 12 200 313 136 820 10.1

1945 2320 23 210 360 856 1400 27.0

1950 2480 24 420 412 284 1350 21.2

1955 2600 27 200 410 000 1375 21.9

1960 1150 20 974 265 000 1092 19.3

1965 1100 19 800 263 000 1156 23.8

1970 1000 22 000 267 000 1209 25.3

1975 950 20 500 274 000 1126 25.4

1980 1330 21 400 279 000 1162 27.4

1985 n.a. 20 100 263 000 997 23.8

Sources: B. B. Crandall (1954), The Growth of the Intercity Bus Industry, Syracuse, NY, Appendix A, Table A-2, pp.280-2; National Association of Motor Bus Owners (1976), 1926-1976: One-Half Century of Service to America, Washington DC, p.23; The Fleet Owner (1957), 52, p.138; F.A. Smith (1986),, Transportation in America. Historical Compendium, 1939-1985, Westport , CN, p.12; American Bus Association, Bus Facts for 1982, p.2; American Bus Association, mss statistics, c.1988. 13

Table 2

Intercity Travel in the United States by Mode (billions of Passenger Miles, 1929-1989

PRIVATE CARRIER PUBLIC CARRIER TOTAL INTERCITY TOTAL (1) AUTOMOBILE AIR TOTAL (1) (2) BUS RAIL AIR TRAVEL Year Amount % Amount % Amount % Amount % Amount % Amount % Amount % Amount % 1929 216.0 100 175.0 81.0 175.0 81.0 - - 40.9 18.9 7.1 3.3 32.5 15.0 - - 1934 219.0 100 191.0 87.2 191.0 87.2 - - 27.5 12.6 7.4 3.4 18.8 8.6 0.2 0.1 1939 309.5 100 275.5 89.0 275.4 89.0 0.1 - 34.0 11.0 9.5 3.1 23.7 7.7 0.8 0.3 1944 309.3 100 181.4 58.6 181.4 58.6 - - 127.9 41.4 27.3 8.8 97.7 31.6 2.9 0.9 1949 478.0 100 410.2 85.8 409.4 85.6 0.8 0.2 67.8 14.2 24.0 5.0 36.0 7.5 7.8 1.6 1954 668.2 100 598.5 89.6 597.1 89.4 1.4 0.2 69.7 10.4 22.0 3.3 29.5 4.4 18.2 2.7 1959 762.8 100 689.5 90.4 687.4 90.1 2.1 0.3 73.3 9.6 20.4 2.7 22.4 2.9 30.5 4.0 1964 892.7 100 805.5 90.2 801.8 89.8 3.7 0.4 87.2 9.8 23.3 2.6 18.4 2.1 45.5 5.1 1969 1134.1 100 985.8 86.9 977.0 86.1 8.8 0.8 148.3 13.1 24.9 2.2 12.3 1.1 111.1 9.8 1974 1306.7 100 1133.1 86.7 1121.9 85.9 11.2 0.9 173.6 13.3 27.7 2.1 10.5 0.8 135.4 10.4 1979 1589.9 100 1337.9 84.2 1322.4 83.2 15.5 1.0 252.0 15.8 27.7 1.7 11.0 0.7 212.7 13.4 1984 1687.2 100 1401.1 83.0 1388.1 82.2 13.0 0.8 286.1 17.0 24.6 1.5 10.8 0.6 250.7 14.9 1989 1936.0 100 1563.9 80.8 1550.8 80.1 13.1 0.7 372.3 19.2 24.0 1.2 13.1 0.7 335.2 17.3

Source: National Association of Motor Bus Operators, Bus Facts, (1966), pp.6, 8; F.A. Smith (1986), Transportation in America. Historical Compendium 1939-1985, Washington DC, p.12; F.A. Smith (1990), Transportation in America. A Statistical Analysis of Transportation in the United States, Washington DC, p.7; R.A. Wilson (1997), Transportation in America. Historical Compendium, 1939-1995, Lansdown, VGA, p.21.

(1) Percentages do not always sum to 100 because of rounding up. (2) Early figures take count of Waterways as well as Railroads, Buses and . 14

Notes

1 For information on the American long-distance bus industry see Margaret Walsh, Making Connections. The Long-Distance Bus Industry in the United States, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000.

2 For general information about the concepts of separate spheres see Nancy Woloch, Women and the American Experience. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 3rd ed., 2000. More recent research on gender and its relationship to business and commercial transactions can be found in Angel Kwolek- Folland, Engendering Business. Men and Women in the Corporate Office, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994; Angel Kwolek-Folland, Incorporating Women. A History of Women and Business in the United States , New York, Twayne Publishers 1998 and Amy G. Richter, Home on the Train. Women, The Railroad and the Rise of Public Domesticity, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press,2005.

3 Bus Transportation (hereafter cited as BT), 6: 12 (1927), p. 671; Walsh, Making Connections, 17-22.

4 BT, 2:9 (1923), 435, 3:3 (1924), 105-8, 4:3 (1925), 129, 6: 11 (1927), 613-6; Roy A. Hauer and George H. Scragg, Bus Operating Practice, New York, International Motor Company, 1925, 95-8; International Correspondence Schools, Motorbus Transportation, Vol. 2, How To Increase Bus Patronage, Scranton, PA, International Textbook Company, 1930, 17.

5 Hauer and Scragg, 106; Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream. Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1985, 65-7; advertisements for Northland Transportation Company, 1925-9 (Minnesota Historical Society), the Jefferson Transportation Company, (The Jefferson Company, Minneapolis) and the Red Ball Transportation Company (Clippings File, Mary Martin Collection, Mason City Public Library).

6 Statistics of intercity travel are inconsistent. These figures are derived from National Association of Motor Bus Operators (NAMBO), Bus Facts, (1966), pp. 6-8 and Frank A. Smith, Transportation in America. Historical Compendium, 1939-1985, Washington DC, Eno Foundation Ltd., 1986, p. 12. Other slightly different figures are available in Burton B. Crandall, The Growth of the Intercity Bus Industry, Syracuse, Syracuse University, 1954, 279- 5. Figures for car sales and registration are found in Ben J. Wattenberg (intro) The Statistical History of the United States. From Colonial Times to the Present, New York, Basic Books, 1976.

7 Margaret Walsh, ‘”See This Amazing America”. The Long-Distance Bus Industry’s Use of Advertising in its First Quarter Century’, Journal of Transport History, 11:1 3rd ser. (1990), 61-88.

8 Circulation figures for popular magazines are reported irregularly in a variety of sources J.Walter Thompson, Newsletter 1 October 1928 (J Walter Thompson Archives, now at Duke University); ‘Advertising Revenue and Budget Quotas’, Greyhound Corporate Archives (GCR) University of Wyoming, Box 1, File 1; BT 8:3 (1929) , 145; Theodore Peterson, Magazine in the Twentieth Century,Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1956; Marchand, Advertising the American Dream. Advertisements for the Greyhound Company are located in Saturday Evening Post (SEP) and American Magazine. Many of these advertisements are conveniently located in the D’Arcy Collection of clippings, Department of Communications Library, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

9 Crandall, Growth of the Intercity Bus Industry, 280-1.

10 For this paragraph and the paragraph above, Walsh, ‘See This Amazing America’, 61-88; Marchand, 66-9; Advertisements in major popular periodicals and in The Highway Traveler and Trails, travel magazines sponsored by Greyhound and Trailways respectively.

11 Margaret Walsh, ‘“Serve Se/e America Now”. Advertising Bus Travel in the US during the Second World War’, European Journal of Marketing, 22 4 (1988), 41-60; Walsh, Making Connections, 33-45; Frank W. Fox, Madison Avenue Goes to War: The Strange Military Career of American Advertising, Provo, UT, Brigham Young University Press, 1975.

15

12 For numerical information on automobiles see Statistical History of the United States. For general information on the post-war economic and consumer boom see Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic. The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York, Random House, 2003).

13 Walsh, Making Connections, pp. 154-172; Cohen, The Politics of Mass Consumption; Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound. American Families in the Cold War, New York, 1988. The television boom took place in the 1950s. In 1948 172,000 households had a set, by 1952 there were 15.2 million sets, a figure which increased to 32 million in 1955 in some 75 per cent of American households; by 1960 some 90 per cent of households owned at least one set.

14 For this and the paragraph above see Margaret Walsh, ‘Top Dog: Pedigree Marketing Falls on Deaf Ears’, unpublished paper, Association of Business Historians, 2004.

15 For this and the paragraphs above see Walsh, Making Connections, 44-55; Margaret Walsh, ‘Passenger Connections: Views of the Intercity Bus Terminal in the United States’ in W. Bond and C. Divall (eds) Suburbanising the Masses: Public Tranport and Urban Development in Historical Perspective, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003, 280-86. ‘Lady Greyhound’ and ‘Mrs America Pageant’, manuscript materials in Greyhound Corporate Records, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

16 Margaret Walsh, ‘Not Rosie the Riveter: Women’s diverse roles in the making of the American long-distance bus industry’, Journal of Transport History, 17:1 3rd ser (1996), 53; Walsh, Making Connections, 52-3; Bus Ride, 1965- present, a journal with wide circulation in the bus industry and that also aimed at the general bus enthusiast contains many articles that demonstrate the greatly improved position of women as producers of bus travel.