The Victory Home: 
Transportation--Buses


Poster:  Help Bring Them Back to You! Make Yours a Victory Home!
Public transportation wasn’t equipped to handle the large numbers of people who weren’t driving anymore. Civilians were urged to stay home whenever possible to free up space on the buses and streetcars.
 
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Poster image is courtesy of the Northwestern University Library poster database .

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Updated 11/12/04.
Page created by Midge Coates
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Stories

"Fall in Line, Please" (scroll down for discussion of bus lines)
 

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Photos

These photos are in the National Archives ARC Digital Copies collection.

Interstate buses

People boarding the bus, an important mode of transportation between the many nearby coal camps and towns. War, McDowell County, West Virginia.

Bus transportation is good throughout this area. U.S. Coal and Coke Company, Gary Mines, Gary, McDowell County, West Virginia.

People in the bus station. Welch, McDowell County, West Virginia.

"During WWII a fleet of 3,000 buses provided transportation the over 42,300 employees. One of the main bus stops was outside the Central Cafeteria (now demolished). US Navy Yard, Mare Island, CA."

Grandmother amusing her young companion in the waiting room of the Greyhound Bus Station, New York City

Taos County, New Mexico. Busses are the only commercial transportation into and out of Taos. Here families come down to see the boys off who are leaving for Army camps. There is no kissing in these farewells, and little public display of emotion. The actual goodbye's are said before leaving home.
 

These photos are in the American Memory collection, America from the Great Depression to World War II:  Photographs from the FSA/OWI, 1935-1945 Click on the small image to see a larger one.

For more images, search this collection, using keyword, bus.

Interstate buses

A Greyhound bus trip from Louisville, KY, to Memphis, TN, and the terminals.
Bus passengers getting acquainted on Greyhound bus from Louisville to Nashville.

A beautiful friendship formed on the bus.

Passengers standing in aisles on Memphis-Chattanooga Greyhound bus.

Hailing a Macon-bound bus on the highway in Georgia.

Sign at bus station. Rome, Georgia.

Bus trip from Knoxville, TN, to Washington, D.C.
Crowded bus en route from Knoxville to Bristol, TN.

Sailor on bus enroute to Washington from Roanoke.

Woman waiting for bus on highway in Tennessee.

Washington, D.C. Boarding a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal.

Louisville, KY. A bus passenger reading the Sunday comics, which she spread on the floor to sleep on

Waiting room at bus terminal in Louisville, KY. Sunday morning at 3:00 a.m.
Photo 1 , 2

Cincinnati, OH. Passengers boarding a Greyhound bus at the bus terminal.

Indianapolis, IN. Passengers waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus station.

Indianapolis, IN. Bus passengers waiting in line to use the free toilet in the ladies' restroom at the Greyhound bus terminal.

Chicago, IL. A pillow girl waiting to board a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal.

A Greyhound bus which is bound for Chicago, IL from Cincinnati, OH at two a.m.

Passengers on a Greyhound bus bound for Chicago, IL from Cincinnati, OH at two a.m.

A soldier sleeping in the baggage rack on a Greyhound bus going from Cincinnati, OH to Louisville, KY.

Passengers, who have struck up a friendship on a Greyhound bus en route from Pittsburgh, PA to St. Louis, MO, telling "moron" jokes.
Photo 1 , 2 , 3

City buses

Baltimore, MD. Crowded bus carrying people to work at eight a.m.

Baltimore, MD. Waiting for a bus at four p.m.
Photo 1 , 2

Baltimore, MD. Boarding a bus at four p.m.
Photo 1 , 2

Baltimore, MD. Crowding onto a bus at four p.m.
Photo 1 , 2

Baltimore, MD. Transferring from a trolley to a bus at four p.m.

Baltimore, MD. Air raid notice on a bus window.

Baltimore, MD. Bus bound for the Negro section at four p.m.

Detroit, MI. People lined up waiting for a bus at 5 o'clock.

Detroit, MI. Afternoon shoppers waiting for a bus.

Washington, D.C. People boarding a bus on 13th Street on a rainy night.

Arlington, VA. Waiting for the bus at Arlington Farms, a residence for women who work in the U.S. government for the duration of the war.
Photo 1 , 2 , 3

Niagara Falls, NY. Elaine Colgan, second from the left, worker at the Bell Aircraft plant crowding onto a bus after finishing work at 4:30 p.m.
 

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Posters

These posters are in the Northwestern University Library collection.  Click on the small image to see a larger one.

Help my boy get home

Could this be you
 

This poster is in the National Archives ARC Digital Copies collection.

A Bus for US
 

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Video

You'll need to download the RealPlayer (the free "basic" version is in the upper corner on the far right) or the QuickTime software to view this video material.

This video is in the collection of Internet Moving Pictures Archive (at archive.org). To view, under "Stream", click "Real" for the RealPlayer version or "QT" for the QuickTime version.

The Bus Driver
(This movie is actually from 1946, but it is still relevant.)
 

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Ads

These ads are in the Ad*Access collection of Duke University.

Listing of ads for buses (some city and some interstate bus lines)
 

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