Terminal Stations.
—For the purpose of accommodating patrons bus and express terminal stations are being installed. So far these have been established and financed by private companies. Where several bus lines or express lines radiate from a city a union depot may be expected not only to pay, but greatly to convenience the public. Small hotels and out-of-the-way places are ordinarily used when there is no central station. It is difficult to keep these in mind, and as they use the telephones of the hotels, restaurants, shops, etc., that they occupy for headquarters it is difficult for everybody to remember where they are located and find them when needed. Coöperation between the hotel employees and the bus lines for the giving of patrons information relative to schedules, fares, rates, etc., is not always satisfactory.
The organization of a stock company with bus lines, express lines, and merchants as stockholders for the purpose of building and operating a terminal depot may be formed. It will be necessary that the merchants be brought to see the financial returns that will come to them from the passengers which will be brought to the city every forenoon, allowed time to shop and return home in the afternoon; and that the number of passengers will be increased if convenient and accommodating terminal facilities are at hand.
Experience at Omaha shows that a large percentage, 85, of the passengers carried by the buses are residents along the routes and not commercial travelers, and are therefore potential customers. Many of these people when making their purchases ask that the purchased articles be delivered to the central depot in time to meet a particular bus. The purchaser is given a check upon the surrender of which he receives his package at the depot. Of course the more central the location of the depot may be the better the accommodation to the passengers. On the other hand the rent of the station may and probably will increase as it is brought nearer to the center of the retail district. Anyway it should be within walking distance of the principal retail stores.
The main costs of such a station will be rent, light, heat, water, taxes, insurance, upkeep, and the personal service of an agent and janitor. At Omaha seven bus lines and eighteen merchants entered into an arrangement whereby the merchants were to guarantee the rent while the bus operators were to furnish, maintain, and operate the terminal. The rent was $200 per month. For current expenses each member pays $2 a month dues and a service charge of $15 a month in advance for each scheduled in-and-out daily trip. Thus the Omaha-Weeping Water line with one in-and-out bus would pay about 50 cents a day; Omaha-Lincoln line with two buses each way, $1 a day; and the Omaha-Fremont line with four buses in-and-out every day, $2. A small additional income is received from a cigar, candy, and miscellaneous sales concession, it being 121⁄2 per cent of the gross sales less $7 a week which the association pays toward the salary of the clerk who acts as their information and ticket agent. A limited free checking service is maintained for the accommodation of passengers and shoppers. A colored porter presides over a shoe-shine stand and calls the departure of buses and assists the passengers with their baggage. He also serves as janitor. Special courtesy to patrons is maintained as a means of increasing business. The depot has 36x80 feet space and is divided into a general waiting room and office, a ladies’ rest-room, a smoking room, and space for baggage.
Here is a joint terminal for a few bus lines running out of one of the smaller large cities of the country into an agricultural community with unpaved but excellent earth roads. The operators feel that even though small it has proven its worth, as they have a definite business center where patrons can get information about schedules and buses and find comfort while waiting. It also makes for an esprit de corps among the several bus companies which very frequently loan buses to each other in cases of emergency. The compensation in such cases is 15 cents per mile if the borrower furnishes gasoline, oil and driver, or 22 cents a mile if these are furnished by the owner. In case one line does any work for another the basis of pay is cost plus 10 per cent.
It is considered that the bus lines are themselves a convenience to the public as their schedules and routes are planned to give service where the railroads do not. For example, a resident of Wahoo wishing to go to Omaha by train leaves at 11:15 A.M., there being only one train a day, arrives at Omaha at 1:15 P.M.; but must wait until the next day to return, as the only train leaves Omaha at 12:41 P.M.; arriving at Wahoo at 2:31 P.M. The citizen has, therefore, spent practically two days to make the trip. By bus he can make the round trip the same day—leave Wahoo 9:10 A.M.; arrive Omaha 11:30 A.M.; leave Omaha 2:00 P.M. and arrive back home at 4:20 P.M.; or he can have still more time in the city by leaving at 5:10 and arriving home at 7:30 P.M.
A number of instances like the above could be cited. On the contrary one of the bus lines runs between Omaha and Lincoln, passing through the same towns that are already well served by several trains per day. The time of making the trip from Omaha to Lincoln by bus is about one hour longer than by train. There seems little use for such a bus line except to pick up passengers between train stations.
Much more elaborate terminal stations have been established in other cities, for example Indianapolis, Indiana, and Portland, Oregon. A Minneapolis terminal to accommodate 100 buses a day has been opened and the company expects ultimately to spend $100,000 to create an adequate terminal.
At Poughkeepsie, New York, a city of 40,000 people, the Chamber of Commerce learning that an ordinance had been introduced in the Common Council prohibiting the parking of motor buses on the streets, evolved the idea of a central waiting room for the convenience of all passengers from the rural districts, the establishment of a definite bus schedule and the installation of a checking department.[228] After a year’s operation the merchants were extremely well pleased with results. The bus drivers were invited to use the accommodations provided at the entire expense of the merchants, of a little less than $1500 a year. Rental is at the rate of $50 and janitor service $12 a month. The room is steam heated and made as comfortable and cozy as possible, so that women and children find it a pleasure to wait there. From 150 to 300 persons use the bus terminal daily. The bus drivers have formed an association and taken over the care of the building, as they believe this one of the best things ever put forward for the development of their own business.
As an example of how it works this is given:
A lady in Red Hook desires one of the Poughkeepsie merchants to send her certain goods, she simply telephones her order to the Poughkeepsie merchant, who then consults his time table regarding buses operating in that direction. He next selects the merchandise; makes up his package and his boy takes it to the motor bus terminal, where the attendant in charge receipts for the package. This bundle is then put by the attendant in the proper bin and the right driver takes it just previous to leaving the station. The driver delivers the package the same as the parcel post man would, with promptness and dispatch. No charge is made by the attendant for taking the package but a charge of 10 to 50 cents is put on the parcel by the bus driver, which he collects from the recipient of the package, or it is prepaid as the merchant prefers.
It is said there has been no loss by theft. The drivers each carry a key to the Bus Terminal Station which is opened by the first driver to arrive about 6:30 A.M. and closed by the last to leave about 11:00 o’clock at night.
This is not a freight-trucking depot, only packages being handled. From the customers which the buses have brought it is estimated the trade in the first year was over a half million dollars, a large part of which is partly traceable to the courtesy and convenience rendered to out-of-town patrons by the establishment of the depot.