The Key West Citizen Newspaper, November 14, 1952, Page 9

ROOMY RED AND WHITE TRANSIT COMPANY BUSSES take school children to and from the Convent, St. Joseph's, Poinciana and the High School every day. Pupils ride for a very low fare, so even when the busses look loaded, it do bus company are jingling. By MARGARET FORESMAN Whether you are a regular pat- ron of the Key West Transit Com- pany or just an occasional bus ‘passenger, or if you only know they have busses here because you see them on the streets now and then, you probably don’t know a great deal about the system here. The notion that people don’t know much about this important facet of life in Key West was given emphasis by the difficulty which arose in trying to ‘earn a few facts about busses here. After pursuing this lead and that one as to where the bus terminal is at the present time, we finally ran it to ground in its new location -~the old red brick building at the corner of Simonton and Greene streets. This building which is eminently suited to the use of the bus com pany was built in the early days of Key West. It has been a tobacco warehouse in the heyday of the cigar industry here, it was once a boxing and wrestling arena, a grocery company used it for a warehouse once, and it has been put to numerous uses. Now the Key West sit Com- pany has taken it over and is uti- ‘izing all the space for offices and a garage for bus maintenance and storage. When we went to nose around bus driver could be in any way at fault, and they were accidents which resulted only in dented fen- ders. In spite of the low accident re- cord here, busses don’t last very long in Key West. This is not, as some may think, attributable to the condition of the streets. In fact, the streets along the bus routes, at least, are in very good condi- tion, except for some small stretch- es like the rough area on Palm Avenue. A bus lasts through about three years of service here, and after that it is fit only for junk. Of the busses in present use, the oldest has seen 21 months of service. In spite of constant vigilance on the part of the drivers and garage crew, none of the busses has a very new look. Several things about this locality shorten the life |of a bus. One is of course the erosion and rusting brought about by coral dust and salty spray. A hazard I had not thought of was revealed when I observed that the lights above the door were shatter- ed on several of the busses. Also the front roof of some of the bus- ses was dented and all of them were scratched in the front roof section. When I asked the reason I dis- }eovered that the low-hanging |branches of palm trees are at fault. Cars pass easily underneath 4 the swaying palms, receiving only gray wuniform. Only exception among the local drivers is the con- cession to the climate made by | @ their wearing of gray short-sleev- | ed shirts with open collars. They are not required to wear the Eisen- hower-style jacket northern driv- ers use, but some of the local drivers have ordered the jackets anyway. Relief drivers who fill in when the regulars can’t drive are Jack Carey, Norman Roberts, Antonio Trujillo and George Gonzalez, members of the Key West Fire Department, and Tommy Johnson. Sometimes you see the busses filled and other times you wonder why in the world they are running because they have no passengers, But the busses run every thirty minutes, with the exception of the Sigsbee Park run, all of them using the corner of Southard and Duval Streets as their starting point. Heaviest loads are chalked up on the Number One or Poinciana route, so that it is necessary al- ways to have two busses in opera- tion on that run. School children are carried to and from school daily by the busses on the Number 1 route. Nominal fares are charged for the student transportation if the children pro- vide themselves with a book of tickets. The books contain 20 tic- kets and sell for one dollar. Chil- dren who ride to and from Boca and find out what keeps a bus | an occasional brush from the low-| Chica must surrender two tickets l-}est fronds, but the busses hit| per ride. dren to school, workers to their | aganist the stem of the branch and | jobs, sight-seers to the points of| the blow is sufficient to damage |ten cent rate for passengers rid- system hard at work getting chil- interest, and shoppers to their des- tinations, head mechanic, Leslie Cartwright. The Men Behind The Scenes we were met by the| |the lights and the roof. Who makes ‘em go? Other fares in the city are the ing as far as North Beach Road and the Boulevard on the Number | When it comes to deciding on |2 route, and fifteen cent fares for | | the important cogs in the bus com- | the other routes in town. On the | Cartwright is a friendly person | pany operation, certainly the men| Number 1 run the 15 cent fare |~ and, although it would take more | who drive the busses are as im-/| covers transportation as far as | mechanical knowledge than I can portant as the vehicles because | Carlisle Trailer park on Stock Is- | boast to fully comprehend his job, | obviously one could not operate |jand. Fare to Boca Chica is 25 OLDEST DRIVER ir who has been driving b neld Threft, for 11 years. Friday, November 14, 1952 sit Co. Are Vital To Local Scene THE KEY WEST CITIZEN MECHANIC LESLIE CARTWRIGHT finds work on busses comparatively simple because the parts are higher, bigger, easier to get at. It is necessary to have a mechanic on duty at all times at the bus terminal, to service the busses as they end their runs and to make quick repairs that may become necessary in the course of the run. There’s something about having a bus break down during a run that makes passengers get cross with the driver, so the Key West Transit System tries to keep its busses in tip-top shape. CHANGE OF DRIVERS is made as Mike Perez (seated), signs off the run on the Number #4 pus and Eugene Perez (no relation), signs on. Mike doesn't look as bedraggied as one might expect after an eight and a half to ten hour run, which is the average hitch for the drivers. Mike is a day shift driver, and Eugene makes the night run. h the competent caretaker who | without the other. \ keeps the busses making their ap: | There are at present eight re- pointed rounds. gular drivers on the local runs, | | cents. Sightseeing Trip to Take | a vital part of the life of the com- Even if you do not regularly ride | munity and we c in’t get He has been a mechanic for | | with five relief men to fill in. the busses here, a good way to eight years, mostly working with | Checking the records of these dri- | see all around the island would be cars and trucks. As he continued | vers reveals that there are about to get on one of the transit com- his work on the bus that was in| three compliments on their cour-| pany vehicles and let the driver for servicing at that time, he ad-|tesy and fair treatment of the | transport you past many points of mitted that he liked work with | customers to every complaint that jinterest here. Thirty-one persons b a little better than with automobiles because the parts are » larger and easier to get at. The Key West Transit Company is owned by Jack Sellers, C. D. Page, S nd C. D. Page, Jr., and s béing ably managed by N. G. Davenport Although Davenport is compara- tively new to the bus business, he displays a genuine interest in and grasp of his work. He took over the managerial post a year ago, and since that time he has studied the problems of transportation of people both in Key West and in other cities. Even during his vaca- tion this past summer, he visited transit companies in several places to learn how he cpuld better the Key West system mport is known to many he was first here the Navy in 1943 a ed in 1948 to make t manent home. He years on the police re taking on the big job of managing the bus company Recerd of Safe Operation A natural question with regard public transporta tion is; How safe te it? probably local pec past year, There have been no accidents involving personal in- and only five accide | is turned in. can sit comfortably on any of the It would be ridiculous to expect | busses; and you can take all the that bus driving should be always | children you have who are less smooth and peaceful, but there are | than 42 inches tall absolutely free. remarkably few incidents of sore- heads among either the drivers or passengers in Key West. In the course of an average day’s service, the busses, four run- ning all the time during the hours Whether the driver carries a yard- stick or measures the children with practiced eye wasn’t revealed, but that’s the rule of the company. At any rate, the busses here are of operation, transport about 1400 , | people in Key West and-out as far as Boca Chica. | The drivers do not have an easy | time of it, even though at some hours there are not many passen- gers riding. The day's work is from eight and a half to ten hours at a stretch with a few minutes | out for lunch whenever the bus is empty and the driver is near a ift, begi ve in g. The three other day drivers are Helio Lopez, Sixto Smith and Mik ex. Leo Rod- riguez is older than Mike Lopez in years with the company, but he prefers the Eugene Perez Tropical Nete in Uniterms The drivers of lo for a very long period of tt without this tr the bus comp 5 of the city fathers seems to b: indicated by the re the company's fra: other five-year p Neither rain nor cold, gripey pas other of the hazards stay the course ‘of the K ny hi | Transit Company bu FOCAL POINT FOR ALL BUSSES fs the corner of Duval and Southard Streets. Rens on all routes start and anf at this © the i ggest loads are casually picked up. There is seldom an hous of the dey when you can't find to catch the next bus for somewhere.