This 1960s film showcases the work of the city bus driver named Mr. Staley working on Santa Monica’s famous “Big Blue Bus” lines. Featuring GMC “new look” buses, the film shows the operation of a diesel bus from the depot to a route on Lincoln Blvd. up to Montana Avenue. The film looks at the activities of various passengers, all the while showcasing the operation of the bus. Some of the topics explained include the use of transfers, tokens and fare boxes, the operation of the bus’ signaling system and buzzer, the operation of the rear door, and more. The friendly operator, who carries a pocket watch to keep on schedule, knows the names of many of the passengers on his bus. At 6:23, the System Development Organization is seen while at 6:30 what appears to be 3rd Street (now known as the Promenade) is seen. At 8:00, the planning and management dept. of the Big Blue Bus is shown. At 8:27, bus driver training is seen. At 9:20 the Big Blue Bus garage is seen.
The GM New Look bus, also commonly known by the nickname “Fishbowl” (for its six-piece rounded windshield), is a transit bus introduced in 1959 by Truck and Coach Division of General Motors and produced until 1986.More than 44,000 New Look buses were built. Its high production figures and long service career made it an iconic North American transit bus. The design is listed as U.S. Patent D182,998 by Roland E. Gegoux and William P. Strong.
In 1928, the City of Santa Monica launched its first route. Choosing a blue livery, it was called Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines. It kept its base fare at 10 cents for a long time. The impetus for the creation was a fare increase on the Pacific Electric interurban trains between Santa Monica and Los Angeles. The Santa Monica bus connected with the Los Angeles Railway streetcars at Pico and Rimpau Boulevards in the Mid-City section of Los Angeles. That historic terminus point has become an important transit center in Los Angeles simply because it is the point where thousands of bus riders along Pico Boulevard must transfer to continue their trips eastward to Downtown Los Angeles or westward to the Westside.
The Big Blue Bus is considered one of the best bus services in the Los Angeles area. The system won the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Transportation System award in 1987, 1992, 1997, 2000 and 2011. The Big Blue Bus did not raise its regular fare above 50 cents until 2002, when it became 75 cents. In contrast, most public bus lines in California were charging fares of a dollar or more well before 2000. The Big Blue Bus system provides frequent and convenient service to most neighborhoods in its service area. Many routes serve UCLA.
The Big Blue Bus was one of the last transit agencies using the GMC New Look buses; they were retired in 2005. Big Blue Bus received the last New Looks ever built. The last one built, #5180, was driven off the property in May 2013 after being donated to the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which preserves the bus. It was also the first transit agency in the State of California to use the Grumman-Flxible Model 870 advanced design transit buses equipped with Lift-U wheelchair lifts beginning in 1978, and the third customer after Atlanta’s MARTA, and the Connecticut’s Department of Transportation’s CT Transit’s order of these buses. These buses never experienced the same chronic structural problems that plagued these early vehicles that were also sold to other transit agencies. These were also the very first production buses built with wheelchair lifts before ADA effectively became law of the land in 1990.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
