Detroit's conversion from streetcars to buses under DSR head Nolan

Over the years, I've heard a thing or two about Fred Nolan, who was the head of the Detroit's DSR, or Department of Street Railways, back in the 1930s. I'd heard that he was instrumental in turning Detroit's rail-based transit system into a bus-based system.

While Nolan's enthusiasm for buses may look quaint today, when we're struggling to rebuild our rail-based transportation with the M-1 project, it's important to remember that buses were futuristic in the 1930s, and bitter fights over fares with the private streetcar companies were still a recent memory in Detroit. Buses were the future, and Nolan seems to have embraced that view. It became so normalized that by the time streetcar service ended in 1956, few seemed to question that decision.

Of course, not everything needed to be a light rail line in the 1930s, and buses were likely well-suited to many of the low-density routes Nolan established in the increasingly suburban Detroit. Of course, buses wear out much more quickly than rail, and carry fewer passengers on a bumpier ride, but most of the routes Nolan established in the first half of the 1930s were needed and actually were a decent complement to Detroit's network of electric streetcars.

But Nolan was a man on a mission, and from our time and place some think he overdid it. Nolan's goal was to rid Detroit of streetcars by 1953. The end actually came three years later. [[What slowed the effort down him was World War II, when the city needed high-capacity, reliable streetcars to transport hundreds of thousands of war workers.)

So, imagine my pleasure when looking through old newspapers to find an article all about Fred Nolan from 1936. Of course, he's happily talking up his buses, which saw an increase in ridership due to – adding more buses. In the years to come, instead of adding buses, Nolan would begin converting rail lines to bus lines, a DSR trend that continued to its logical end.

It's worth noting that this little report notes a general increase in passengers across buses and streetcars, though the increase in streetcar ridership is relegated to a brief footnote at the end of this glowing article all about those glorious, glorious buses.

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Friday, December 4, 1936

BUS TRAFFIC AT NEW HIGH


DSR buses carried 5,002,344 passengers during November, thereby establishing an all-time record for a month's patronage. Fred A. Nolan, DSR general manager, announced today.

This figure represents an increase of 1,142,631 passengers, or 29.6 percent, over the number carried during November 1935, Nolan said. During October, the number of bus patrons was 4,889,704, the nearest approach to the 5,000,000 mark prior to November's record.

The increase in November is notable because this is a 30-day month, Nolan pointed out.

“We can attribute the substantial increase in our bus patronage, I believe, to improved equipment and the fact that we now have 18 5-cent bus routes,” he said. “These comprise 17 neighborhood routes and the downtown loop service.

To care for the increased bus patronage, the DSR has purchased 500 new 25-passenger buses, delivery of which began this week. The new buses will bring the total in operation to about 1,200, but 250 obsolete buses are to be scrapped, thus leaving the department with about 950 buses in service. This will be the plargest fleet of municipal buses in the country.

Street car patronage also has steadily increased … During November, street cars carried 25,394,777 passengers, as compared with 24,223 457 for November 1935, and increase of 1,171,320, or 4.84 percent.