The move south was an experience. I was 22 years old in a new place and the people were different. The buses were not air-conditioned and Atlanta had a small town atmosphere in 1971. But before long, the company started to expand. It was going to form a new transit system (MARTA) and I was one of the drivers chosen to fly back to Ohio to drive one of the new buses to Atlanta. It would take two days and I was so proud to have been chosen. The bus was a Flxible, with stripes, with air conditioning and it was 40’ long like the buses in Cincinnati, I was excited.

Atlanta Transit also purchased some old buses from Cincinnati, so I got to drive back to Atlanta a bus that I had not only driven in Cincinnati but a bus that I had ridden to school on, # 347, a GMC made in 1957 with leather seats -– a real classic.

I loved my job driving buses but then a fellow driver told me he was leaving to drive Trailways Buses and see the country. I applied also and left Atlanta Transit for Trailways in April 1973.

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