DETROIT TRANSIT HISTORY
DETROIT'S GRAY LINE SIGHTSEEING TOURS
DSR coach #7150 (a 31-passenger coach built by Transit Buses, Inc. in 1949) is seen here decked-out in the red, white
and blue Gray Line color scheme. This photo was taken atop the Ambassador Bridge -- which connects Detroit with
Windsor (Canada) across the Detroit River (one of the few locations in the U.S. where one can travel "south" to Canada).  
The DSR Gray Line service included sightseeing tours across the bridge to Windsor, Canada.
(unknown photo collection)
According to "www.grayline.com" (the official web-site of Gray Line Worldwide), it all began back in March of 1910, after
a young restaurateur named
Louis Bush decided to refurbish an old Mack Truck chassis,  painted it blue and gray, then
began offering sightseeing tours around the city of Washington, D.C.  Little did Bush realize, that those early endeavors of
his would later help to establish the world's leading sightseeing guided tour company, known as
Gray Line.

By 1926,
Gray Line had expanded to other booming American cities including New York, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans,  
Los Angeles and  San Francisco, and would even spread internationally to Toronto and Havana.  Following World War II, a
former
Gray Line employee named Harry J. Dooley managed to acquire the company, and helped to re-establish Gray
Line
Chicago.  Harry Dooley soon became the president of Gray Line, and is today considered by many to be the father
of the sightseeing industry.

Dooley expanded
Gray Line's market throughout the United States beginning in the late 40's, and established Gray Line
companies in Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The sudden popularity growth in motorcoach sightseeing helped to
position
Gray Line Tours as the leader in the sightseeing industry for decades to follow.

Since 1933 the
DSR had become the sole Gray Line franchise operator here in the city of Detroit. Scheduled tours would
run during the months of June, July, August and September. As a part of the department's
Chartered Service Division,
the guided
Gray Line tours included visits to such places of interest as: Greenfield Village, the Ford Rouge plant, Belle Isle,
and Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
DSR Gray Line coach #4901 (a 44-passenger coach built by the Twin Coach Company in 1946, model 44-D) was among a number
of standard transit buses the DSR specially painted during the postwar years for Gray Line sightseeing operation.
(HBC-II photo courtesy of the Schramm Collection)
Through the years the DSR reserved a variety of standard transit buses to operate its Gray Line service. During the early
years, coaches were painted in a special
Gray Line color scheme, and were reserved for Gray Line sightseeing operation.
With the arrival of the
DSR's first fleet of GMC "new-look" coaches in 1960, ten coaches were designated for use on Gray
Line
and chartered service operation, but maintained their DSR green, cream and silver color paint scheme. Although the
first ten coaches
(#1601-1610) were air-conditioned and lettered, "GRAY LINE SIGHTSEEING TOURS," they were
not specifically utilized solely for
Gray Line sightseeing service.  During the DDOT years, the coaches used for Gray Line
operation would also maintain the department's current paint scheme, but the trademark diamond-shaped
Gray Line blue
logo would always be visible across the exterior of the coach.

Unfortunately, as the city's reputation began to deteriorate during the 1980's, interest in the guided tour service declined
dramatically.  By the 1990's very little promotion of the service remained, consequently very few patrons took advantage
of the service.  In 2003, after seventy years of providing guided
Gray Line tours to various Detroit places of interest, the
Detroit Department of Transportation and the City of Detroit's long affiliation with Gray Line Tours quietly came to a
close.  Sadly, the termination of this service in Detroit practically went unnoticed.  No doubt, a number of factors helped to
contribute to the elimination of the service, but with ridership numbers extremely low, it was no longer financially feasible to
continue the service.  

Today,
Gray Line Worldwide Tours is widely recognized and respected as the world's largest sightseeing tour company,
serving more than 200 destinations worldwide. But sad to say, the city of Detroit is no longer one of those destinations.
DSR/DDOT coach #2934 (above), seen here repainted in the new DDOT paint scheme of white with
black trimmed windows and green and yellow striping, was one of two GMC coaches (model T8H-5307A)
that were primarily used for Gray Line service during the 1970's. Both coaches (#2933 and 2934) came
equipped with deluxe cushioned forward-facing seats and also displayed on their exteriors the trademark
blue diamond-shaped Gray Line logo decal.
(MCA photo)
During the
1980's DDOT
would assign a
number of its
smaller-size
35-foot RTS-II's
(GMC model
T7W-203)
for Gray Line
service. In this
photo
(right)
coach #1702
can be seen
discharging
passengers at
the Detroit Zoo,
while still
displaying its
blue diamond
Gray Line logo.
The above information regarding the history of Gray Line Tours provided by the official Gray
Line Worldwide web-site located at:
http://www.grayline.com/
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For Comments and/or Suggestions, Please contact Site Owner at: admin@detroittransithistory.info
(PAGE LAST MODIFIED ON 03-03-07)


DETROIT TRANSIT HISTORY
The web-site which takes a look back at the History of Public Transportation in and around the
City of Detroit.