| DETROIT'S GRAY LINE SIGHTSEEING TOURS |
GRAY LINE HISTORY:
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 Tours.
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 1940s, and also established Gray
Line companies in Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The sudden popularity and growth in motorcoach sightseeing
helped to position Gray Line Tours as the leader in the sightseeing industry for decades to follow.
DETROIT GRAY LINE SERVICE:
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 DSR's Gray Line Sightseeing Tours provided thousands of camera–snapping tourists from all across the world, who
yearly literally poured into the Industrial Capital of the World, a chance to "see the town." Guided Gray Line tours included
visits to such popular places of interest as: Greenfield Village, the Ford Rouge plant (and the Ford Rotunda), the Art Center,
the New Center area, Belle Isle, across the Ambassador Bridge, through Windsor, Canada, and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
During the early years, the tour buses would leave Grand Circus Park before making their rounds to the leading downtown
hotels to pick up tourists for the various tour routes. During the 1960's, that first stop was moved to the new Cobo Hall.
Special-trained "professional-looking" DSR coach operators were used as the tour guides along the specially selected routes
designed to let riders see the most and best of the "Motor City." According to the August-September 1955 edition of "The
DSR Reporter" (an employee monthly publication), each Gray Line operator has to remember a multitude of facts about
each of the spots along each route...
"...Such as the tidbit of knowledge that the Fisher Building is built of 40 different kinds of European
and domestic marbles."
Each Gray Line operator's ultimate goal is to give visiting tourists a pleasant view of Detroit to take back home.
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 Tours.
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 1940s, and also established Gray
Line companies in Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The sudden popularity and growth in motorcoach sightseeing
helped to position Gray Line Tours as the leader in the sightseeing industry for decades to follow.
DETROIT GRAY LINE SERVICE:
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 DSR's Gray Line Sightseeing Tours provided thousands of camera–snapping tourists from all across the world, who
yearly literally poured into the Industrial Capital of the World, a chance to "see the town." Guided Gray Line tours included
visits to such popular places of interest as: Greenfield Village, the Ford Rouge plant (and the Ford Rotunda), the Art Center,
the New Center area, Belle Isle, across the Ambassador Bridge, through Windsor, Canada, and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
During the early years, the tour buses would leave Grand Circus Park before making their rounds to the leading downtown
hotels to pick up tourists for the various tour routes. During the 1960's, that first stop was moved to the new Cobo Hall.
Special-trained "professional-looking" DSR coach operators were used as the tour guides along the specially selected routes
designed to let riders see the most and best of the "Motor City." According to the August-September 1955 edition of "The
DSR Reporter" (an employee monthly publication), each Gray Line operator has to remember a multitude of facts about
each of the spots along each route...
"...Such as the tidbit of knowledge that the Fisher Building is built of 40 different kinds of European
and domestic marbles."
Each Gray Line operator's ultimate goal is to give visiting tourists a pleasant view of Detroit to take back home.
Although the City of Detroit would hold onto the Gray Line franchise for nearly 70 years, there was a period beginning in
1942 when the service was suspended during World War II by orders of the Office of Defense Transportation in order
to conserve gasoline and rubber for the war effort. After the service was resumed in 1946, it appears the DSR attempted
to relieve itself of some of the Gray Line responsibilities by contracting with a private company to act as its agent in the op-
eration of sightseeing service. In June of 1946, the DSR entered an agreement with the Detroit Sightseeing Company
to assume the cost of repainting and preparing the coaches for Gray Line service, and handle the selling and promotion of
the service. In addition, the company would pay the department coach rental and mileage charges, and a franchise rental
of 10% of the gross revenue. But according to the 1947 Journal of the Detroit Common Council, some council members
felt that the service should be performed solely by the DSR and not in connection with a private concern. As a result, a re-
solution was proposed by Councilman Patrick V. McNamara revoking the Detroit Sightseeing Co. agreement, effective 180
days after January 1, 1948. Consequently, Gray Line service was returned to the control of the DSR's Chartered Service
Division.
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 operation. 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 decal would always be visible across the exterior of the coach.
1942 when the service was suspended during World War II by orders of the Office of Defense Transportation in order
to conserve gasoline and rubber for the war effort. After the service was resumed in 1946, it appears the DSR attempted
to relieve itself of some of the Gray Line responsibilities by contracting with a private company to act as its agent in the op-
eration of sightseeing service. In June of 1946, the DSR entered an agreement with the Detroit Sightseeing Company
to assume the cost of repainting and preparing the coaches for Gray Line service, and handle the selling and promotion of
the service. In addition, the company would pay the department coach rental and mileage charges, and a franchise rental
of 10% of the gross revenue. But according to the 1947 Journal of the Detroit Common Council, some council members
felt that the service should be performed solely by the DSR and not in connection with a private concern. As a result, a re-
solution was proposed by Councilman Patrick V. McNamara revoking the Detroit Sightseeing Co. agreement, effective 180
days after January 1, 1948. Consequently, Gray Line service was returned to the control of the DSR's Chartered Service
Division.
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 operation. 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 decal would always be visible across the exterior of the coach.
|
| The above information regarding the history of Gray Line Tours courtesy of the official Gray Line Worldwide web-site located at: http://www.grayline.com/ |
| Click here to return to the "MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS" Main Page. |
| For Comments and/or Suggestions, Please contact Site Owner at: admin@detroittransithistory.info |
© 2006 (PAGE LAST MODIFIED ON 01-01-11)
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| DETROIT TRANSIT HISTORY |
| DETROIT TRANSIT HISTORY |
| .. |
| DSR coach #7150 (a 31-pass coach built by Transit Buses, Inc. in 1949) is seen here decked-out in the red, white and blue Gray Line color decor. 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. Detroit's Gray Line service included a tour into Windsor, Ontario, Canada via The Ambassador Bridge and The Fleetway Tunnel. (Online Photo: collection source unknown) |
|
Unfortunately, as Detroit's reputation continued to deteriorate during the 1980's, interest in Gray Line tour service declined
dramatically. By the 1990's, very little promotion of the service existed, consequently very few patrons took advantage of
the service. In 2003—after seventy years of providing guided Gray Line tours to various places of interest in Detroit—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.
dramatically. By the 1990's, very little promotion of the service existed, consequently very few patrons took advantage of
the service. In 2003—after seventy years of providing guided Gray Line tours to various places of interest in Detroit—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.
serving more than 200 destinations worldwide. But sad to say, the city of Detroit is no longer one of those destinations.
| During the 1960's the DSR used coaches from two fleets of air-conditioned GM "new-looks" for Gray Line operation. Coach #2301 was one of 20 GM coaches (model TDH-5303) purchased in 1966. DSR Gray Line coaches were lettered "GRAY LINE SIGHTSEEING TOURS," but were not specially painted for the service. (photo courtesy of the Krambles-Peterson archive collection: G. Mac Sebree photo) |
|
Information for the above article was complied from various sources: including the Aug-Sep 1955 edition of The D.S.R. Reporter in an
article entitled "Want to see the town? Try a Gray Line Tour!" (pgs 10-11); the Journal of the Common Council – City of Detroit -1947
(both of which courtesy of Stan Sycko); Motor Bus Society's Motor Coach Age magazine article "Detroit's DSR, Part 3" (May-June
1993 edition - by Jack E. Schramm); and from DSR "take-one" cards already in author's possession.
article entitled "Want to see the town? Try a Gray Line Tour!" (pgs 10-11); the Journal of the Common Council – City of Detroit -1947
(both of which courtesy of Stan Sycko); Motor Bus Society's Motor Coach Age magazine article "Detroit's DSR, Part 3" (May-June
1993 edition - by Jack E. Schramm); and from DSR "take-one" cards already in author's possession.
| The unique website which takes a detailed look back at the History of Public Transportation in and around the City of Detroit. |
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