Category:
Mass Transit

2 A.M. in the Subway



Some daring female leg action here.

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 06, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Mass Transit, Movies, Police and Other Law Enforcement, Public Indecency, Twentieth Century

Worst bus service

The following story appeared in The Book of Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile (first published in 1979):

THE WORST BUS SERVICE
Can any bus service rival the fine Haley to Bagnall route in Staffordshire? In 1976 it was reported that the buses no longer stopped for passengers.
This came to light when one of them, Mr. Bill Hancock, complained that buses on the outward journey regularly sailed past queues of up to thirty people.
Councillor Arthur Cholerton then made transport history by stating that if these buses stopped to pick up passengers they would disrupt the time-table.



Versions of the story have subsequently appeared in other books, and have circulated online. However, all these other versions seem to rely on Pile's reporting.

And when I searched newspaper archives I couldn't find any confirmation that this incident happened. Which makes me wonder if it really did.

Of course, it might have been reported in a local paper that was never archived online. But some searching around the Internet reveals that I'm not the only one to have wondered if the story might not be true. Check out this comment by "skifans" in the CasualUK subreddit:

it would be great if anyone can prove me wrong but I can't find any record online of councillor Arthur Cholerton existing - let along from that area in that time frame. If you google the name all the results return varieties of this story, there isn't any other record of what they did other then this.
This PDF of Staffordshire County Council elections also makes no mention of anyone of that name. A Cholerton stood (and won) a seat in 1973, 1977, 1981 and 1985 - and did not stand in future elections. The seat they stood in for the first to is Stoke On Trent No. 19 (9630), maybe someone knows how to work out where this is but I can't, but for the last 2 it's called Great Fenton - thats in Stoke but not the right area for a route between Hanley and Baghall, on Google maps Great Fenton looks to be just south of the city center and Hanley just to the north, with Bagnall being a small village further to the north east. But the bigger problem, Councillor Cholerton has the first initial F, not A.
There was also an Arthur Cholerton in Stoke, but not as a counciler. Someone with that name was Lord Mayor - but they held the position between 1971 and 1972. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lord_mayors_of_Stoke-on-Trent) Alternatively maybe F. Cholerton and Arthur Cholerton are the same person? Between 1981 and 1989 Frederick Arthur Cholerton held the position of chairmen of Staffordshire county council, may they have gone under both names? https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Your-council-and-democracy/Civic-and-Ceremonial/The-Chairman-of-the-county-council/Past-Chairmen.aspx

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 11, 2020 - Comments (4)
Category: Mass Transit, 1970s, Bus

Urban transport of the future

"The nightmare of traffic jams. On a street in New York City, the postal clerk George A. Compton, immobilized with his car in a traffic jam, after an exasperating wait went berserk. He got out of the car and took off his shoes and started to climb the river of cars, leaping easily from car to car."



"Will cities be like this? Here's how the problem of traffic in cities could be lightened, if not completely solved: tiny single-seater cars that occupy a small area."



Source: La Domenica del Corriere - December 16, 1962 (via ebay)

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 18, 2018 - Comments (5)
Category: Mass Transit, Transportation, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Follies of the Madmen #272

image

image

Please spend half a minute to contemplate the subtext of this imagery. A pagan housewife (prefiguring BEWITCHED?) performs black magic to seduce and beguile a priest, with hubby nowhere in sight. Happens in 1950s suburbia every Sunday.

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 17, 2016 - Comments (10)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, Food, Mass Transit, Religion, 1950s

The Brown Line

image
The number 2 bus runs on number 2 so I figure that's the brown line.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 16, 2015 - Comments (9)
Category: Garbage, Trash, Waste and Other Detritus, Mass Transit, Utilities and Power Generation, Excrement, Natural Resources, Bus

New York bus driver’s “spring fling”

On Friday March 28, 1947, at 6:55 a.m., Bronx bus driver William Cimillo got into his bus to start his daily route. But then something happened. The open road called to him. He said later that he was overcome by "that old spring-time urge." He started driving, and he didn't stop until he reached Florida, where he was found four days later at a race track. During the entire trip, no one ever asked him why he was driving an empty New York bus down the highway.

"Baby, this is it... I just got the old springtime urge."


The bus company filed charges of grand larceny against him, but the public rallied in support of him, feeling that Cimillo simply gave in to that "yearning for escape" that everyone feels at one time or another. So eventually the company forgave him and put him back on the job, on the condition that he was on probation for one year.

Read more about Cimillo's adventure here and here.



More in extended >>

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 23, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Mass Transit, 1940s

Station Wagon or Limousine?

There was an article in my local paper recently about a man who was loaning his unique car to film-makers. The article didn't include any pictures, however, so I went online to see what made the car so original. I admit that I am not much into cars, even though I love the television show Top Gear. But I know weirdness when I see it, and this car definitely qualifies. This is the 1969 Checker Aerobus (pictured). As you can see, it has four doors on each side. Back then they called it a station wagon, but it is now classified as a limousine. The Checker Motors Corporation is more famously known for manufacturing the iconic taxi cab. The Wikipedia article can tell you more (and it's worth reading).

Posted By: Nethie - Sun Aug 22, 2010 - Comments (9)
Category: History, Mass Transit, Motor Vehicles, Cars, Transportation, 1960s

Outside His Comfort Zone

Carl Hoffman has done a few things that most of us would never dream of doing. He has flown on airlines said to have the worst safety records in the world and ridden in old buses in South America as they crawled along cliff-top dirt roads. He also packed himself into already crowded ferries on the Amazon and trains crossing Africa. Why? To experience travel not as we might while on vacation, but as an ordinary person trying to get from point A to point B as cheaply as possible. Hoffman talks about his adventures here, and in his new book, "The Lunatic Express."

Posted By: Nethie - Fri Apr 23, 2010 - Comments (4)
Category: Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, Eccentrics, Mass Transit, Travel





weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •