Name/Title
Identification HolderEntry/Object ID
2010.19.14Description
ID tag holder, clear on one side (to view the ID) and dark green on the other side. The green side has white printing that reads: "Vermont / Transit Tours / 345 Pine Street / Burlington, VT 05401 / 802-651-4739" There is a plastic 'zipper' (like on sandwich bags) on the clear side to keep the ID securely in the holder. There is a punched, sealed hole in the lower corner to allow the holder to be worn.Context
From the Vermont Historical Society Library:
On February 16, 1926, the first local bus route in Burlington, the “Country Club
Loop”, was established by William S. Appleyard, who owned an automobile dealership
on South Winooski Avenue. Calling his company the Burlington Rapid Transit Company
(BRT), he received permission from the Public Service Commission (PSC) to operate a
non-competitive (with BTC) bus route in the Hill Section of Burlington. Soon, when
BTC failed to comply with PSC orders to expand their lines, the commission granted
Appleyard permission to operate his buses in places directly in competition with the
BTC.
Over the next few years, Appleyard received permission to expand to seven
competitive yet successful bus routes in the Burlington area. His success, combined with
the devastating flood in November of 1927 (that damaged trolley tracks and collapsed the
Winooski Bridge, a main BTC route), proved to be the undoing of the BTC. In 1929,
Appleyard bought the BTC in order to acquire its routes and eliminate competition. BTC
trolleys operated until August 4, 1929, when, at 4 p.m., a crowd gathered at City Hall
Park to witness the famous and symbolic torching of Car #5, their oldest trolley. The
trolley era had ended.
Meanwhile, in 1927, Appleyard established the Vermont Transit Company
(VTC), under which he operated out-of-town buses. Over the next decade and a half,
Appleyard purchased existing bus lines throughout Vermont, connecting Burlington via
bus to the other towns and cities of Vermont (and beyond). Towns accessed by VTC
buses included Barre (1927), Rutland and Vergennes (1928), Bennington and Pittsfield,
MA (1929), Portland, ME (1932), Bellows Falls, White River Junction and Claremont,
NH (1935), Albany, NY (1936), St. Johnsbury and Littleton, NH (1937), Newport
(1938), Chester and Springfield (1939), and Concord and Manchester, NH (1941). By
1945, VTC buses were connecting Vermonters to New York City, Boston and Montreal.
In 1975, Greyhound bought Vermont Transit Company, though they continued to
operate it as the Vermont Transit Company until 2008.
As of 2010, all of Greyhound’s Vermont bus service is based out of its White
River Junction hub; service in the Burlington area is now operating out of the Burlington
airport. Due to declining ridership, bus service down the western side of Vermont has
been terminated.Acquisition
Accession
2010.19Source or Donor
Vermont Transit Company, Inc.Acquisition Method
GiftLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Tag, IdentificationNomenclature Primary Object Term
Label, IdentificationNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Vermont Transit Company, Inc.Related Places
Place
City
BurlingtonCounty
Chittenden CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North America