National City Lines

National City Lines, Inc. (NCL) was a public transportation company that began as a small bus operation in Minnesota, United States, in 1920. It started with just two buses and grew over the years. In 1936, part of the business was reorganized into a holding company. By about 1938, the company received equity funding from large businesses like General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, and Phillips Petroleum to buy local transit systems across the United States.

In 1937, National City Lines created a subsidiary called Pacific City Lines to purchase streetcar systems in the western United States. In 1947, both companies were indicted for conspiring to take control of many transit companies and for forming a transportation monopoly to control the sales of buses and supplies. They were found not guilty of the first charge but guilty of the second in 1949. This period marked a significant change in how public transportation was managed in many American cities.

History

National City Lines started in 1920 when brothers E. Roy Fitzgerald and his brother ran two buses in Minnesota, helping miners and schoolchildren get around. By 1936, the company became a larger group, and in 1938, it aimed to buy transportation systems in cities where old streetcars were no longer useful, replacing them with modern buses. To grow, the company got money from big companies like General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, and Phillips Petroleum, who wanted to sell more buses and supplies.

Over the next few years, National City Lines bought many transit companies in states like Oklahoma, Michigan, Mississippi, and Texas. By 1939, it owned or controlled 29 local transportation companies in 27 cities across 10 states. In 1946, it merged with American City Lines, and by 1947, it controlled 46 systems in 45 cities across 16 states. The company faced legal trouble for trying to control too many transit companies and for working with big businesses to sell buses and supplies, but the courts made decisions about these issues in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Operating areas and companies

National City Lines operated in many cities across the United States. In 1948, it was reported that they were active in forty-four cities spread across sixteen states. Some of these states included California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, and Washington. Some of the bigger cities they worked in were Baltimore, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Oakland. They had many smaller systems too, especially in Illinois, California, and Michigan.

The company owned or controlled many transit companies in different cities. A star (*) shows where they had strong control but may not have fully owned the company. Here is a list of some of the places they worked:

• Alabama: Mobile, Montgomery
• California: Burbank, Eureka, Fresno, Glendale, Los Angeles*, Oakland*, Sacramento, Inglewood, Long Beach, San Jose, Pasadena, Stockton
• Florida: Tampa, Jacksonville*
• Illinois: Aurora/Elgin, Bloomington, Champaign, Danville, East St. Louis, Decatur, Galesburg, Joliet, Kewanee, LaSalle/Peru, Peoria, Quincy, Rock Island
• Indiana: South Bend, Terre Haute
• Iowa: Burlington, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Ottumwa, Sioux City
• Maryland: Baltimore*
• Michigan: Jackson, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Pontiac
• Mississippi: Jackson
• Missouri: St. Louis*
• Montana: Butte, Great Falls
• Nebraska: Lincoln
• Ohio: Canton, Portsmouth
• Oklahoma: Tulsa
• Pennsylvania: Philadelphia*
• Texas: Beaumont, El Paso, Houston, Port Arthur, Wichita Falls
• Utah: Salt Lake City
• Washington: Bellingham, Everett, Spokane
• Wisconsin: Oshkosh

In Los Angeles, they controlled the Los Angeles Railway (Yellow Cars) but not the Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars).

Montgomery City Lines and the Montgomery bus boycott

Montgomery City Lines was a bus company in Montgomery, Alabama that helped people get around the city.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a bus. This led to many people in Montgomery stopping their bus rides for over a year, called the Montgomery bus boycott. The boycott ended when a court ruled that everyone could sit anywhere on the bus.

Later history

National City Lines bought a trucking company called Los Angeles-Seattle Motor Express in 1959. Later, in 1968, this company merged with others to form a new company called T.I.M.E.-DC. In 1978, National City Lines sold part of its business.

In 1981, National City Lines was bought by Harold C. Simmons. T.I.M.E.-DC stopped operating in 1988. The company stayed under Simmons' control until it was dissolved on December 31, 2007.