The Coral Gables Times

for $15 a month

urer, I pay our expenses by collecting $15 a month dues from each member. This is cheaper than taking a bus or train. Public transportation would cost a minimum of 90 cents a day. Figuring 21 working days a month, that's $3.90 more than our dues. We have one other advantage. We make better time than the public busses because we don't have to stop for as many passengers. I make only six stops after we leave the north Royal Oak service station where the bus is gassed, serviced, and parked at night. Most of our passengers climb aboard there. We start at 7:55 a.m. In winter, a station attendant warms up the motor for us, so the heaters are going full blast before we get going. ALL I HAVE TO DO each morning is set my brief case alongside the driver's seat, flick on my portable radio, and turn the big steering wheel toward downtown Detroit, straight down Woodward Avenue and 14 miles away. I would rather drive The Rocket in traffic than my own car. Even a woman could drive this bus, if she wasn't wearing spike heels. I drop the last passenger at the Penobscot Building in the heart of downtown Detroit by 8:40 a.m. Then I drive to an out-of-the-way parking lot where it costs only $12.50 a month for each of the two spaces the bus fills. That's about half what we would pay for a closer lot. Before I go to my office, I still have time to walk back every morning and join seven other Readi-Riders for a fast cup of coffee. We start back home at 5:10 p.m. sharp, and by 5:15 I've picked up all the riders. We're back at the service station by 5:55. I stay downtown to bowl once a week. Credit man Bill Wagner takes the wheel for me that night, or when I'm on vacation. In the last three years, we've been late for work only twice. Both times, it was because we were slowed to a crawl by severe snowstorms. Commenting on our service, one of our riders, John Cole, says he has three reasons for preferring our setup—convenience, economy, and companionship. He likes being sure of a seat each morning, and as a former car pooler he likes having "someone else" (namely, me) bucking traffic for him. Continued on page 30

NEW VACATION IDEA! STARTING THIS FALL MATSON FUNCRUISES

10 DAYS ROUND TRIP 10 FUN DAYS/GALA NIGHTS BE ENTERTAINED BY THE STARS CROSBY BROTHERS ★ GORDON AND SHEILA MACRAE ★ GEORGE JESSEL ★ MEL TORME ★ SPIKE JONES ★ HELEN O'CONNELL ★ EVA GABOR AND MANY MORE ROARING TWENTIES NIGHT MARDI GRAS BALL ★ NIGHT IN PARIS ★ CAPTAIN'S BALL BARBARY COAST NIGHT ★ BEACHCOMBER'S BALL ★★★ POLYNESIAN NIGHT ★ LAS VEGAS NIGHT ★★★ PLUS SWIMMING • GOURMET DINING • MOVIES • DECK SPORTS & GAMES ALL INCLUDED IN YOUR FARE AND HAWAII TOO ALSO EASILY ARRANGED HAWAII STOPOVERS OR AIR/SEA ITINERARIES ★★★★★ ASK ABOUT "SAIL WITH THE STARS" TOURS ★ Weekly sailings from San Francisco or Los Angeles. Roundtrip fares from $380. You can sail now, pay later. For the FUNCRUISE folder, see your travel agent, or send us this coupon. Matson Lines MATSON LINES — Dept. ST 215 Market Street San Francisco 5, California Please send us the FUNCRUISE folder. Name Address City Zone State

Suburbia Today, October 1961 29