To the editor:

During the week of Sept. 25, I had been seeing catchy ads for the new Hermann Express bus service. While I wish it all the success in the world, some of the ads call the new Hermann Express “New Ulm’s First City Bus Service.” I have to object to that incorrect statement.

In 1946 Roger Booth started “New Ulm Bus Lines” to provide bus service throughout the city with the same concept that the new service hopes to achieve; transportation assistance to those who need it to include stops at various employers, shopping venues, and public service stops.

After two years of his ownership, Booth sold it to Teddy Arndt who operated it for a year and half before selling it to my uncle, Burton “Buddy” Sveine, in 1949. Buddy ran the bus service until selling it to Fred and Orv Steinberg in 1955. Some may also remember Uncle Buddy from his years with Liberty Cab.

After Fred Steinberg’s death in 1958, the family sold it to the partners of Norman Maas and Jerald Mowers, who operated it for a year before selling back to the Steinbergs who finally had to let it go in 1961. New Ulm’s venture with a city bus service last 15 years.

The key element in the operation of the bus service was securing a critical mass of riders.

“We need more riders to make this business work,” was a common plea by all of the owners. The rise of individual car ownership after the halcyon days of port-World War II prosperity, meant that public transportation was not needed as much as formerly.

These pioneers had no civic pot of money to rely on and that may be the essential difference between the bus service of yesteryear and today, although paid ridership will still be a factor into the eventual judgement of the new bus line’s success.

A city bus system is a benefit of urban living that offers transportation for some who may not have it otherwise (aside from our fine taxi system), it is environmentally more efficient to haul several riders at once rather than just an individual rider, and it helps people patronize our businesses.

I have done an hour-long presentation on this topic, called “Buddy Sveine: Transportation Entrepreneur.” It is sometime run on our cable access television stations and is available at the Library on DVD. It, obviously, goes into much more detail on New Ulm’s taxi and bus services.

Good luck to all involved in the Hermann Express, but let’s not forget the pioneering bus service providers from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s!

Terry Sveine

New Ulm