Fun Facts from Indian Trails’ 100+ Years in Business
Even if you’re a regular group charter customer, you may not know much about our rich and varied history. So we’ve put together some fascinating facts about the wonderful world of Indian Trails, as it has evolved over more than a century. (Don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz.)
The Origin of Our Company
Our company was founded in 1910 as the “Phillips-Taylor Livery Service” in Owosso, Mich., by Wayne and Cora (Phillips) Taylor. They used a Ford Model T as a taxi to carry people and freight to and from the train station in Durand.
Before long, the Taylors bought a bus to transport assembly line workers to and from automobile factories in Flint, and renamed their enterprise the “Owosso-Flint Bus Lines.” It was Michigan’s first bus transportation company.
By 1930, the company had a terminal in Lansing, 30 buses serving cities across Michigan and Chicago, as well as nationwide links with railroads and other bus lines. The Taylors again re-named the company—this time as “Indian Trails”—because its coaches frequently traveled over U.S. 12 along an old Indian trail between Detroit and Chicago.
Around 1939, big highway motorcoaches like ours cost $18,000 apiece. Today, the price tag is almost $600,000 per bus.
The next time you book a charter trip with us, check out the name of your bus near the entry door. Cora Taylor—who succeeded Wayne as company president—loved Michigan history. She began the tradition of naming each bus in honor of a native Indian chief from the Ottawa, Potawatomie or Chippewa tribes, which continues to this day.
Growth of Our Charter Business
Besides the expansion of our daily scheduled routes, the addition of charter bus service in the 1950s greatly accelerated company growth. There was a big demand for trips across the United States to destinations such as Washington, D.C., New York, Maine, Kansas City, Memphis and Chicago. Also, Michigan groups frequently booked trips to Detroit Tigers and college football games.
The rising demand for charter trips, according to a newspaper account at that time, was due to the desire to avoid “driving strain” and save time “by moving in one vehicle rather than many cars.” That’s still true today. Plus, it’s fun to travel with others.
Among our current group charter customers are professional and college sports teams, K-12 schools, corporations, universities, trade associations, churches and many others—for example, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Detroit Lions, Quicken Loans, U.S. Army, Ford, and UAW. They engage us to take them on single or multi-day trips anywhere in the Continental U.S. or Canada.
Groundbreaking Women
Women have always been critical to our success. Co-founder Cora Taylor holds the distinction of being the first woman in Michigan to be issued a chauffeur’s license and was likely the nation’s first female taxi driver. In recognition of her many accomplishments, Cora’s portrait hangs in the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Hall of Honor.
Indian Trails’ first woman bus driver was Marie Ullrich, whose regular route in the mid-1900s ran between Flint and Sebewaing in Michigan’s “Thumb” region. A news article from the time says she got the job after winning a bet that she could drive a bus as well as any man.
Ullrich also recounted how “wolves” (i.e., men who made inappropriate comments to women) were sometimes a problem when she drove, but that she had “perfected a little trick to put them in their place.” She never disclosed what it was.
In its history, the company has only had five presidents—Wayne and Cora Taylor, their nephew Bill Himburg, his son-in-law Gordon Mackay, and, since 2016, Chad Cushman. Himburg’s five daughters own the company, with Mackay serving as board chair.
A Tradition of Innovation
From the get-go, the Taylors and those who followed them have sought to ensure that the company continues to lead the way in providing the best in motorcoach transportation. As a result, Indian Trails was among the first bus transportation companies to:
- Establish a policy to buy new coaches every year in order to keep our fleet among the newest and largest on the road.
- Introduce modern rear-engine diesel buses and coaches with stainless steel exteriors.
- Feature air-conditioning and reclining seats for passenger comfort.
- Develop a five-week intensive training program for all new drivers, which helped set the standard for the national curriculum.
- Use two-way radios to enable a dispatcher to communicate with drivers.
- Equip buses with WiFi and GPS, outlets at each seat for charging mobile devices, DVD players and flat-screen color monitors, three-point retractable seatbelts, and wheelchair lifts.
- Operate three regional maintenance facilities—in Owosso, Romulus, and Kalamazoo—to keep our vehicles in tip-top shape.
- Launch a regional airport shuttle service—Michigan Flyer, LLC—in 2006 to provide frequent daily roundtrips between East Lansing, Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport, and now Brighton, too.
Thanks to our safety-first, customer-centered culture, today we’re Michigan’s largest bus transportation company, with 80+ vehicles carrying 1.5 million passengers 5 million miles annually.