Safe Bus: North Carolina’s Largest Black Owned Bus Company

Winston Salem-1926, Thirteen men pledge their life savings to form Safe Bus which would become the largest African American owned bus company in the nation. At the time most white neighborhoods were serviced by street cars owned by Duke Power but black people had no way of getting around. 13 jitney operations pledged their life savings, purchasing shares of stock for $100,000; forming Safe Bus Co, Inc. on May 26, 1926.

The company grew large and fast and was at one point named the largest black owned transportation company in the world. In 1955, Safe Bus grossed $425,000. At it’s prime, the company carried 12,000 fares a day, grossed $10,000 a week and had 75 employees. The company survived through decades until the Winston-Salem Transit Authority took it over in 1972.

Priscilla Estelle Stephens was one of those employees. At 20 years old in 1966, she became the first female driver for Safe Bus.

“I came down one particular day. I didn’t come down to drive a bus, but someone said, ‘Why don’t you put in an application to drive a bus?’ I said, ‘They’re not going let me drive a bus,’” Stephens recalled.

But, by the end of the day, she was officially hired and started driving two days later.

“I said ‘Boy, I never got a job this quick,’” Stephens laughed.

Six months after she was hired, James Conner joined Safe Bus. The Army Veteran spent 10 years in the military and returned from the Vietnam War, driving tanks and jeeps. So, he said it wasn’t hard for him to train and start driving routes.

But, he laughed, many passengers called him at first. Conner liked to stick to a tight schedule and demanded people have their money ready when he picked them up.

“They even called me Mr. On Time,” laughed Conner. READ MORE