The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-01-04
Common Carrier Passenger
Service Nav Be Permitted
On The Blue Ridge Parkway


of it has been spent. When COM
pleted the Parkway will connect
the Shenandoah National Park in
Northern Virginia with the Great
Smokes National Park on the
Tennessee-North Carolina line,
and will cost about $35, 900.
The road is an integral part of
the park system and is admins
tered by the National Park ser
vice. There will be no signboards
along its 500 miles; no lumber
ing trucks will clutter the road;
the occasional filling stations and
lunch stands will be under strict
government supervision. There
will be nothing to mar the plea
sure of motorists who can glide
along this sky-high parkway at
attitudes heretofore attained only
by airplanes. The average alti-
tude of the parkway is just un-
der $500 feet, with its highest
point of 1855 feet near Grandfa-
Their Mountain.
Other Tourist Attractions
Besides the scenic beauty of
unexcelled mountain vistas, Wes-
tern North Carolina offers attrac-
tons for the sportsman and plea
sure seeker. The famous deer
and bear hunts in adjacent Pts
gah National Forest bring hunters
from all over the country. More
bears have been killed this sea-
son in three western Carolina
counties than were killed last
year in the whole state of Maine.
Several "dude ranches, easily
accessible to the parkway and
connecting roads, rival the famed
ranches of the Ozarks and North
ern Sierras in appeal to lovers of
horsemanship and outdoor sports
and this playground is nearer
by a thousand miles to the great
centers of the North
and East.
The Parkway is intersected by
dozens of improved state roads,
connecting with towns nesting
among the hills and with quiet
pastoral retreats, thus extending
its advantages for miles to both
sides of the main travel artery.
National publicity given the two
parks and the linking parkway
is beneficial to the whole area
and will bring into the state mil
lions of tourist dollars.
To Allow Buses to Operate
There remains only one step to
make the scenic beauties and re-
creational facilities of this boun-
tiful land accessible to the ave-
rage man. That step is establish
ment of common carrier vehicle
service on the Parkway.
The National Park Service, rec
ognizing that many thousands of
people who do not have their
own means of transportation, are
eager to enjoy the parks and the
scenery along the parkway, has
tentatively agreed to permit ope-
ration of government regulated
common carrier buses.
" Inauguration of scheduled
passenger service by a company
with adequate equipment and ma
tion-wide associated connecting
lines, will give to individuals and
parties without their own motor
cars an equal opportunity to en-
Joy the parkway. The need for
such service is concerned by ev-
familiar with conditions.
Essential requisites of the service
are also agreed upon. These are
the ability to provide uniform
standard equipment, to provide
continuous passage, to maintain
connecting schedules with a ma
tion-wide transportation hook-up,
and successful experience re-
cord in satisfying the needs of the
travelling public.
The government does not in
tend to commercialize the nation
al parks or the parkway. The on
ly purpose in permitting COM
mercial vehicles of any type on
the parkway is to provide means
Tor more people to enjoy it. It
is reasonable, therefore, to as
sumo that any transportation
company permitted to operate
over the road will be required to
meet all reasonable demands for
service and will be held response
BILE for failure to do so.
This matter is of great impor-
lance to communities adjacent to
the parkway. Inefficient or made
quate transportation service will
retard development and will be
detrimental rather than benefi-
clal; while service supplying
the present and prospective needs