Rollsigns from Toledo, OH
Transit in the area of Toledo began with the Metropolitan Street Railway Co. after four different horse car companies merged in 1885.
In 1889, The Metropolitan Street Railway Co. and the Central Street Railway Co. consolidated operations into the Toledo Consolidated
Street Railway (TCSR). Within a year, the Toledo Electric Street Railway (TESR) began after all the horse car lines were converted to
electric streetcars. In 1896, the TCSR and TESR were both sold to the Toledo Traction Co. Just a few years later in 1901, the Toledo
Traction Co was sold to Toledo Railways & Light Co. In 1913, TR&LCo. was sold to again to Toledo Traction Light & Power Co. This
company was a subsidiary of Cities Service Co., a holding company controlled by Henry L. Doherty. Toledo's traction company was one
of several under the Doherty Operating Co. which he formed in 1906. A subsidiary of TTL&PCo. named Community Traction Co. was
formed in 1921 to operate the streetcar system. Shortly after, streetcar lines start to be converted to buses. First, with the Ottawa Park
line in 1922. Jitneys took over at first, but were eventually replaced by buses operated by Ottawa Coach Line. In 1926, the Front Street
line is converted to buses. To reclaim and increase operations Community Traction Co. acquires Ottawa Coach Line as well as the Toledo
Motor Bus Co. and an additional bus line that operated along Elm Street by Joseph Bierela in 1928. In 1929, the Maumee Valley
Transportation Co. was created to provide bus service from Toledo to Perrysburg, after the Toledo & Maumee Valley Railway interurban
line was abandoned five years earlier in 1924. After only about a year, the Maumee Valley Transportation Co. was also acquired by
Community Traction Co. in June of 1930. During the 1930s, two lines were converted to trolley buses: Dorr on January 31,1935 and
Broadway on October 27, 1938 only a year after being converted from streetcars to buses. In 1939, bus service to the west and northwest
suburbs was introduced by Holland-Sylvania Lines. On December 21, 1949, Long Belt, the final streetcar line, was converted to buses. In
1952, the two trolley bus lines were converted to motor buses. In 1954, Community Traction Co. separated from the Cities Service Co.
holding and becomes its own separate company. In 1957, Community Traction Co. took over Holland-Sylvania Lines. Finally June 1, 1971,
Community Traction Co. became publicly owned, and formed the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority, continuing to operate to this day.
This mylar rollsign set was designed for either a GM New Look or a
Flxible New Look. The route letter sign (left) has 29 exposures. The top
blank where the sign tag and date would have been was torn and
missing from the rest of the sign. The destination sign (right) is dated
December 6, 1977 and has 111 exposures. Its sign tag is shown below.
Only the single scroll route number sign is missing from a complete set.

The first few exposures of the destination sign were also used as a
product example inside the front cover of Transign's 1984 Parts Manual.
Retired Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority 1971 built Flxible
"New Look" (Model #111DD-D05-1, Serial #55629) #407,
displaying rollsigns similar to the ones seen here, is seen at the
back of the TARTA bus yard on April 11, 2005. This bus was part
of the Ohio Museum of Transportation's historic collection, but has
since been sold and is now in private ownership.
AMG TOLEDO TARTA
P.O.AMGB-22740
NO.5991247 DRIVERS
12/6/77 TRANSIGN
to go to the Toledo TARTA
electronic sign list page.
Noted errors on the destination sign:

1. The exposure flag says "CRESTVILLE" where
the exposure its for says "CRESTVIEW".

2. The exposure flag says "PERRYBURG" where
the exposure its for says "PERRYSBURG".
There are other flags on the sign that are long
enough to support the longer name with the S.

3. The exposure flag misspells "DOWNTOWN"
with an M, as "DOWMTOWN".
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