The school buses many Americans are accustomed to seeing in their neighborhoods trace their origins to educator and author Dr. Frank Cyr, Ph.D. Dr. Cyr specialized in rural education and, in 1939, organized a conference at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City with the intention of standardizing transportation for students on their way to and from school. Representatives from several notable corporations, including engineers from auto manufacturers Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford and paint experts from DuPont, attended the conference. The fruits of that conference are still paying dividends even now, as one of the more notable developments to result from the conference was the decision to paint buses yellow with black lettering to make them easier to see in the early morning and late afternoon. That decision continues to protect the millions of school children who ride the bus to and from school today.
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