Mary Wallace, the first female bus driver for the Chicago Transit

“I used to work for the Planning & Placement Center when I was going to college, and we had job orders for CTA bus drivers. So I decided I wanted to check this out for myself, and I did. I went for three years, and they kept saying no, we can’t hire women, we don’t have facilities for women, so you have to do something else. I said I don’t want to do something else. I want to drive a bus. After three years of harassing them, they finally sent me a letter saying they would consider (not saying hire) me. They wanted me to come down and take some test, and I did not hear from them for about three or four months, and then I got a another letter saying I would be hired as a driver. After that, the rest is history.”

– Mary Wallace, who became the first female bus driver for the Chicago Transit Authority in 1974.

Sources: http://www.austinweeklynews.com/News/Articles/4-30-2008/Driving-busesand-breaking-barriers/, https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/803eqk/mary_wallace_first_female_bus_driver_for_the/