windows, and non-school bus seats. Also, an auxiliary air conditioning unit was made available as an option. The Transette prototype was introduced to the dealer organization in the fall of 1975 at the annual Wayne dealer sales meeting, held that year at Richmond, Indiana. Dealers were very enthusiastic about the new Transette product. In early 1976, the prototype was introduced on a nationwide tour and orders began rolling in. One market for which the Transette proved well-suited for was airport car rental shuttles. Within a year, Wayne Transette minibuses became the primary small shuttle vehicle for all the major rental car companies: Hertz, Avis, National, Budget, and Dollar rent-a-car organizations each had purchased a number of Transettes for use at or near most of their US airport locations. Wayne Chaperone As Wayne produced the Busette during the 1970s, many manufacturers developed similar products of their own. During the mid-1980s, to increase its market share, Wayne introduced a second Type A product: the Chaperone. The Chaperone featured much of the same layout of the Busette, with the same dual rear wheel chassis available. However, instead of three rubrails on the side panels, the Chaperone featured 4; the body was essentially the same design used for the Lifeguard built to fit a van chassis. The Chaperone was produced by Wayne Corporation and by Wayne Wheeled Vehicles until its closure. Legacy By the mid-1980s, the five largest school bus body manufacturers in the United States would develop cutaway chassis school buses of their own, with the Blue Bird Micro Bird and Thomas Minotour becoming among the most popular. These manufacturers were also joined by several more that specialized exclusively in production of cutaway chassis school buses, including Collins, Mid Bus, US Bus, and Van Con. After the 1990 discontinuation of the Busette, Wayne Corporation sold the tooling and product rights to Mid Bus, an Ohio manufacturer of small school buses formed from the closure of Superior Coach. Busette and Transette minibuses both offered optional wheelchair ramps and electro-hydraulic lifts which had been developed by accessibility product pioneers Don Collins, a former Wayne dealer and founder of Collins Bus Corporation (which grew into a major manufacturer specializing in small buses), and Ralph Braun, a disabled man who started Braun Industries with products developed in his garage. The Transette became especially popular in small town transit and dial-a-ride paratransit-type services in the US. References School