In the 1930s, Cyr made a study of school transportation. He learned that students were riding in all kinds of vehicles, including trucks and buses of every imaginable color and condition. One district's buses sported red, white and blue decor, perhaps hoping to instill patriotism in its passengers. A Kansas district transported its students in horse-drawn wheat wagons. School bus manufacturers complained that because there were no national standards, they could not mass-produce the buses, nor make a profit and keep costs down.