Released at an annual luncheon meeting of the Mid-Manhattan Association , this picture shows the operation of a successful conveyor belt shuttle system designed to replace the famous Times Square shuttle. The belt has been operating in Aurora , Illinois , where it has been tested for New York crowds by hundreds of Illinois housewives , clerks , farm workers and school children. Here , passengers step out from mock cars which have slowed down to a walking pace , onto a rubber belt , which is moving at the same slow speed . Thus , the passengers move ahead of the cars , speeding up the unloading procedure . On leaving the platform , the cars pick up speed again. 5 July 1953