BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

Photo below taken by my dear friend the late Don Weiss (MHSRIP) of the Motor Bus Society as part of an article he authored in the April/June 1998 issue of Motor Coach Today entitled 'Avenue B & East Broadway Transit's Final Years In Photos' and is available through '4509bus' at eBay as item # 351001856123.

The article centers upon Avenue B's financial woes in the post sixties era and its futile efforts to keep afloat by buying or leasing whatever used equipment it could regardless of condition - eight photos of this motley fleet attest to the company's distress.

Avenue B was taken over in 1980 by the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MABSTOA) and, if the company has any claim to fame at all, it would be that it outlasted all other Manhattan private bus lines by nearly two decades.

Seen in 1974 somewhere within the environs of lower Manhattan and presumably on the # M-9 line between Union Square and City Hall via Chatham Square is fleet # 508 - a 1962 53 passenger GM Coach Model TDH 5301 operating for the Avenue B and East Broadway Transit Company but originally purchased by Green Bus Lines (NY) as part of a ten bus order numbered from 501 to 510.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[MaBSTOA 15]

I believe you mean route M-9 and not B9 since it is Manhattan and not Brooklyn.

Avenue B was a nice little operation (compared to the remaining private operators in the City). Love the fleet of Macks and Flxible "New Looks".

[Hart Bus]

Winding down after a tough day as a CPA, I found the issue that Mr. L referred to. It has the picture he posted and pictures of some of the funky stuff they ran just before the MTA took them over. I guess that got buses wherever they found them but were too poor to repaint them.

There are three pictures of Old Looks still in their South Suburban Safeway (Chicago) and one picture of #878 an Old Look still in Queens Transit Colors

The three page article is comprised of 1/2 page of story and 2 1/2 pages of pictures. It is a followup to MCA articles in October 1968 and March 1980.

[Free-transfer]

508 was ex-GBL 402...

[Mr. Linsky]

[Mr. Linsky]

It's about 1935 as we look West on Manhattan's 57th. Street just East of 7th. Avenue to see two generations of transit buses heading uptown and passing the landmark Carnegie Hall on the Avenue.

Seen at the main entry to the hall is a 1935 32 passenger Yellow Coach Model 728 representing some of the first buses to operate for the then fledgling Fifth Avenue affiliate New York City Omnibus Corporation.

The double decker following the 728 is a 1931 Yellow Coach Model Z-BH-602 and carries a custom built closed body manufactured by and operating for Fifth Avenue Coach Company.

The taxi of choice in the era (as seen far left center of the image) and which flooded the New York market at the time was a smart looking new offering from Checker dubbed the Model Y which featured a totally enclosed body and a very classy Art Decoish front end treatment.

Carnegie Hall, designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891, is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical and popular music and presents about 250 performances each season.

Photo courtesy of New York City Municipal Archives

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[Mr. Linsky]

I often tell of the number of Fifth Avenue Coach Company lines that terminated in historic Washington Square at the lower end of Fifth Avenue and Waverly Place (or Washington Square North if you like) and they included the 1, 2, 3, 5, and 19 routes and all of which serviced the northern environs of Manhattan.

Seen in the shot below is fleet # 2427, a 1950 44 passenger GM Coach Model TDH 4509, just arriving at the square from Broadway and 168th. Street via Riverside Drive and Fifth Avenue on the number 5 line.

# 2427, one of nearly 100 likenesses delivered to the company in that year, still wears its original ornate color scheme of cream over two tones of green which will be greatly simplified at its first meeting with the paintbrush.

Washington Square briefly;

In the 1840s, New York City's elite established Washington Square (a one time Indian burial ground), far from the increasingly commercial environment of Lower Manhattan, as the address of choice. Anchored by the mansion of William C. Rhinelander at the center of Washington Square North, "the Row" of Greek Revival town houses on either side of Fifth Avenue presented the unified and dignified appearance of privilege and are now considered to be one of the most important relics of Manhattan history.

Photo courtesy of 'lemonadesqueeze' and is available at eBay as item # 191066464849.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[andy47]

Great shot, but it's actually looking south (downtown) along Seventh Avenue. 57th Street is crossing at the middle of the photo; east is to the right.

The single deck 728 is operating eastward on either the #6 (72nd St.) or #20 (57th St.) crosstown routes. The double deck Yellow is most likely on the #5 route but could also be on the #19. In either case, the bus will likely terminate at Washington Square, the locale of the following photo. Some #5 trips, though, did operate to the John Wanamaker store at 9th Street and Broadway.

Also of interest is the entrance to the BMT subway's 57th Street Station, today's N, Q, and R trains.

[frankie]

I wasn't too sure which forum to include this, so I'll include it here.

St. Petersburg Tram Collection has just released the 1952 GM TDH-5104 (Fifth Avenue Coach Co. 2502-2551 series model. For those familiar with SPTC, their models are probably the most accurate and detailed 1:50 scale bus models you will find anywhere albeit they are very expensive models.

Their text on the site reads: In November 1952 Fifth Avenue Coach Co. acquired fifty TDH-5104 buses from GM Coach. They received numbers 2502-2551 and were the very first GM 51s with double width centre exit door, giving it a unique appearance but a reduced seating capacity of 49. They were delivered in the simplified green and cream livery with dark green stripe below the windows and with traditional "Go the Motor Coach Way" slogan on the roof sides.

http://www.sptc-spb.ru/photo/gmc/247%2001.htm

Frankie

[Mr. Linsky]

[X-Astorian]

[frankie]

Okay folks! Here's the official directions regarding the orientation of the photo. As your official forum geographer (self appointed mine you!), cartographic research via online maps has determined my conclusion.

Another "hidden in plain view" clue is the Downtown (Broadway-Times Square-City Hall) subway entrance located on the west side of the 7th Avenue (as opposed to the uptown entrance on the east side in view just behind the Checker cab).

Frankie

[Mr. Linsky]

Now I'm really all mixed up!

Thanks to all of you who corrected my error.

I should have realized that what I thought was 57th. showed no 6th. Avenue El in the next block.

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[Hart Bus]

All you have to remember is that to get to Carnegie Hall is to practice, practice, practice !!!!!

(Sorry, couldn't resist the old joke!)

[frankie]