BusTalk

[Hart Bus]

[Mr. Linsky]

Back in the late twenties, the fledgling Surface Transportation System Bus Division of the Third Avenue Railway System welcomed demonstrators from what was then a myriad of manufacturers to find the right fit for their growing needs.

One such demo arriving for trials in 1926 was a rather unusual 37 passenger dual rear axle gas/electric model 6HC37 manufactured by the Versare Car Company based just North of Albany in Watervliet, New York.

Apparently, preliminary trials satisfied the company and 40 likenesses were purchased in increments between 1928 and 1929 numbered 400 to 439 which includes # 414 pictured below.

Versare propulsion systems combining a groundbreaking use of gas/electric drives proved less than reliable in their infancy and became a nightmare to maintain thus leading Surface to retire the fleet in 1939.

The Versares were generally used on the company's #3 Prospect Avenue route in The Bronx but # 414 has been assigned to summer duties in shuttling bathers to Throgs Neck beaches on the #6 line.

A very brief history of Versare

The Versare Car Company was a bus and trolley bus maker founded outside of Albany, New York in 1925.

In 1927 Versare announced a revolutionary type of gas-electric bus with its engine inside the body at the rear (the earliest U.S. example of so-called "streetcar-type" bus construction with the front entrance door ahead of the front axle).

There were two electric motors and two driving axles - a concept that proved somewhat more palatable to potential customers, and with interest being shown in the design, the Cincinnati Car Co., an old established streetcar builder, acquired Versare in 1928.

A trolley-coach version was marketed as well, initially having the same three-axle layout as the motor bus, but later revised with a single rear axle, and after sale of the company the trolley-coaches were sold under the Cincinnati name. The buses continued to use the name Versare and may have still been built at the original plant in Watervliet, N.Y.

Approximately 100 buses and 40 trolley-coaches were produced, and buyers included transit companies in New York, Albany, Montreal, Cleveland, Boston and Salt Lake City. (Coachbuilt)

Photo courtesy of 'Vintage-Vault75' and is available at eBay as item # 181330782285.

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

[X-Astorian]

The bus in the ad is a 1941 Yellow TD-4502, one of 50 purchased by the Surface Transportation System just before the war. The same bus, #1058, is featured in the March 1970 Motor Coach Age issue on Surface, and is noted for being one of a few with a mostly cream paint job.

I’m thinking that the bus must be off-route (or a bunch of students were recruited to stage a line for the ad) because every elevated line that crossed Fordham Road or Pelham Parkway had a major station at that intersection and no station is visible in the photo. Any other thoughts on where it might be? At the time route 12 ran between University Avenue and City Island.

[Mr. Linsky]

[frankie]

[Mr. Linsky]

Almost brand new in this 1958 shot taken at Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan we see fleet # 7000 - a 1957 45 passenger GM Coach Model TDH 5106 and one of 209 likenesses numbered 7000 to 7208 operating for the New York City Transit Authority.

While # 7000 and a sibling standing behind it are dressed in a rather utilitarian scheme, they are certainly brighter and more cheerful then the drab and boring costumes of their ancestors.

# 7000 also enjoyed fifteen minutes of fame when repainted in gold to participate in a Fifth Avenue promotional celebration campaign in 1957.

The 7000 series was easily identifiable by their unusual Pantographic windshield wipers in which the blades maintained vertical orientation for a wider sweep and which were being field tested for use on the soon to be introduced GM New Look buses.

Our focus awaits its next run on the M-13 line between Whitehall Street and 125th. Street via 1st. Avenue.

Photo courtesy of 'bk.sales and is available at eBay as item # 271209906880.

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

[B53RICH]

Mr. L., great find of #7000.
There is a possibility that I may have rode #7000 during the early 1970's, just before it's retirement which around 1973. This bus was assigned to the Fresh Pond Depot during that time.

Here is another photo of 7000 in its later years seen in the two tone green scheme. Photo taken by Joe Testagrose at Delancy and Norfolk Streets on the Lower East Side, April 9, 1971. My guess it was on the B39 on its way back to Williamsburg Bridge Plaza just before traveling over the Williamsburg Bridge. The B39 was assigned to the Crosstown Depot until 1981.

[andy47]

The 7000 series TDH5106 GMCs should be remembered because that order introduced two features that became standard throughout both NYC and much of the urban bus industry - fiberglass seating and push-type rear exit doors under passenger control.

The first photo (7000 on the M15 route) illustrates one of its two initial assignments - Manhattan Division routes which then (pre MABSTOA) operated from garages on E 100th and E 108th Streets. The other set of 7000s were assigned to Queens Division routes out of Flushing (now Casey Stengel) and Jamaica garages. Eventually they were all over the map and served in Brooklyn and Staten Island as well.

[Mr. Linsky]

[Mr. Linsky]

There's just one error in the well presented 1987 New York Bus Service ad hawking their surplus equipment for sale seen below.

They may not be able to tell the ages of the buses without looking at their registrations but we GM New Look enthusiasts sure can considering that the line was built in four phases with each having its own identifying marks.

Anyway, it's a nice ad regardless.

BTW; as can be seen in the lower image, an original copy of the October 1981 issue of Motor Coach Age dedicated to New York Bus Service is now available at eBay as indicated below.

This issue has 24 pages including the history of the company, 29 photos, route descriptions, and rosters - a must for the New York collector!

Photo and Motor Coach Age issue available through '4509bus' at eBay as items 371019449868 and 351017960001 respectively.

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

[frankie]

[RailBus63]

What I think NYBS management meant was, the buses were so well-maintained that you could not tell how old the bus actually was without looking at the registration!

[Mr. Linsky]

[Mr. Linsky]

Among all of the photos of Green Bus Lines (NY) buses that I have (and I'm sure you can all imagine just how many that would be) I rate the attachment in my top 10 not because of its quality which, in this case, is poor, but because of its content.

Seen sometime not long after the opening of the Marine Parkway Bridge (now Gil Hodges Memorial) in 1937 loading passengers at Brooklyn's Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues on the then new Q-35 line to Rockaway Park in Queens is a 1937 or 1938 37 passenger Mack Model CT numbered either between 601 to 635 or 701 to 735.

Normally at heavy rush hour points in the system, the company would assign a starter with a hand held coin collector for rapid loading at the rear door but the volume at Flatbush and Nostrand was such that a portable station including two turnstyles was fabricated as seen stage left of the photo.

The question that enters your mind is one that I can't answer - I don't know what they did with the equipment in off hours except to say that there may have been a deal with a local retailer for storage just as Jamaica Buses had at their Parsons Boulevard curbside terminal in Jamaica.

It's obvious that waiting passengers were aware of the camera and I love the bus wheel being used as a base for the umbrella.

The gentleman mentioned in the image caption is unknown to me and must have retired long before my time with the company.

Photo essay by Earl F. Theisinger entitled 'Get The Mostest Fastest' is available through '4509bus' at eBay and is part of a New York City Transit study offered as item # 351019328896.

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

[JimmiB]