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September 24, 1948

 
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W.B. Fishbowl



Age: 57
Joined: 02 Oct 2014
Posts: 2378
Location: New York, New York, USA

PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 6:19 am    Post subject: September 24, 1948 Reply with quote

The Board of Transportation of the City of New York takes over operation of six bus routes in Manhattan that had been operated until two days before by Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation and East Side Omnibus Corporation (whose owner, Samuel "Subway Sam" Rosoff, was a politically connected contractor whose construction firm had built several sections of the original IND subway, as well as various other key infrastructures across the country and around the world). The routes, now under the aegis of the Manhattan Bus Division of the Board of Transportation, were ex-Comprehensive M-1 (Madison and Chambers Streets Crosstown, now M22), M-3 (49th and 50th Streets Crosstown, later M27 and now M50) and M-7 (65th and 66th Streets Crosstown, later M29 and now M66); and ex-East Side M-11 (York Avenue, now M31), M-13 (First Avenue, technically eliminated when First and Second Avenues were converted one-way in 1951 but still seen on bus front roll signs on northbound buses as late as 1958) and M-15 (Second Avenue, later moved to First Avenue uptown after 1951 but not really seen as such until after 1959). Rosoff had been repeatedly denied requests for a fare increase from five to seven cents, thus it was highly ironic that, when BoT assumes operation of his former routes, such a fare hike takes effect.
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N4 Jamaica




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 858
Location: Long Island

PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 6:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I recall turnstiles on Comprehensive's 65th Street route. Did the East Side buses also have turnstiles?
Thanks. Joe
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MaBSTOA 15



Age: 70
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Board of Transportation's PCCs had turnstiles for fare collection. Perhaps the earliest buses that BoT operated might have them as well.

Besides Eastside Omnibus and Comprehensive Omnibus the only other bus company with turnstiles was North Shore. In the photos below you can barely see the turnstiles in position.

(The North Shore White was hired by Schenk)

I wonder if Avenue B had them on their prewar buses??



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W.B. Fishbowl



Age: 57
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Location: New York, New York, USA

PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So there's the answer: Both owned by the same individual, Comprehensive and East Side buses had turnstiles inside.
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N4 Jamaica




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Location: Long Island

PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many thanks for posting the through-the-doorway photos of the turnstiles, the second one being in a postwar Mack on the First Avenue bus. I am almost positive that those are three-armed Perey turnstiles, which were also on the hundred PCC's built for the B&QT, later owned by the Board of Transportation. The PCC's had one or two single seats behind the motorman and adjacent to the turnstile. There was a sloping tube that returned the nickels and the transfer tokens to a cup, so the PCC motorman could reach into the cup with his right hand and return the coins and tokens to his changer. I mention tokens, because (if memory is correct) if you arrived with a paper transfer in hand, the operator exchanged it for a token or slug for the turnstile. As a kid, I much enjoyed riding behind the motorman in that seat, if it was available.
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My hazy memory of the turnstile on the Comprehensive 66th Street crosstown is a horizontal four-arm device in a prewar boxy bus similar to the turnstile in the link below.
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I am quite certain that the 6000's that ran on Flatbush Avenue did not have the newer, compact Perey machines shown in your above photos. Rather, they had a turnstile with horizontal arms. Please see the Brill builders' photo
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?117792
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Having been removed from vehicles with the introduction of 7 cent and 8 cent fares in 1948, the three-armed Perey sometimes showed up in unexpected places in the subway system, not as mechanical fare collection but in other uses. The great advantage of the three-arm Perey was that they were self-contained units, rather compact. Movie houses sometimes used a variation, placing it adjacent to the cashier.
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MaBSTOA 15



Age: 70
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A little more research led me to the following information:

Brooklyn Bus and their PCC counterparts had turnstiles. When the fare was increased (July 1948) to 8 cents, they were replaced by fare boxes.

The purpose of the turnstiles, as in the case of Eastside/Comprehensive and North Shore, was to deter fare evasion. The turnstiles accepted nickels and/or special tokens (issued by the driver).

In areas were an extra zone fare was to be collected, the passenger was to hand the driver the extra nickel. In order to avoid abuses by the drivers hand held registers (see photo for type of device) were issued in October 1937 on the route 2 Rockaway.

When the City took over in 1940, turnstiles were kept on buses and PCCs till July 1948.



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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
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Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I recall Queens Transit Corp. Inspector's loading buses at the rear doors at subway stops, collecting fares with similar....you would place the dime into the slot which would ring a bell, and drop the nickel into a canvas money bag.

This was a way to speed up loading. Nowaday's, at Forest Hills, when there is a big backup caused by bunching, the Inspector tells the driver to open the rear door and they just let people board without paying. Of course, since 95 % or so are coming from the subway, they would be transferring free with their Metrocards, anyway....

I vaguely recall riding the Q-60, and at some points, the driver would stop and collect additional zone fare...can't remember whether he used those register's or not...
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