BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

PSNJ fare collection....................

Into the 1950s, PSNJ's transit buses were equipped with fare boxes, like the streetcars (tokens were also used at one time)

By the later 1950s, these fareboxes had been replaced by bulky NCR ticket machines, which were also used on the suburban buses.

The veteran NCR registers (I have one in my collection!) made distinctive sounds that I will never forget; they lasted well into the 1980s, before being replaced by new resisters, especially on the suburban buses.....

"NYO"

["NCR"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Changes were a-coming............

In the mid-70s, the City Subway PCCs were repainted in the Bi-cenntenall scheme (I preferred the classic PS paint)

In the early 80s, flouroescent lighting replaced the old incandescent lights in all the stations.

The old tracks and switches of the long-disused subway-surface ramps were torn out.

The PCCs were again repainted, this time in NJT's "Disco" scheme (again, I preferred the original PS colors)

At Franklin Avenue, a new station replaced the old one, in use since late 1953.

Then, in 2001, the sleek, iconic PCCs were replaced with bland, bulky "Baby Beluga" LRVs.

And, today, even the time-honored "CITY SUBWAY"ma,e is no longer in use; it is now the "Newark Light Rail"

The 1953 repair shop at Penn Station was closed and demolished.

NOT ONE change for the better...........

"NYO"

["7 CITY SUBWAY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Non-ASV territoy............

Oddly enough, PSNJ's BERGEN Division never saw ASV operation; the remaining BERGEN Division streetcars were replaced by buses in latee 1938.

It 's odd indeed that this was the ONLY one of PS's many divisions NOT to see ASV operation.

Perhaps there was local political opposition?

Too, could it have been that PS simply wanted to be rid of the ideaof ALL electrictracti on on the BERGEN Division, and go straight to motor buses.

Alas, wewill never know for sure.....

"NYO"

["HUDSON RIVER"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

ASV "quirks"..............

Interestingly, not all ASV lines had turning loops at the end of a given line; some lines; an example was the HUDSON Division's busy #21, had no turning loop at the northern end of the line (91st Street, North Bergen)

Here, the driver would hook down the poles, and then (in gas mode) use several side streets to rejoin Bergenline Avenue, where a rewiring pan marked the location of the start of the inbound (south) overhead to Hoboken.

Also, ASVs utilized gas power to enter and leave garages.....

"NYO"

["21 WEST NEW YORK"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Also........

The on ly reason that PSNJ did not order a fllet of postwar GM-built ASVs tto replace streetcars in the Newark City Subway and its connecting lines, was that the City of Newark would not foot the bill for paving over the Subway for ASV operation.

Had the Subway been paved over, dual-powered coaches would, most likely, still in use today.

The lonne GM "demo" (#D900) was a modified 4509.....................

"NYO"

['29 BLOOMFIELD"]

[Cyberider]

I don't know what's worse, the new LRV's or the new ASV's if it had been paved over. At least there were many years of PCC's before the modern junk arrived.