BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

Thanks to Vince Syrek, we see a very unusual shot (top) of fleet number 2609 - a 1958 GM Model TDH 5106 and one of 40 (2605 to 2644) originally purchased by Fifth Avenue Coach Lines in August of that year and transferred to the newly formed Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MABSTOA) in 1962.

# 2609 is seen carrying the MABSTOA flag and colors heading south bound along Fifth Avenue on the #3 route between Washington Heights and the company's hub at Washington Square Park.

It is speculated that 2609 may have had major front clip repairs due to the fact that the familiar GM wings and logo are gone from under the windshield.

All of Fifth Avenue's 5106's, including another 50 in 1959 (# 2667 shown new in original livery below) came through with push open rear doors and specially constructed front destination sign cabinets to house brighter fluorescent light bulbs.

Notice that the later order also came equipped with factory directional signals (something new for the Omnibus Corporation!).

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

[X-Astorian]

In 1965, in an attempt to provide LIRR Hunters Point Avenue riders with better access to their jobs in east midtown, MaBSTOA began running experimental shuttle buses between the station and 51st/Third in the morning rush and from 51st/Lex in the afternoon using the Midtown tunnel. How long this experiment lasted I do not know - it may have ended with the 1966 transit strike.

Below is Newsletter #2 published in February 1965 by the Queens-Long Island Mass Transportation Demonstration Program introducing the service. I'll post the follow-up edition soon.


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[Hart Bus]

WCA:

Your memory is excellent. The WC you refer to was 4 blocks away on 43rd Street and Queens Blvd. To show how time marches on, in days of yore, your burgers were served on porcelain plates and coffee was served in a porcelain mug along with pastries gotten from a pie truck, not in a wrapper from a central bakery. The plates were then put into a dishwasher.

Within in a few days, I'll send you some pictures for you to post on here. Yes I caught the "crown back" cutaway from one of the retirement communities.

ECA

[Mr. Linsky]

A personal note to ECA before I get started; glad to see that you got home safely and thanks to you and Linda for the lovely afternoon we had together - come back soon.

Now to regular business;

Every time WayneJay posts more marvelous photos of Washington (DC) Metrobuses, it brings to mind memories of New York's Grumman Flxible 870 front suspension scandal back in the 80's and what part the good people of the nations capital did to save the day.

After the Transit Authority determined that over 600 of the newly purchased 870's were not fit for service the question remained as to where they would find temporary replacements.

Christmas was always a time of giving and particularly so in 1980 when the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) offered the city (at a nominal lease) a goodly number of their spent GM New Looks with most dating back to day one! (remember, it's not as much the gift as it is the thought!).

It was December 27th. that a caravan of 105 coaches left for New York escorted by a National Guard contingency.

About 150 MTA personnel were dispatched to Washington for the pick up and the convoy home included extra mechanics, tools, tow trucks and loads of spare parts.

The first WMATA bus to debut in revenue service ran on the M106 42nd. Street crosstown.

Shown below are two of the troopers at work somewhere in Manhattan.

Note that even their earliest New Looks were air conditioned.

Information thanks to Mark Feinman of NYCSubways

Credit within frames.

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

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen skulking around the narrow paths of lower Manhattan and following footsteps that began in the mid nineteenth century with horse drawn omnibuses is fleet number 306 - a 1956 Mack Model C-41-DT (ser# 5805) and one of 10 purchased between 1954 and 1956 by the Avenue B and East Broadway Transit Corporation.

Upon the abandonment of the last storage battery car lines in the country by a division of the Third Avenue Railway (TARS) in 1932 that served Grand Street and Avenue B, Avenue B and East Broadway was founded to operate buses on the then designated M8 (Grand Street Crosstown) and M9 (Union Square via Avenue B and East Broadway to Chatham Square) lines.

Despite having only two franchised routes, the flag did quite well over the years with rush hour extensions, race track charters and tours.

The company, known for its stable of mostly bright red and cream prewar Macks that ran far into the late fifties, held the distinction of being the last private bus operation in Manhattan to succumb to takeover by the city in early 1980.

Photos courtesy of eBay.

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

[X-Astorian]

[Mr. Linsky]

X-A,

I find absolutely nothing in Franchise records indicating that Avenue B and East Broadway ever had permits for more than the original M8 and M9 lines downtown.

The records show that the present M7, which was the M22, was a NYCO line, and the M66, which was the old M7 is and was the 66th. Street Crosstown also under NYCO.

However, it is possible that Avenue B may have run charter or under revocable permit from 110th. Street but not as the M7.

Also, bear in mind that 2nd. Avenue was East Side Omnibus Corporation territory and their buses closely resembled Avenue B's livery wise so you could well have mistaken one for the other.

Of course, I stand corrected but that's what the records reflect.

Best regards,

Mr. 'L'

[Mr. Linsky]

Just something else that will eventually add to the clutter in my desk drawer but I couldn't resist it on eBay because it's very much a piece of New York transit history.

This was a Safety Award pin given for remarkable driving skills by the East Side Omnibus Corporation, and they certainly must have been well deserved when you consider what their bus drivers in Manhattan must have faced on a daily basis.

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

[X-Astorian]

[X-Astorian]

About seven months into the experiment, the Q-LIMTDP issued another Newsletter concerned mostly with the progress of the new shuttle. The line maps show that service now ended at 57/3 and started at 56/Lex; this was a result of another passenger survey (see #4 on the last page).



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[Mr. Linsky]

Mr. L,

I do have some paperwork but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words (this one is from the BusTalk Galleries).


X-A,

This must have been an experiment because there's nothing in the official records on it.

But, as you say, the picture tells the story.

Thanks.

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[X-Astorian]

[Mr. Linsky]

The attachment showing traffic moving eastbound on 50th. Street and approaching Broadway is easily dated by the 1946/47/48 DeSoto SkyView cabs and the Mack Model C-45-GT (or DT) operating for the City of New York Board of Transportation's Manhattan Bus Division and signed for the M3 49/50 Street Crosstown - a route acquired in the takeover of the Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation in 1948.

That route, by the way, was taken from Green Line by Comprehensive in 1935.

The M3 was considered a prestigious operation once east of Sixth Avenue wending its way past Rockefeller Center, the elegant shopping district surrounding Fifth Avenue and the opulent Brownstones of the East side.

I am told that one of the two IRT Broadway line kiosks at the corner represented entry to the system while the other was strictly to exit - my question would be; does the different shaped roof on each structure denote which is which?

Photo courtesy of NYPL Digital Gallery.

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

[X-Astorian]

Mr. L.,

Thanks, that's another goodie. Love those cabs.

From what I've read, the rounded roof kiosks were originally intended as entrances while the ones with the flat roofs were exits. How long this lasted is a mystery - I don't recall any distinction when I was riding the subway.

While so much else has changed, apparently Walgreen's has maintained the same sign for many decades.

[Hart Bus]

It has now been established on this board, that routes M-7 and M-7A were express routes. Presumably M--8, M-9 (and the A B derivatives) were transit routes. What were the MQ-20, MN-20, MN-21 and MW-20 routes.

Were they express routes before the "X" designation was applied?

Thanks in advance for any answers.