BusTalk

[Dieseljim]

When the Niagara Frontier Transit System, Inc. took over the assets and operations of the bankrupt International Railway Company, which was down to just six streetcar routes in 1950, the last of which was discontinued in the middle part of that year, the destination signs on the front of its buses, which were mostly Macks, but included170 Twin Coach buses as well were configured as follows: Route number in a number box mounted on the upper right hand corner of the front of the bus, followed by the name of the route (over passenger side of windshield) and the destination above driverside windshield. Example: 8 Main To Auditorium/DL&W Terminal. This carried over to the first of the GM 'fishbowls', the 7400s, except the route number and name were located on one curtain and the destination on the other curtain. It was when the Buffalo Transit Company was brought into the system that the route variation designator letters began to be used. By mid 1963, the BTC was fully merged into the NFT even though timetables with the Buffalo Transit Company name continued to be issued even at that late date. (I sure would like to get my hands on some as I can use them in my bus histories). The destination headsigns of buses of both companies were modified to the new system of route number, variation letter, and destination, a system still in use today by NFT Metrobus, even with electronic destination signs. And the rest is history.