BusTalk

[upperharlemline4ever]

Knew there was Fifth Avenue Coach, Surface Transit, NY Omnibus Company and Avenue B & East Broadway. Now I'm seeing names like Omnibus Coach Company and Madison Omnibus Company, etc. Can somebody list the different companies and if they were owned by a parent company? It would be appreciated.

[Hart Bus]

There are two ways to get this information.

1 - Go through all of Mr. Linsky's posts in this section of the website.

2 - Be patient until Mr. Linsky returns to the West Coast from his T-Day vacation on 123/5/10

[RailBus63]

Summaries of the companies and route histories can be found at these pages:

www.nycsubway.org - Local Bus Companies of Manhattan

Bill Vandervoort's site - New York City route histories by borough

[Mr. Linsky]

A shadow of Mr. Linsky's former self is back albeit from a 350 year old farm house in upstate New York!

There were many bus companies that operated in Manhattan especially as 'Jitneys' in the teens and twenties but as of the beginning of the thirties the winners and long time champions were Fifth Avenue Coach, New York City Omnibus Corporation, Eighth Avenue Coach Company, Madison Avenue Coach Company, Surface Transportation System, Avenue 'B' and East Broadway, the East Side and Comprehensive Omnibus Corporations and Green Bus Lines although only for three years.

Virtually all with the exception of Avenue B saw city takeover by 1962 with Avenue B hanging in there until the mid eighties - Green traded its crosstown routes for new franchises in southern Queens in 1936.

HartBus is correct - if you will peruse this thread, more pertinent information on each company and there history in Manhattan will be found.

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[upperharlemline4ever]

Thanks guys for the information. It is deeply appreciated.

[Mr. Linsky]

UpperHarlem,

Just some clarification on who exactly was who in buses in Manhattan and how they wound up;

Fifth Avenue Coach Company (not only the oldest established operator dating from 1885 - but one of the oldest bus companies in the country) and which became part of the Chicago based Omnibus Corporation in the twenties (a John D. Hertz of Rent-A-Car fame production) also owned New York City Omnibus Corporation, Madison Avenue Coach Company and Eighth Avenue Coach Company (all of which became operational in the mid thirties to take over the traction lines of the New York and Harlem Railway Company that Fifth Avenue had purchased as far back as 1920).

In 1956, FACCO also took over the financially floundering Surface Transportation System making FACCO the largest privately owned bus company in the country.

It was only a strike in 1962 that caused FACCO's demise and city takover which created the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (aka MABSTOA).

The East Side and Comprehensive Omnibus Corporations were founded in 1931 to takeover traction lines on First and Second Avenue and, in 1933 were granted franchises to replace Green Bus Lines on several major crosstown routes.

East Side and Comprehensive threw in the sponge in 1948 and ceded their routes to the city.

Avenue 'B' and East Broadway had its beginnings as battery cars downtown and turned to buses about 1930 and continued operations well into the eighties making them the last of the private operators to fall upon the city's axe!

Green Bus Lines left its Manhattan Crosstown routes after a long legal battle in 1935 and became very successful in southern Queens operating until its official takeover by the city in 2006.

That's it in a nutshell - hope I've made it a bit clearer for you.

Regards,

Mr. 'L