BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The Christmas season/ski season......

Back in the day, I am sure that the buses of NORTHEAST COACHES must have carried quite a few skiers up from "The Port-of-Authority" to the ski resorts:

VERNON VALLEY

SNOW BALL

GREAT GORGE

The direct buses from New York (Track 125) departed at 8:30AM.

Returning buses departed (GREAT GORGE/VERNON VALLEY) at 7PM.

It is also interesting that NC's main offices were at the same garage on Anderson Avenue in Fairview (just five minutes south of Your's Truly!) that was originally an ORANGE & BLACK garage, and, later, MAPLEWOOD EQUIPMENT COMPANY and, still later, NJT.......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

More Christmas memories.....

When my folks and I moved out to West Orange (July, 1971, to September, 1974) we now depended on DE CAMP's #33 to go into the city during the holidays (we could, still, at the time, take the now long-defunct #22 into Journal Square, when going in to visit my brothers and their families; we'd usually transfer there to a TNJ #44, then still using the old PS station on Sip Avenue)

Our Christmas jaunts into the city now had us utilizing the #33, instead of the NHBL's #5, which we used for years, when we lived in Union City.

Back then, "The Port" was STILL the original facility we so fondly remember, so many years later, and still a lot of fun during the holidays.

Sadly, those days are now long, LONG gone.

Was GREAT fun while it all lasted, though....sure made for WONDERFUL memories!

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Speaking of skiing:

The few old VERMONT TRANSIT tt's I have depicted skiers on the covers; I wonder how much ski resort business (for buses) is still tapped into today?

NORTHEAST COACHES, surely, must have also carried a fair share of ski enthusiasts up from New York, many years back.

NORTHEAST operated runs to the upstate NJ ski reports from December 15th through March 15th, according to an early 1970's tt I have in my collection (a handsome Fishbowl graces the cover!)

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Appreciate this info....thanks!

Glad you got to witness "ski runs", firsthand, before you retired!

Any other "personal" experiences you can share on this topic are ALWAYS most welcome, and ALWAYS make for quite interesting reading......

"NYO"

[traildriver]

NYO--

When I worked for Continental Trailways in Denver, between 1974 and 1979, naturally we handled a huge number of skier's. Continental Trailways "owned" Colorado back then, with a large hub in Denver radiating out in all directions. Our regular line runs served most popular ski area's, but the lion's share of our ski business was in charter's.

On a typical Saturday morning, we handled well over a hundred of them! We had a large extra board, plus an additional "extra-extra" board, consisting of part-time driver's, from all sorts of regular occupations...school teacher's, police officer's, fire fighter's, truck driver's, insurance salesmen, construction worker's, etc...who were available for weekend work. We had a large fleet during our "season", many on loan from other locations, like Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, even as far away as Louisiana that were deadheaded to and from Denver for the season.

About half of our business was in taking mostly youth groups from local locations up to the slopes for a day of skiing, and then returning them at the end of the day. The other half, was taking out-of-town skiers directly from Denver's old Stapleton Airport directly to ski resorts. Some groups even came in on Amtrak, but were going to resorts that Amtrak did not serve.

To get maximum utililisation of our driver's and buses, we would deadhead buses up to the ski areas on Friday afternoon, and the driver's would rest at a Company hotel. Then on Saturday morning, they would transport a group ending a weeklong stay at a place like Aspen, directly to Stapleton. The driver would then pickup another group there, and take them to a ski resort for a week long stay. Then the driver would get rested again, and repeat the procedure on Sunday. Finally on Monday, the driver would either deadhead back to Denver, or run as a second section on a schedule run back to Denver.

The operation was so large, that we stationed a mechanic in a strategic mountain location with a service truck. We also would have at least one spare bus and driver, in case of a breakdown. We also could rely on our Grand Junction base in case of problems in far locations like Aspen.

We also provided relief driver's for charters coming to the slopes for the weekend from places like Lincoln, Omaha, Kansas City, Wichita, Amarillo, etc. On Friday evening, the originating driver's would bring them overnight to Denver or Pueblo, and our driver's would take them on to the slopes, stay with them for Saturday night, and then bring them down Sunday evening, and the originating driver's would then take them home, getting them back Monday morning in time for work, after two full days skiing.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MANY thanks for taking the time to recall these most interesting (and detailed) memories; I sure wish I could have seen all the hustle and bustle!

Would have LOVED to have seen all the buses you got to see.....talk about a job with "fringe benefits!"

BTW:

Was just watching Eyewitness News At Noon, and saw a report on migrants being dropped off at the home of the VP.

The buses shown (new models I could not identify) were from the "K&V LIMOUSINE SERVICE"........

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Thanks for the info; much appreciated!

TEMSA is a new one for me: I have never heard of this company.

I'm still thinking of MCI's and PREVOSTS, regarding newer highway-type coaches......

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Ahhh, VAN HOOL; I had forgotten about them! (oops!)

Every so often, some years back, I would see a VAN HOOL (no company markings whatsoever; not even a fleet number displayed) on my main drag, operating on some sort of charter run.

I have not thought about this "mystery bus" in quite some time, until you mentioned VAN HOOL........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Hool

(I particularly like the "PINE HILL TRAILWAYS" bus!)

The double-deckers are QUITE impressive!

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]