Fifth Avenue Coach Company
The Fifth Avenue Coach Company was a bus operator in Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, and Westchester County, New York, providing public transit between 1896 and 1954 after which services were taken over by the New York City Omnibus Corporation. It succeeded the Fifth Avenue Transportation Company.
 FACCO Yellow Coach #1263, which ran from 1931 to 1953, and for other operators for 50+ years afterward throughout the US and Canada, preserved by the New York Transit Museum and on display near Times Square in Manhattan. | |
| Slogan | See New York - The Motor Coach Way |
|---|---|
| Parent | See the article |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Defunct | 1962 |
| Headquarters | 605 West 132 Street New York, NY |
| Locale | Greater New York |
| Service area | Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx, and Westchester County |
| Service type | Local bus transit |
History
The company was founded in 1896 when it succeeded the bankrupt Fifth Avenue Transportation Company.[1] It initially operated existing horse-and-omnibus transit along Fifth Avenue, with a route running from 89th Street to Bleecker Street. Fifth Avenue is the only avenue in Manhattan never to see streetcar service due to the opposition of residents to the installation of railway track for streetcars.[2][3] The company introduced electric buses two years later[2] and was acquired by the newly formed New York Transportation Company in 1899.[1]
They introduced a fleet of 15 of their own motorbuses in 1907 that operated along Fifth Avenue and on some crosstown routes.[2][4] The company became independent of the New York Transportation Company in 1912.[1]
In 1925, the year that they came under control of The Omnibus Corporation, the company purchased a majority share in the New York Railways Corporation.[5]
When the New York Railways Corporation started converting streetcar lines to buses in 1935–36, the new replacement bus services were operated by the New York City Omnibus Corporation,[6] which had been formed in 1926 and had shared management with The Omnibus Corporation.[7] New York Railways Corporation was dissolved in 1936.
The New York and Harlem Railroad trolleys were replaced by Madison Avenue Coach Company, Inc. buses, and the Eighth and Ninth Avenue Railway trolleys by Eighth Avenue Coach Corporation buses, both companies owned by Fifth Avenue Coach.[8][9] (Fourth and Madison Avenues; 86th Street Crosstown was not replaced with buses). Madison Avenue Coach and Eighth Avenue Coach were folded into New York City Omnibus in November 1951.[10]
In 1954 The Omnibus Corporation sold the Fifth Avenue Coach Company to the New York City Omnibus Corporation[11] which changed its name to Fifth Avenue Coach Lines two years later. In 1956, the company also acquired the Westchester Street Transportation Company, a bus company previously affiliated with the Third Avenue Railway. The same year, they also acquired the Surface Transportation Corporation, and allowed it to operate under a new name as a subsidiary of Fifth Avenue. After a strike in 1962, and a fight for control with financier Harry Weinberg, bus operations were taken over by the city.[12] Buses in Westchester survived the strike and city takeover until they were acquired by Liberty Lines Transit in 1969.
Routes
The routes that were operated by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company are listed below.
| Route | Terminal A | Major streets of travel | Terminal B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington Square Park | Fifth Avenue | Harlem 5 Avenue/138 Street |
| 2 | Madison Square | Fifth Avenue Seventh Avenue (today's Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard) Edgecombe Avenue |
Washington Heights Broadway/167 Street |
| 3 | Washington Square Park | Fifth Avenue St. Nicholas Avenue or Convent Avenue (within Hamilton Heights) St. Nicholas Avenue (within Washington Heights) |
Washington Heights St. Nicholas Avenue/193 Street |
| 4 | New York Penn Station | Fifth Avenue Central Park North/Cathedral Parkway Riverside Drive Broadway Fort Washington Avenue |
The Cloisters |
| 5/19 | Washington Square Park | Fifth Avenue West 57 Street Broadway Riverside Drive (through the Upper West Side) Broadway (5 through Hamilton Heights) Riverside Drive (19 through Hamilton Heights) |
Washington Heights Broadway/167 Street |
| 6 | Upper West Side West 72 Street Central Park West |
Broadway West 57 Street Fifth Avenue East 72 Street |
Yorkville East 72 Street/York Avenue |
| 9 | Washington Square Park | Fifth Avenue West 57 Street Broadway |
Upper West Side West 72 Street Central Park West |
| 15 | Madison Square | Fifth Avenue Queensboro Bridge Queens Boulevard Roosevelt Avenue |
or |
| 16 | Jackson Heights Northern Boulevard/81 Street |
81/82 Streets Baxter Avenue Broadway |
Elmhurst Broadway and Queens Boulevard |
| 20 | Hell's Kitchen 12 Avenue/West 55 Street |
57 Street Crosstown | Sutton Place Sutton Place and East 59 Street |
See also
- Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, successor to FACCST within New York City
- Liberty Lines Transit, Inc., successor to the FACCST routes in Westchester County
References
- "CoachBuilt.com - Fifth Avenue Coach". Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- "GSAPP Historic Preservation Studio 2005-2006". Archived from the original on July 5, 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- "Guide to the Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection, 1895-1962 - Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection". New York Historical Society. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- "MTA - New York Transit Museum - Education". Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- "COACH LINE READY TO RIP UP CAR TRACKS IN A WIDE BUS PLAN; Fifth Av. Company Promises Quick Start if the city Approves Project". The New York Times. 24 May 1926.
- Securities and Exchange Commission. 1945. p. 238.
The New York Omnibus Corporation, successor to the New York Railways Corporation commenced the operation of bus route in 1936. In all but one year since then it has been profitable
- "Gas-Electric Motorbus Co., Roland Gas-Electric Vehicle Co., New York Motor Bus Co..."
New York City Omnibus Corp. was formed in 1926 with Ritchie president)
- "5 Bus Franchises are Under Inquiry". New York Times. 4 January 1934. p. 1.
- "Buses to Run Soon on 8th and 9th Avs". New York Times. 5 October 1935. p. 17.
- "Bus Merger in City Approved by P.S.C." The New York Times, November 9, 1951.
- "Guide to the Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection 1895-1962". New York History Society.
In 1954, after acquiring the Hertz car rental business, the Omnibus Corporation sold the assets of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company to the New York City Omnibus Corporation, which was renamed Fifth Avenue Coach Lines in 1956.
- Bernard W. Stern (1986). "Part III: The Weinberg Era". Rutledge Unionism: Labor Relations in the Honolulu Transit Industry. University of Hawai'i, Center for Labor Education & Research.