The Fifth Avenue Coach Company was a bus operator in

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The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

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, and

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, providing public transit between 1896 and 1954 after which services were taken over by the

New York City Omnibus Corporation The New York City Omnibus Corporation (NYCO, later Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc.) ran bus services in New York City between 1926 and 1962. It expanded in 1935/36 with new bus routes to replace the New York Railways Corporation streetcars when ...

. It succeeded the

Fifth Avenue Transportation Company The Fifth Avenue Transportation Company was a transportation company based in New York which was founded in 1885 and operated of horse-and-omninbus transit along Fifth Avenue, with a route running from 89th Street to Bleecker Street using horse ...

History

NYC Transit Authority FACCo GM TDH-5106 Old Look 3100

The company was founded in 1896 when it succeeded the bankrupt

. 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. The company introduced electric buses two years later and was acquired by the newly formed New York Transportation Company in 1899. They introduced a fleet of 15 of their own

motorbus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es in 1907 that operated along Fifth Avenue and on some crosstown routes. The company became independent of the New York Transportation Company in 1912. In 1925, the year that they came under control of

The Omnibus Corporation The Omnibus Corporation (also Omnibus Corporation of America) is an American bus company that was formed in 1924 and acquired control of Fifth Avenue Coach Company and the Chicago Motor Coach Company with John D. Hertz as chairman. In 1953, it purch ...

, the company purchased a majority share in the

New York Railways Corporation The New York Railways Corporation was a railway company that operated street railways in Manhattan, New York City, United States between 1925 and 1936. During 1935/1936 it converted its remaining lines to bus routes which were operated by the New ...

. When the New York Railways Corporation started converting streetcar lines to buses in 1935–36, the new replacement bus services were operated by the

, which had been formed in 1926 and had shared management with The Omnibus Corporation. New York Railways Corporation was dissolved in 1936. The New York and Harlem Railroad trolleys were replaced by

Madison Avenue Coach Company, Inc. Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

buses, and the Eighth and Ninth Avenue Railway trolleys by

Eighth Avenue Coach Corporation Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, or ⅛, a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an i ...

buses, both companies owned by Fifth Avenue Coach. (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. In 1954 The Omnibus Corporation sold the Fifth Avenue Coach Company to the New York City Omnibus Corporation which changed its name to

Fifth Avenue Coach Lines The New York City Omnibus Corporation (NYCO, later Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc.) ran bus services in New York City between 1926 and 1962. It expanded in 1935/36 with new bus routes to replace the New York Railways Corporation streetcars when t ...

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 Third Avenue Railway System (TARS), founded 1852, was a streetcar system serving the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx along with lower Westchester County. For a brief period of time, TARS also operated the Steinway Lines i ...

. The same year, they also acquired the

Surface Transportation Corporation The Surface Transportation Corporation was the bus-operating subsidiary of the Third Avenue Railway in New York City which operated under that name following the conversion of the streetcar lines in Manhattan and the Bronx to bus service between Mar ...

, 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 Harry Weinberg (1908–1990) was an American billionaire businessman who founded ''The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.'', a private charitable foundation, with over $2 billion in assets in 2018 and headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryla ...

, bus operations were taken over by the city. Buses in Westchester survived the strike and city takeover until they were acquired by

Liberty Lines Transit Liberty Lines Transit is the owner of local bus routes in Westchester County, New York, and operates these and other local bus routes under contract as part of the Bee-Line Bus System. It had been affiliated with Liberty Lines Express, the owner ...

in 1969.

Routes

The routes that were operated by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company are listed below.

References

External links

Fifth Avenue Transportation Company, 1885-1895; Fifth Avenue Coach Company, 1895-1962, New York, New York

The Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection
at the New-York Historical Society {{Authority control 1896 establishments in New York City 1962 disestablishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1896 American companies disestablished in 1962 Transport companies established in 1896 Transport companies disestablished in 1962 1899 mergers and acquisitions 1925 mergers and acquisitions 1954 mergers and acquisitions Fifth Avenue Surface transportation in Greater New York Bus transportation in New York City Defunct companies based in New York City Defunct public transport operators in the United States

History

Routes

See also

References

External links