A single-deck Fifth Avenue Coach bus operated in the late 1950s, running here in special holiday service in November 2009.
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]
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.
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.
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
^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
^"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.
