BusTalk

[traildriver]

What was remarkable, was that a maximum with double occupancy was only 26 passengers...and was served by a crew of three...driver, porter, and cook...
The fares must have been pretty steep to make the operation profitable, and I would imagine close to, or even higher than riding in a Pullman train, which would have been much more comfortable and faster...

On the other hand, the daytime 'duplex' 53 seats would be real profitable, once the initial expense of purchase was accounted for...
I don't know how they would carry baggage for a full 53 seat load...
Something the 81 seat Van Hool of today is burdened with....

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Speaking of Pullmans, read here of the elegant, bygone "Brighton Belle", the world's only "All-Electric Pullman".......

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

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

More here on the preservation efforts for the magnificent, elegant "Brighton Belle".......

www.brightonbelle.com

[traildriver]

I really can't see the market for those Nite Coaches....like you stated, it was used mainly during the Depression, and except for very few, no one would spend for such an extravagance. Also, the roads during that era were much slower than the interstates and turnpikes of today. I could see if they ran somwhere where there was no railroad service, but all of the routes described in the various links ran on busy mainline routes....

Perhaps they were run as a 'halo operation', just for the prestige of the company....

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Agreed all the way.

During the Depression, most folk could BARELY scrape up the CHEAPEST bus/rail fares; the fares to travel on the "Nite Coach" must have been astronomically high to the majority of the Depression-weary public.

On a related note, also, look at the fares on the PAN AMERICAN "Clipper" Flying Boats in the 1930's; these fares were conducive only to a traveling public that were VERY well-heeled (such as stockbrokers, businessmen, etc.)

Even during the heyday of the "Nite Coach", I think that there were those who so the concept as but a brief "flash in the pan" (despite its many innovations) and would, soon enough, vanish from the scene.....

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Just thinking......

Even in the unlikely event that "Nite Coach" sleeper service was re-instated after the War, it would not (IMHO) have lasted all that long.

A number of postwar developments would have spelled doom for revived "Nite Coaches", including:

1: More luxurious postwar sleeping cars on the rails.

2: The tremendous growth in air travel, as airliners became bigger and more powerful.

3: The increased use of private automobiles.

With the exception of the "SCENICRUISER", highway buses of the postwar era were of a much more "conventional" sort, as compared to the flamboyant "Nite Coach".......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Recalling former " Hound haunts" down Texas way............

https://www.roadarch.com/bus/tx.html

["DALLAS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Haunting, historic reminders of the long-ago days of when intercity bus travel was still an exciting adventure..............

https://www.roadarch.com/bus/tx2.html

["DALLAS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further..............

When the "Port-of-Authority" terminal opened in Manhattan in 1950, it was hailed as "the most beautiful bus terminal in the world".

I knew this once-stylish terminal VERY well from the time I was a kid; in 1980, they began to "modernize" it, and today, the terminal is now known as "one of the ugliest buildings in Manhattan."

WHAT a COMEDOWN!

Just look at the many old online photos of this once-handsome terminal, and you can see just how modern and styilsh it was.....today, well..............

"NYO"

["NEW YORK EXPRESS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

See:

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

(note 1930s photo of the old midtown GREYHOUND depot, across from the old Penn Station; both structures are long gone, and the area totally rebuilt today. I do, however, clearly remembering visiting the old GREYHOUND station with Mom, before it closed in 1963......NO SHORTAGE of SCENICRUISERS and 4104s, back then!)

"NYO"

["NEW YORK EXPRESS"]

[Cyberider]

A shame that both of those beautiful buildings are gone. Beauty takes second place to money. . .

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here are a few nostalgic views from 1955 of the old midtown GREYHOUND terminal.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?156333

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?157243

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?157244

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["EXPRESS"]

[Cyberider]

Thanks, NYO. Great photos of some great buses and terminals.