BusTalk

Cyberider · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 1137 Location: Tempe, AZ

NYO,

Thanks for all the information on TARS and "Soiface." The streetcars looked a lot better than the buses or maybe the bus photos I've seen were later when their buses looked about as bad as that company in lower Manhattan!

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2024 3:20 pm Post subject:

Cyberider · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 1137 Location: Tempe, AZ

It was a sad day when the "New Looks" started replacing the "Old Looks," no matter where it happened. It started in 1959 or 60 in Phoenix and I wasn't happy about it. Fortunately, though, some of the Old Looks managed to hang on until the early 80's. I went out riding and photoing them in the early '70's when it looked like their days were numbered.

Too bad the "Soiface" Old Looks got a premature retirement with all of the "New Looks" coming in. If they'd taken better care of them, maybe they could have sold some of them to Avenue B and East Broadway! I don't think I've ever seen such decrepit buses as theirs. They seemed to have favored Mack, but I think Mack was out of the bus business by 1962.

Cyberider · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 1137 Location: Tempe, AZ

I see we have many photos of Ave. B and East Broadway buses in the BusTalk photo gallery. They dpn't look so bad as I remember but I didn't see the photos I was familiar with. Probably have them on one computer or another here if I went looking. Anyway, one of the more interesting bus lines in NYC, IMO. Had any experience with them, NYO?

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2024 7:24 pm Post subject:

Cyberider:

I always loved Fishbowls (right from Day One!) but the downside was that with more and more Fishbowls entering the picture, the less older models were to be seen on the streets.

In my area, starting around 1966/1967, the first Fishbowls began replacing the oldest Old Looks 9those with square windows) as well as all of the non-GM b uses.

By about 1968, only GM buses were in my area.

Then, in later years, the Fishbowls themselves began to disappear, replaced by GRUMMANs, Metro "B's", and RTS.

Even the 1970s Flex New Looks are now long, long gone.

I also recall, that, by the 1970s, those companies still rostering Old Looks only used them during the rush hours.

Indeed, times were changing.......

"NYO"

["RIVER ROAD EXPRESS"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2024 11:33 pm Post subject:

Also........

Until 1946, TARS streetcars terminated at the NYCRR's West Shore Ferry at the foot of W. 42nd St.; buses continued to connect with the ferries to Weehawken until the ferries were shut down in 1959.

Here are two photos recalling the buses that once terminated at the Ferry...........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?156615

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?156623

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["FERRY"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2024 11:38 pm Post subject:

Here we have a few elderly TARS streetcars awaiting ferry passengers from New Jersey at the foot of W. 42nd Street; note buses in the right background, on the other side of the elevated West Side Highway.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116704

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["X"]

W.B. Fishbowl · Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2024 7:48 am Post subject:

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2024 9:28 am Post subject:

W.B.:

As always, appreciate the additional info.

BTW, any clues as to what buses (routes) terminated at the Dykman Street Ferry until it was shut down in 1943?

Thanks.....

"NYO"

["ENTRANCE TO BOATS"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2024 9:31 am Post subject:

Also..........

By the time that the 125th Street Ferry closed down in December, 1950, "Soiface" buses had already been connecting with the boats for a few years; however, the old TARS conduit tracks remained intact for at least through 1949........

"NYO"

["RIDE THE SURFACE WAY"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2024 11:30 pm Post subject:

When these timeless photos were snapped in the 1950s, these were the "West Shore" boats that connected with "Soiface" buses (until 1959) at the foot of W. 42nd Street (the ferries also ran to the foot of Cortlandt Street)............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?142305

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?142339

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["THE WATER LEVEL ROUTE"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2024 6:18 pm Post subject:

Also..........

Until 1959, "Soiface" buses connected not only with the West Shore Ferry, but also, the "Coicle" Line and the Day Line.

By the the 1970s, "stoa" buses were only "connecting" to the "Coicle" Line's boats.....

"NYO"

["AMERICA'S FAVORITE BOAT RIDE"]"

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2024 9:54 pm Post subject:

Dyckman Street..........

From what I read online, the MTA bus routes in the vicinity of Dyckman Street are the BXM1. M100, M101, and the M3.

What bus route (as I inquired about earlier here) would have connected with the Hudson River ferries, at the foot of Dyckman Street, pre-1944?

"NYO"

W.B. Fishbowl · Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2024 11:15 am Post subject:

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2024 11:39 am Post subject:

W.B.:

Greatly appreciate the info, as always.

Ferry connection-wise, it would seem that the St. George Terminal was the undisputed king of "ferry/bus transfer" points, with South Ferry coming in second.

In a circa-1963 postcard I have, depicting a panoramic view of the St. George Terminal, no less than 17 buses ("Kramdens" and "Pattons") are on hand, with nary a Fishbowl in sight.

Long lines of vehicles waiting to board the boats for Whitehall Street and Brooklyn.

Ahhh, yes, I remember it all so well, 60-odd years later............. Wink

"NYO"

["DEPARTMENT OF MARINE & AVIATION"]