Queens Surface QM4 bus in Midtown Manhattan. This bus is now retired and scrapped.
Queens Surface Corporation was a bus company in New York City, United States, operating local service in Queens and the Bronx and express service between Queens and Manhattan until February 27, 2005, when the MTA Bus Company took over the operations. The company was known for its orange paint scheme, used since the company's inception in the late 1930s.[1][2]
Queens Surface Corporation was privately held by the Gordon and Burke families.[3] The Queens Surface Corporation facility was located at 128-15 28th Avenue in the College Point neighborhood of Queens.
History
Partial remains of the former Steinway/New York and Queens County Railway car barn in Woodside. Now a Pizza Hut franchise.
New York and Queens County Railway
The New York and Queens County Railway (NY&QC) became the largest trolley line in Queens in 1896, through the consolidation of four previous streetcar operators: Flushing and College Point Electric Railway, Long Island City and Newtown Railway, Newtown Railway, and the original Steinway Railway Company. It served Long Island City, Woodside, Astoria, North Beach, College Point, Jamaica, and even the Queensboro Bridge. Between 1903 and 1922, the NY&QC became an affiliate of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company.[4] On June 24, 1930, the Woodside Car barn was hit with a massive fire that destroyed much of their fleet, along with the fleet of their competitors, the Steinway Railway (see below).[5]
Steinway Railway
Long Island City Steinway Railway Company c 1894
The Steinway Railway operated in northwestern Queens in 1892, through the merger of the Rikers Avenue and Sanford Point Railroad and Steinway and Hunters Point Railroad, only to be acquired by NY&QC in 1896. As NY&QC faced bankruptcy in 1922, it began to sell off Steinway as a somewhat independent company. It was bought by the Third Avenue Railway System but was allowed to operate under its own name.
Bustitution and re-merging
On February 19, 1926, NY&QC established a bus division called the Queens-Nassau Transit Lines.[6] Queens-Nassau buses replaced all NY&QC trolleys by 1937, with the last being motorized on October 30 of that year.[5] In the fall of 1938, the Steinway Railway was bought by Queensboro Bridge Railway Company and renamed as Steinway Omnibus. Steinway began operating buses over former Steinway Railway lines on September 29, 1939.[5] Both companies were operated by the same management,[7] and casually referred to as the "orange buses".[1] Queens-Nassau was renamed Queens Transit Corporation in 1957, and Steinway Omnibus became Steinway Transit in 1959.[8] The two companies merged again in 1986 to form the Queens/Steinway Transit Corporation. The joint company was owned by the H.E. Salzberg Company (scrap metal and short-haul railways) with father Harold Salzberg, son Murray M. Salzberg (1915-1984, aged 69) and grandson Harry Salzberg, which had ripped up the rails, running these two companies until 1988, when the Linden Bus Company acquired the routes from the aging grandson Harry Salzberg. Shortly thereafter and before operations commenced, Linden Bus Company changed its name to Queens Surface Corporation.[8]
On February 27, 2005, the MTA Bus Company took over the operations of the Queens Surface routes, part of the city's takeover of all the remaining privately operated bus routes.[9][10]
Limited Stop Service; most service ran exclusively between Pelham Bay Park and Co-op City. Interborough service is now called the Q50. Co-op City shuttle service is now the Bx23.
Weekdays, Q34 also provides service between Flushing and Jamaica.
The original Q25 terminus was in Flushing; it was combined with the then-Q34 route into College Point.
Southern terminus moved from 160th Street and Jamaica Avenue to Parsons Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue in 2005;[14] extended to Jamaica LIRR station on Sutphin Boulevard in 2006.[15]
The original Q34 route was the College Point segment of the Q25; it was later rerouted to its current alignment in Whitestone and then extended along the Q25 route.
Southern terminus moved from 160th Street and Jamaica Avenue to Parsons Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue in 2004;[14] extended to Jamaica LIRR station on Sutphin Boulevard in 2007.[15]
Southern terminus moved from 160th Street and Jamaica Avenue to Parsons Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue in 2004;[14] extended to Jamaica LIRR station on Sutphin Boulevard in 2007.[15]
Service started on October 30, 1937, to replace streetcar service.[13]
Original Middle Village terminal replaced by Fresh Pond Road terminal after the Metro Mall in Middle Village was built and opened in 1974. The mall sits on some of the side streets that were formerly used to turn buses, therefore the route was extended several blocks west to Fresh Pond Road, and uses Eliot Avenue to turn around back on to Metropolitan Avenue.
Original northern terminus was Rikers' Island; when the Q101R (now Q100) was created, service was truncated to 19th Avenue. Prior to the creation of the Q101R, this route was the ONLY local bus route to traverse three boroughs, since Rikers' Island is located in The Bronx.
The Steinway Transit depot, built in 1939, was located at the northwest corner of Steinway Street and 20th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, near the northern terminus of the company's Q101 route.[7][26][27] It was the successor to the Steinway Railway depot.[5] The trolley depot sat across from the Daimler Manufacturing Company automobile factory, opened in 1890 by Gottlieb Daimler and local businessman William Steinway.[28][29][30] The bus depot was closed prior to the company's takeover by the city, and has long been demolished, and replaced by new apartment buildings, similar to what was done at the old West Farms Depot site.
The Woodside Garage was located at 51-00 Northern Boulevard, at the southeast corner 51st Street and Northern Boulevard in Woodside, Queens, adjacent to the Winfield Junction of the Long Island Rail Road. It was the original headquarters of Queens-Nassau Transit.[7][31] It was also the successor to the NY&QC Woodside Trolley Barn, which opened in 1896 and burned down on June 24, 1930.[5][32] The front facade of the trolley barn survives as a Verizon store in the Tower Square Shopping Center.[32]
Triboro Coach Corporation was a bus company in New York City, United States, operating local service in Queens and express routes to Manhattan until February 20, 2006, when MTA Bus took over all of its bus operations and services.
Green Bus Lines, also referred to as Green Lines, was a private bus company in New York City, It operated local service in Queens and express service to Manhattan until January 9, 2006, when the city-operated MTA Bus Company took over its routes. It was managed most recently by Jerome Cooper (1928–2015).
The Sumner Avenue Line and New Lots Avenue Line were two streetcar lines in Brooklyn, New York City, running mainly along Marcus Garvey Boulevard, East 98th Street, and New Lots Avenue between northern Bedford–Stuyvesant and New Lots. Originally streetcar lines, the two lines were combined as a bus route in 1947. That bus route became the present B15 Marcus Garvey Boulevard / New Lots Avenue service, operated by MTA New York City Bus' East New York Depot in East New York. The B15 continues east from New Lots to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens.
The Crosstown Line is a public transit line in Brooklyn, New York City, running along Van Brunt Street and Manhattan Avenue between Red Hook and Long Island City, Queens. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the B61 and the B62 bus routes. The northern section, the B62, is operated by MTA New York City Bus' Grand Avenue Depot in Maspeth, Queens, and the southern section is the B61, operated by MTA New York City Bus' Jackie Gleason Depot in Sunset Park. The entire route was a single line, the B61, until January 3, 2010; the B62 was previously a separate, parallel route between Downtown Brooklyn and Greenpoint, now part of the B43 route. The streetcar line, B61 and the original B62 previously operated from the now-closed Crosstown Depot in Greenpoint.
The North Shore Bus Company operated public buses in Queens, New York City. It was established in 1920 as the successor to the New York and North Shore Traction Company trolley system, and operated until 1947 when it went bankrupt, and its operations were taken over by the New York City Board of Transportation.
MTA Regional Bus Operations operates local and express buses serving New York City in the United States out of 29 bus depots. These depots are located in all five boroughs of the city, plus one located in nearby Yonkers in Westchester County. 21 of these depots serve MTA New York City Transit (NYCT)'s bus operations, while the remaining eight serve the MTA Bus Company These facilities perform regular maintenance, cleaning, and painting of buses, as well as collection of revenue from bus fareboxes. Several of these depots were once car barns for streetcars, while others were built much later and have only served buses.
The Q38 is a bus route in Queens, New York City. The route travels from the Corona and Elmhurst neighborhoods to the Forest Hills neighborhood, running in a "C" shape via the Metropolitan Avenue station in Middle Village. It runs seven days a week but does not operate overnight. Formerly privately operated by Triboro Coach Corporation, the route is now city-operated under the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations.
The Bx12 is a public transit line in New York City running along the 207th Street Crosstown Line, within the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The line runs along 207th Street in Upper Manhattan and along the continuous Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx.
The Q3 bus route constitutes a public transit line in Queens, New York City, operating via Farmers Boulevard between the 165th Street Bus Terminal in Jamaica and John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Q60 bus route constitutes a public transit line running primarily along Queens Boulevard in Queens, New York City, extending from Jamaica, Queens, to Midtown Manhattan via Queens Boulevard and the Queensboro Bridge. It is city-operated under the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations.
The Q58 and Q58 Limited are bus routes that constitute a public transit line operating primarily in Queens, New York City, with its southern terminal on the border with Brooklyn. The Q58 is operated by the MTA New York City Transit Authority. Its precursor was a streetcar line that began operation in November 1899. and was known variously as the Flushing–Ridgewood Line, the Corona Avenue Line, and the Fresh Pond Road Line. The route became a bus line in 1949.
The Q111, Q113, and Q114 bus routes constitute a public transit line between the Jamaica and Far Rockaway neighborhoods of Queens, New York City, running primarily along Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. The Q113 and Q114 provide limited-stop service between Jamaica and Far Rockaway, connecting two major bus-subway hubs, and crossing into Nassau County. The Q111 provides local service exclusively within Queens, with the exception of select rush-hour trips to or from Cedarhurst in Nassau County. Some of the last bus routes to be privately operated in the city, they are currently operated by the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations. The Q113 and Q114 are one of the few public transit options between the Rockaway peninsula and "mainland" New York City.
The Q72 bus route constitutes a public transit route along Junction Boulevard and 94th Street in Queens, New York City. It operates between the Rego Park and East Elmhurst neighborhoods of Queens, and extends into LaGuardia Airport at the north end of the borough. It is city-operated under the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations.
The Q11, Q21, Q52, and Q53 bus routes constitute a public transit corridor running along Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards in Queens, New York City. The corridor extends primarily along the length of the two boulevards through "mainland" Queens, a distance of 6 miles (9.7 km) between Elmhurst and the Jamaica Bay shore in Howard Beach. The Q52 and Q53 buses, which provide Select Bus Service along the corridor, continue south across Jamaica Bay to the Rockaway peninsula, one of the few public transit options between the peninsula and the rest of the city.
The Q65 bus route constitutes a public transit line in Queens, New York City. The south-to-north route runs primarily on 164th Street, operating between two major bus-subway hubs: Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue station in Jamaica and Flushing–Main Street station in Flushing. It then extends north along College Point Boulevard to College Point at the north end of the borough. The route is city-operated under the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations.
The Q64, QM4 and QM44 bus routes constitute a public transit line in Queens, New York City. The east-to-west Q64 route runs primarily on Jewel Avenue operating between the Forest Hills–71st Avenue subway station in Forest Hills and 164th Street in Electchester. The QM4 route is an express bus route running from Midtown Manhattan to Electchester running via Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and Jewel Avenue in Queens. The QM44 route is an express bus route running from Midtown Manhattan to Electchester via Third Avenue in Manhattan and Jewel Avenue in Queens.
The Q69 and Q100 Limited bus routes constitute a public transit line in western Queens, New York City. Beginning at Queens Plaza in Long Island City, the routes run primarily along 21st Street through the neighborhoods of Long Island City and Astoria. The Q69 makes all local stops, while the Q100 makes four limited stops along the shared corridor between Queens Plaza and Ditmars Boulevard. At Ditmars Boulevard, the Q69 turns east towards Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst near LaGuardia Airport. The Q100, meanwhile, continues north of Queens across Bowery Bay to the city jail complex on Rikers Island in the Bronx, providing the only public transit service to the island.
The Richmond Hill Line is a surface transit line on Myrtle Avenue in Queens, New York City. Once a streetcar line owned by the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, it was replaced on April 26, 1950 by the B55 bus route. The trolley tracks were not removed until April 1955, when Myrtle Avenue was being repaved. On December 11, 1988, the bus was relabeled as the Q55 Myrtle Avenue (East) bus route (as opposed to the B54 route on the western portion of Myrtle Avenue), operated by the New York City Transit Authority.
The QM1, QM5, QM6, QM7, QM8, QM31, QM35, and QM36 bus routes constitute a public transit line in New York City, operating express between Northeast Queens and Midtown or Downtown Manhattan. The routes operate primarily on Union Turnpike in Queens, and travel non-stop via Queens Boulevard, the Long Island Expressway, and the Midtown Tunnel or Queensboro Bridge between Queens and Manhattan.
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