The bus is the red-headed stepchild of New York City transportation options. While yellow taxis and gritty subways have earned iconic status, city buses slog along, functional but unloved.
Which is why it’s great to see a vintage postcard celebrating one bus line. Here’s a rickety-looking vehicle (is that a Mercedes logo?) stopped at the corner of 42nd Street, beside the then-new New York Public Library.
It appears to be part of the fleet of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company, which charged 10 cents to ride. In 1921, Mayor Hylan was committed to running city buses with a fare of only five cents—a rare public transit price cut!
Tags: bus fare 1920s, Fifth Avenue 42nd Street view, Fifth Avenue Coach Company, Fifth Avenue in the 1920s, New York City bus, old buses in New York City, vintage New York postcards
Ephemeral New York 
March 2, 2015 at 12:18 pm |
I love the buses and always have. If I have time, I’ll take a bus. That 5th Avenue bus is great for people watching and touring. Not as quick as the subways, but a charm all their own.
March 2, 2015 at 6:39 pm |
To me this looks more like somebody in about 1910 projecting what a bus of 1920 might be like. Note the clothing of the ladies on the street. Definitely not 1920 styles!
March 2, 2015 at 6:46 pm |
That’s a great point. I was going by the postmark date, which is 1920, but the card itself could be at least a decade older. Which makes the 10 cent fare seem even more costly.
March 3, 2015 at 12:31 am |
I believe it was around this time that drivers were called “Public Chauffeurs”.
March 3, 2015 at 6:42 am |
That iuilt in France, and apparently the first busses used by the Fifth Avenue Motor Coach Company, in 1910. Foreign buses were not uncommon in large US cities before WWI.
Here’s a link to a message board with the details – scroll down and you’ll see two color photos of similar busses in the Paris transport museum:
http://www.bustalk.info/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3535&sid=59d26e16f93e862999c4b1f3ce10e8b2
March 3, 2015 at 6:46 am |
Very cool, thanks for the link!
March 10, 2015 at 4:56 am |
That’s a great link. I read some of the posts, and found one pertaining to “our” bus (may I call it that?) in which the poster states they believe it was built by Brillié-Schneider.