The 1974 Manhattan Bus Map

[EE Broadway Local]

While browsing maps at nycsubway.org, I came across this nice 1974 Manhattan Bus Map:

Link to full size map: http://images.nycsubway.org/maps/bus-1974man1.jpg

 

As you view the map, notice:

*Bus routes were blue (northbound) red (southbound) and red (eastbound) green (westbound);

 

*Alpha Prefixes were the same in 1974 except R for Richmond (Staten Island);

 

*There was also an M12 which served Delancey, Prince and Spring Streets; The B39 then, as now, terminated at Allen Street;

 

*Convent Avenue and CCNY was served by an M3 branch which ran to Lower Manhattan;

 

*There was an M34 as well as an M35

 

*The M100 ran to the city line.

[Kingsbridge Bus]

The M8 was the M13

[Luis1985]

the B63 went to manhattan back then???? so which route served 5th Ave in 1974?

[EE Broadway Local]

the B63 went to manhattan back then???? so which route served 5th Ave in 1974?

LOL. It sure did. The B63 ran via the Manny B. to the LIRR Flatbush Avenue station.

 

Also notice there was a crosstown route on 59th Street/Central Park South. This was the M103. The M103 ran eastbound on East 59th Street and westbound on East 60th Street and also served West End Avenue.

[Guest MTA Bus]

The Bx12 went to City Island ?

[St Louis Car 09]

 

The Bx12 went to City Island ?

Didn`t it use to go there in the summertime?

[mark1447]

Didn`t it use to go there in the summertime?

 

Orchard Beach it does with the Bx5. I never knew the Bx12 went to CI. I guess in 1984 they split it with Bx29..

 

Wow Bx30 aka the Bx19 o_O

 

And M100 to the Bronx.. Bx10 in Manhattan??

 

MaBSTOA/NYCT, was odd at that time!

 

Nice photo! NYC SUBWAY should become bus too lol. I wonder if there is more maps!!?? Bronx and Queens id like to see And the 80s Manhattan

[metsfan]

I think it looks like there is more service on 2nd/3rd ave now vs then based on the current maps that i've glanced at.

 

- A

[Luis1985]

LOL. It sure did. The B63 ran via the Manny B. to the LIRR Flatbush Avenue station.

 

Also notice there was a crosstown route on 59th Street/Central Park South. This was the M103. The M103 ran eastbound on East 59th Street and westbound on East 60th Street and also served West End Avenue.

 

wow, so which route in Brooklyn served 5th Ave if the B63 went from Manhattan to LIRR Terminal at Atlantic Av?

[EE Broadway Local]

 

wow, so which route in Brooklyn served 5th Ave if the B63 went from Manhattan to LIRR Terminal at Atlantic Av?

The main B63 route served 5th Avenue in Brooklyn in 1974. This was a B63 extension that became the B51.

[Luis1985]

The main B63 route served 5th Avenue in Brooklyn in 1974. This was a B63 extension that became the B51.

 

oh, so the B63 basically ran from Bay Ridge to Manhattan?? im confused.:confused:

[bussman7338]

the Bx31 was southern blvd and Bx30 was 145st x-town!

[bussman7338]

The Bx31 was southern blvd and Bx30 was 145st x town to 149st and bruckner blvd where as Bx31 was botanical garden to 149st and southern blvd then was combined to make the Bx19

[hoodciti]

Orchard Beach it does with the Bx5. I never knew the Bx12 went to CI. I guess in 1984 they split it with Bx29.

 

Wow Bx30 aka the Bx19 o_O

 

And M100 to the Bronx.. Bx10 in Manhattan??

 

MaBSTOA/NYCT, was odd at that time!

 

Nice photo! NYC SUBWAY should become bus too lol. I wonder if there is more maps!!?? Bronx and Queens id like to see And the 80s Manhattan

 

In 1984 im pretty sure there was no Bx29. Dont really remember when it started but I do Remember the bx29 being pretty much a shuttle bus between City Is. and Pelham Bay in the late 90's. But before the Bx29, The Bx12 went to either Pelham Bay or City Island.

BTW the Bx5 was also extended down Pelham Parkway to the Pelham Parkway Station during rush hour for some reason.

 

The M100 used to run straight up to Mt. St. Vincent/ City Line like the present day Bx7 route in the Bronx.

and the Bx10 was much like the present day Bx20 but extended to Mt. St. Vincent/ City Line.

[theaveragejoe]

cool find

[EE Broadway Local]

cool find

I'm glad you like it.

[WB Bus Subway]

On 1/15/2010 at 12:15 PM, EE Broadway Local said:

While browsing maps at nycsubway.org, I came across this nice 1974 Manhattan Bus Map:

Link to full size map: http://images.nycsubway.org/maps/bus-1974man1.jpg

 

As you view the map, notice:

*Bus routes were blue (northbound) red (southbound) and red (eastbound) green (westbound);

 

*Alpha Prefixes were the same in 1974 except R for Richmond (Staten Island);

 

*There was also an M12 which served Delancey, Prince and Spring Streets; The B39 then, as now, terminated at Allen Street;

 

*Convent Avenue and CCNY was served by an M3 branch which ran to Lower Manhattan;

 

*There was an M34 as well as an M35

 

*The M100 ran to the city line.

'R' signified the Borough of Richmond, as which Staten Island was known until 1975.  The whole bit was for buses to bear the initials of the boroughs on which they ran before the number.  It wasn't until after the borough renaming that SI buses began bearing 'S' prefices.

 

As well, the map on that link was poorly scanned and badly edited, leaving some to mistakenly assume the M12 ran alongside the B39 over the Williamsburg Bridge to Williamsburg Plaza.  In fact, the text at the end of the Willy B - which clearly showed only B39 going over there, and to which B## buses to transfer - was cut off.

 

But this map was issued after a series of route numbering changes in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx effective July 1, 1974, which saw over the years many route number duplications and, in a few cases, even triplications.  By their new (as of 1974) numbering, I give the history:

- M2 - the former Fifth and Seventh Avenues line of Fifth Avenue Coach - was known from 1966 to 1974 as (M)2A, owing (at the time of the 1966 one-way conversions of Fifth Avenue to southbound and Madison Avenue to northbound) to there being another Route 2 (Fourth and Madison Avenues) of New York City Omnibus, which traveled as far north as 146th (later 147th) Street and Lenox Avenue via 116th Street.  At the time Fifth and Madison each became one way, MaBSTOA, for operational purposes, merged both lines into one singular route with two different branches (the Seventh Avenue to 168th Street, and the Lenox Avenue to 147th Street), structured a la the St. Nicholas and Convent branches of the M3, and the Avenue A and Avenue D branches of the M14.  (The Lenox Avenue branch folded in 1969, its northernmost route path north of 116th and Lenox salvaged for a new branch of the M101 as will be detailed below.)

- M26 (now M23) was once (M)15 of NYC Omnibus, duplicating the designation of NYCTA's First and Second Avenues line.

- M27 (now M50) had been the M-3, duplicating the nomenclature of said Fifth-Convent and Fifth-St. Nicholas routes.

- M28 (now M57) had been FACCo's (M)20, the numbering identical to ex-NYCO M20 116th Street Crosstown (today's M116).

- M29 (now M66) was the M-7, which was a triplication case as of 1974:  the ex-NYCO Broadway, Columbus and Lenox Avenues line, and Avenue B & East Broadway Transit's 110th Street-Wall Street express route that, upon the demise of AB&EB in 1980, was folded into MaBSTOA's own X23.

- M30 (made superfluous upon the startup of M72 in 1989, and discontinued in 2010) was ex-FACCo (M)6, duplicative of ex-NYCO Broadway-7th-Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) route which was also discontinued in 2010 and its southernmost route incorporated into M5.

- M31 had been M-1, which number was the same as the Fifth and Madison Avenues line whose ancestry goes back to the city's first streetcar route that launched in 1832, and had run under Madison Avenue Coach beginning in 1935 (then NYCO from 1951-56, and Fifth Avenue Coach Lines to 1962); the old FACCo Rt. 1 had been discontinued upon the 1962 TWU strike that led to the end of Fifth Avenue Coach Lines' and Surface Transit's control of the bulk of bus lines in Manhattan and the Bronx.  (Knowing to some extent how MaBSTOA operated, I wonder if they'd clandestinely merged the FACCo Rt. 1 with NYCO's upon the Fifth and Madison one-way conversions [from what I'd heard about Fifth Avenue Coach Lines maneuvering to have MaBSTOA legally prohibited from resuming FACCo Rt. 1], but for operational purposes kept it 100% NYCO Rt. 1.)

- M32 (now Q32) had been the FACCo Jackson Heights Rt. 15 - or, as shown on some runs after c. Jan. 1, 1973, QM15 . . . which unwittingly duplicated the designation of a Green Bus Lines express bus route that ran from Lindenwood, Queens, to Manhattan (and is today under MTA Bus aegis).

- M34 and M35 - as well as Bx21 - had been the TB route started in 1936 by NYCO (and as such, was their only route not to have been a converted streetcar line or acquired from other companies).  The M34 designation was ceased on March 21, 1976, upon which its route path would be combined with M35 (ironically, the Manhattan-Wards Island leg is the only one surviving today; the Manhattan-Astoria branch was discontinued on Sept. 10, 1995).  Bx21 (which would be discontinued Feb. 18, 1984) was the second use of this route number, previously applied to a Pelham Bay Park bus that had been discontinued on Feb. 15, 1970 and combined with Bx22 - Country Club-Spencer Estates.

- M102 (another recycled moniker, originally used for a very short-lived 125th Street crosstown route that only ran from June 29 to July 1, 1947) had been known as M-101A since this Lenox Avenue branch of the Third and Lexington Avenues line was inaugurated on March 2, 1969, replacing the Fifth-Madison-Lenox Rt. 2.

 

Queens (the particular route in question) was also affected:

- Q89 (discontinued 1988) had been the FACCo Elmhurst Crosstown Rt. 16, known beginning c. Jan. 1, 1973 as QM16 - no doubt to avoid duplicating the TA's Q16 - Clearview-Fort Totten route, but unwittingly duplicating another Green Bus express route designation, QM16 Rockaway Park-Manhattan (running today to Neponsit under MTA Bus).

 

It should also be noted that the 106th Street branch of the M19 96th Street Crosstown was begun on Jan. 7, 1974, replacing the M107 106th Street Crosstown.  That branch is today the M106, while the main line is M96.

[WB Bus Subway]

On 1/16/2010 at 9:41 PM, EE Broadway Local said:

The main B63 route served 5th Avenue in Brooklyn in 1974. This was a B63 extension that became the B51.

On a 1976 Manhattan bus map, the B15 was listed as going over the 'Manny B'.  This apparently alternated with B63 prior to the creation of B51.

[WB Bus Subway]

On 1/15/2010 at 7:35 PM, EE Broadway Local said:

Also notice there was a crosstown route on 59th Street/Central Park South. This was the M103. The M103 ran eastbound on East 59th Street and westbound on East 60th Street and also served West End Avenue.

The M103 was merged with M28 on Sept. 10, 1989 into the M57.  It was from that that the 57th Street Crosstown's western terminus was shifted from 54th Street and 12th Avenue to 73rd Street and Broadway (traveling along 11th and West End Avenues between 57th and 72nd Streets).  On that same 1989 day the M5's transition point in both directions was shifted from 57th Street to 59th Street/CPS.

[WB Bus Subway]

On 1/15/2010 at 7:11 PM, Kingsbridge Bus said:

The M8 was the M13

In 1974, M8 was Avenue B and East Broadway's Grand Street route, absorbed (along with M9) by MaBSTOA in 1980 and discontinued in 1988 - which is how M13 - 8th Street Crosstown was renumbered M8 in 1993.

[WB Bus Subway]

Forgot one other route numbering change of July 1, 1974:

- M31 (York Avenue) - was actually the M-11, which nomenclature duplicated that of the Ninth and Amsterdam Avenues line which was bustituted under Eighth Avenue Coach in late 1935, transferred to New York City Omnibus in 1951 and Fifth Avenue Coach Lines from 1956-62.

The once M-1 Madison-Chambers route was actually renumbered M22.