Before MTA Bus

[Bracamonte]

I want you to share your experiences of the seven private bus lines prior to MTA Bus at least from the year 1999-2005. I remember back when I was a kid, I lived near Triboro Coach Q33 and Q72. My mom and I used to ride on them. I remeber riding those old GMC RTS's and the Clean Air CNG RTS's.

[trainfan22]

Well, I used to ride Green lines on a daily basis for a few months back in the day. I really enjoyed riding Green lines, there buses weren't nice looking or clean (Well, their Orion Vs looked great and were clean. IMO Green lines maintained those buses better than MTA bus) but most of their buses were fast and sounded great. And the route I rode on a daily basis, the Q40 had good service. I really liked the dirvresity on Green line routes, you could get an GMC RTS (both Green lines and ex NYCTA) TMC RTS, MCI classics and Orion Vs. My bus of choice came between the Orion V and MCI classic. I really liked those WAMTA seats they were really comfy and JFK kept those buses clean. I liked the MCI classics because they were so Quiet and smooth, you could really relax on those buses the soundproofing was much better than the Orion V/RTS. I also have memories riding the Q35 when it was run by Green lines. On that route I had my first Orion V ride it was awsome.

 

 

I never rode on this PBL but I used to see their buses all the time, which would be command bus. I always wanted to ride their CNG RTS they sounded great (Used to hear them pull off from the bus stop on their B103/BM2 runs while waiting for the B6). And for some weird reason they remind me of an Bimpie/subway sandwish, I guess its the paint scheme.

[RokuSix]

Let's see, my two chief private lines were New York Bus Service and Queens Surface. I loved the old New York Bus Service...the buses were colorful, bright, and fast. The service was much better than it is now.

 

I didn't ride Queens Surface much as a really young child, but I do remember saying "Mommy! It's orange! Why does it look different from the Bronx buses?" I remember them being cleaner than they are now. I do have a huge nostalgic feeling for it, though...I remember in middle school my friends got lost getting on the wrong bus. Good times. The character I drew for the QBx1 has long orange hair as a tribute to the old line, as seen here:

[Ken S.]

I only really focused on the PBLs when the MTA began the takeover process.

Command, not bad. Buses were in decent shape and on time. Rode an Orion and 2 Classics.

Triboro, only rode the Q53 with the Orions on it. But saw some of the mismatched RTS paneling.

Green, hot buses, overcrowding, bunching on the Q11. Rode everything but the Classics.

[Q25toJamaica]

Rode pretty much everything, especially Q11 Orions/RTS and Q53 RTS. My best memory is of when I was a little kid and I had transferred off the Q43 onto a GMC RTS Q60, and telling my mom "This is the poor bus!!"

[Guest Charles]

Standing on Woodhaven Blvd listening to the sounds of the TMC RTS CNGs and the Orion V's flying on the Q53 with the slow, smoke-spewing GMC RTSs on the Q11. Now that's something to remember.

[petabread]

Wow, I rode Queens Surface and Green Lines the majority, though eventually I shifted over to MTA routes to avoid Queens Surface as much as possible. I remember when the Orion Vs first came to QSC I thought they were amazing, eventually though more and more TMCs made their way onto the Q65 and well, not good. Not to mention the wait for the Q65 around 7a.m., I could wait until 8a.m. some mornings for a bus. It was so bad one day a QM1 going out of service gave me a lift to the Horace Harding Expwy.

 

Green Lines was, well, you know, I never really had a good experience on GL buses. Twice I had a bus catch on fire. I had to take the Q6 once and it was a GMC, personally I liked them but I quickly became annoyed when people would repeatedly ring the bell. The drivers were no good either(some of them still exist).

 

In my opinion the MTA has been a blessing to those operations, of course more money is thrown there but hey, if my bus shows up in 10 minutes as opposed to an hour I'll take it. I also remember on a QSC Tmc, the back door fell off and the driver got out and started kicking it, ahh, those were some fun days!!

[AA 8th Avenue]

I remember going to Riverdale on Liberty Lines from 34th street in front of kFCs when the street was aligned differently. I took the fishbowl, gmc scenecruiser look alike less one extra floor dont know the name, and of course those classics. It was like a cadiilac bus with an RTS engine and sound. Air suspension, clean, and quiet ride. Got to 246th and riverdale in 40 minutes. Then the Fishbowls on NY Bus service were cool. with the plush seats on em. to parkchester it was a treat of a ride. back then it was $3. Also the Q60 had mostly RTS that would zoom along queens Blvd. Also the Triboro coach RTSs leaving Roosevelt on my way to LaGuardia were Fast on the short stretch of straightaway they had. Never rode Command, Queen Surface or Jamaica Bus but I always thought the paint schemes were cool. Now they look like knock off NJTransit.

[Cait Sith]

Lived along Jamaica Bus Lines & Green Bus Lines. Green Bus Lines had the worst maintenance crew and scheduling ever. The Q41 and Q8 lines sucked so bad, they still suck till this day. The Q112 was always good, JBL kept their buses in good shape.

 

I've also wanted to ride Command and Queens Surface Buses. I remember seeing MCIs and RTS CNGs on the Express routes back when I was a kid. I used to think those RTSs were like rockets cause of the tanks on the top. This was before I moved to Queens, and back into Manhattan.

[Queens Surface]

I remember when I use to ride the Q110 to school. Some days would be a TMC RTS other days GMCs and every afternoon I would catch a MCI Classic. I remember how the B/Os use to floor it down Jamaica ave. and get me from 168th st. to Springfield blvd. in 20 mins. I rode Green Lines from time to time and would catch the same buses except with the addition of the Orion V. They weren't the buses exterior looking buses but the were fast. I rarely rode Queens Surface but it was an amazing ride , sometimes I would catch a TMC on the Q65 and the rest would all be V CNGs.

[DarrylR.14]

I remember that back then, every other Thursday, when my mom gets her paycheck, we would always walk on 82nd street(Queens) to the Colubian restaurant on Roosevelt Ave. and every time before reaching Roosevelt, I keep seeing the Q29(Triboro Coach) entering the 82nd and terminates there for a while. Some were the RTS and some were, I think the Orions(idk which one though). This applies to the Q33 as well if we were walking to Burger King a little further down 82nd(near 37th ave). The only route I rode that was a private line was the Q33 because we came from LGA and we couldn't call for a taxi that time and this was before we moved to Florida. Ah...the only good time I had riding that route.

[R10 2952]

Never will I forget the days of the Triboro Coach Q38, the Queens Surface Q67, or the Green Lines Q11/Q60. Back when I lived in Middle Village, I didn't quite have the chance to take the Q67 before the MTA took it over, but I did take the Triboro Q38 until January 2007. Looking back on the Triboro days, I remember the loud, smoky GMC RTS buses, the Orion Vs with comfortable plush seats (what on Earth happened to them?), the weird Q60 and express QM23 Orions with the blue leather seats, faux wood paneling, and tiny rear doors, the leaks forming in the roofs during storms, the old bell cords, the red banded triboro buses, and the red/silver pinstriped-banded triboro buses. But most of all, I remember the colored seats of the private bus lines. Triboro had red seats with grey trim, Green Lines had green seats with dark green trim, Jamaica Bus Lines had brown seats with cream trim, and Queens Surface had orange seats with orange trim.(I never took Command. What seat trim did command have?)

[nycbusfan]

Those Triboro Orion V's now run on Spring Creek and Queens Surface routes.

[Cyberider]

I used to enjoy watching the NYBS Fishbowls on a webcam. Not nearly as interesting now.

[R10 2952]

Those Triboro Orion V's now run on Spring Creek and Queens Surface routes.

 

Really? Which routes specifically? Do they still have the comfortable seats?

[trainfan22]

Really? Which routes specifically? Do they still have the comfortable seats?

 

All routes out of CP and the BM1-5 at Spring Creek. And only the ones running in express service still have the surbuban seats, the ones in local service have old plastic seats from retired RTSs. They were renumbered in the 72XX range.

[nycbusfan]

All routes out of CP and the BM1-5 at Spring Creek. And only the ones running in express service still have the surbuban seats, the ones in local service have old plastic seats from retired RTSs. They were renumbered in the 72XX range.

College point runs some 7200's with soft seats in local service. I see them on the Q64 alot.

[Q53 Limited]

i remember when triboro and green lines had thier buses so outdated that as soon as they accelarated a big black smoke out from it's exhaust. talk about no clean act law was yet in place.

[eli]

i remember when triboro and green lines had thier buses so outdated that as soon as they accelarated a big black smoke out from it's exhaust. talk about no clean act law was yet in place.

 

it's true,I'm gald the Bus took over the NYCDOT's pravite bus lines,the NYCDOT parvite bus lines were not maintaining their buses well,the Bus maintains them better then the ex-PBLS.