View source for Fifth Avenue Coach Company

{{Short description|Defunct bus company in the New York metropolitan area}}
{{Infobox Bus transit
| name            = Fifth Avenue Coach Company
| logo            =
| logo_size       =
| image           = Fifth Avenue Coach Company Yellow Coach Z-BH-602 1263.jpg
| image_size      = 250px
| image_caption   = FACCO [[Yellow Coach]] #1263, which ran from 1931 to 1953, and for other operators for 50+ years afterward throughout the US and Canada, preserved by the [[New York Transit Museum]] and on display near [[Times Square]] in [[Manhattan]].
| company_slogan  = See New York - The Motor Coach Way
| parent          = See the article
| founded         = {{Start date and age|1896}}
| defunct         = {{End date and age|1962}}
| headquarters    = 605 West 132nd Street<br>New York, NY
| locale          = [[New York metropolitan area|Greater New York]]
| service_area    = [[Manhattan]], [[Queens]], [[The Bronx]], and [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]]
| service_type    = Local bus transit
| alliance        =
| routes          =
| destinations    =
| stops           =
| hubs            =
| stations        =
| lounge          =
| fleet           =
| ridership       =
| fuel_type       =
| operator        =
| ceo             =
| leader_type     =
| leader          =
| website         =
}}
The '''Fifth Avenue Coach Company''' was a bus operator in [[Manhattan]],  [[The Bronx]], [[Queens]], and [[Westchester County, New York]], providing public transit between 1896 and 1954 after which services were taken over by the [[New York City Omnibus Corporation]]. It succeeded the [[Fifth Avenue Transportation Company]].
==History==
[[File:NYC Transit Authority FACCo GM TDH-5106 Old Look 3100.jpg|left|thumb|A single-deck Fifth Avenue Coach bus operated in the late 1950s, running here in special holiday service in November 2009.]]
The company was founded in 1896 when it succeeded the bankrupt [[Fifth Avenue Transportation Company]].<ref name=E/> It initially operated existing horse-and-omnibus transit along [[Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)|Fifth Avenue]], with a route running from 89th Street to Bleecker Street. Fifth Avenue is the only avenue in Manhattan never to see streetcar service due to the opposition of residents to the installation of railway track for [[tram|streetcars]].<ref name=B/><ref name=C>{{cite web|url=http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/fifthave.html|title=Guide to the Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection, 1895-1962 - Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection|publisher=New York Historical Society|access-date=20 December 2008}}</ref> The company introduced electric buses two years later<ref name=B/> and was acquired by the newly formed [[New York Transportation Company]] in 1899.<ref name=E/>
They introduced a fleet of 15 of their own [[bus|motorbus]]es in 1907 that operated along Fifth Avenue and on some crosstown routes.<ref name=B>{{cite web|url=http://www.arch.columbia.edu/hp/studio/2005-2006/history/history_themes5.html |title=GSAPP Historic Preservation Studio 2005-2006 |access-date=20 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705064320/http://www.arch.columbia.edu/hp/studio/2005-2006/history/history_themes5.html |archive-date=July 5, 2007 }}</ref><ref name=D>{{cite web|url=http://www.transitmuseumeducation.org/bus100.html|title=MTA - New York Transit Museum - Education|access-date=20 December 2008}}</ref> The company became independent of the New York Transportation Company in 1912.<ref name=E>{{cite web|url=http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/f/fifth_avenue/fifth_avenue.htm|title=CoachBuilt.com - Fifth Avenue Coach|access-date=20 December 2008}}</ref>
In 1925, the year that they came under control of [[The Omnibus Corporation]], the company purchased a majority share in the [[New York Railways Corporation]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/24/archives/coach-line-ready-to-rip-up-car-tracks-in-a-wide-bus-plan-fifth-av.html|title=COACH LINE READY TO RIP UP CAR TRACKS IN A WIDE BUS PLAN; Fifth Av. Company Promises Quick Start if the city Approves Project. | work=The New York Times | date=24 May 1926 |page=1}}</ref>
When the New York Railways Corporation started converting streetcar lines to buses in 1935–36, the new replacement bus services were operated by the [[New York City Omnibus Corporation]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PYEiu6CC7AC|title=Securities and Exchange Commission|page=238|year=1945|quote=The New York Omnibus Corporation, successor to the New York Railways Corporation commenced the operation of bus route in 1936. In all but one year since then it has been profitable}}</ref> which had been formed in 1926 and had shared management with The Omnibus Corporation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/a/american_motor_bus/american_motor_bus.htm|title=Gas-Electric Motorbus Co., Roland Gas-Electric Vehicle Co., New York Motor Bus Co....|quote=New York City Omnibus Corp. was formed in 1926 with Ritchie president)}}</ref> New York Railways Corporation was dissolved in 1936.
The [[New York and Harlem Railroad]] trolleys were replaced by [[Madison Avenue Coach Company, Inc.]] buses, and the [[Eighth Avenue Railroad|Eighth]] and [[Ninth Avenue Railroad|Ninth Avenue Railway]] trolleys by [[Eighth Avenue Coach Corporation]] buses, both companies owned by Fifth Avenue Coach.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/01/04/archives/5-bus-franchises-are-under-inquiry-windels-is-studying-25year.html|title=5 Bus Franchises are Under Inquiry|work=The New York Times|date=4 January 1934|page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/10/05/archives/buses-to-run-soon-on-8th-and-9th-avs-estimate-board-awards-tenyear.html|title=Buses to Run Soon on 8th and 9th Avs.|work=The New York Times|date=5 October 1935|page=17}}</ref> (Fourth and Madison Avenues; 86th Street Crosstown was not replaced with buses).  Madison Avenue Coach and Eighth Avenue Coach were folded into New York City Omnibus in November 1951.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/11/09/archives/bus-merger-in-city-approved-by-psc-new-york-omnibus-eighth-and.html |title=Bus Merger in City Approved by P.S.C. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=9 November 1951 |page=28}}</ref>
In 1954 The Omnibus Corporation sold the Fifth Avenue Coach Company to the New York City Omnibus Corporation<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dlib.nyu.edu/eadapp/transform?source=nyhs/fifthave.xml&style=nyhs/nyhs.xsl&part=body|title=Guide to the Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection 1895-1962|work=New York History Society|quote=In 1954, after acquiring the Hertz car rental business, the Omnibus Corporation sold the assets of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company to the New York City Omnibus Corporation, which was renamed Fifth Avenue Coach Lines in 1956. }}</ref> which changed its name to [[Fifth Avenue Coach Lines]] two years later. In 1956, the company also acquired the [[Third Avenue Railway#Westchester Street Railroad Co.|Westchester Street Transportation Company]], a bus company previously affiliated with the [[Third Avenue Railway]]. The same year, they also acquired the [[Surface Transportation Corporation]], and allowed it to operate under a new name as a subsidiary of Fifth Avenue. After a strike in 1962, and a fight for control with financier [[Harry Weinberg]], bus operations were taken over by the city.<ref>{{cite book |title= Rutledge Unionism: Labor Relations in the Honolulu Transit Industry |author= Bernard W. Stern |publisher= University of Hawai'i, Center for Labor Education & Research |year= 1986 |chapter= Part III: The Weinberg Era  |url= http://www.hawaii.edu/uhwo/clear/Pubs/RutledgeUnionism.html#P3 }}</ref> Buses in Westchester survived the strike and city takeover until they were acquired by [[Liberty Lines Transit]] in 1969.
==Routes==
The routes that were operated by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company are listed below.
{| class="wikitable sortable"  style="font-size: 95%;" |
|-
!Route
!Terminal A
!Major streets of travel
!Terminal B
|-
|1
|'''[[Washington Square Park, New York|Washington Square Park]]'''
|Fifth Avenue
|'''[[Harlem]]'''<br>5 Avenue/138 Street
|-
|2
|'''[[Madison Square]]'''
|Fifth Avenue<br>Seventh Avenue<br><small>(today's Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard)</small><br>Edgecombe Avenue
|'''[[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]]'''<br>Broadway/167 Street
|-
|3
|'''Washington Square Park'''
|Fifth Avenue<br>St. Nicholas Avenue or Convent Avenue<br><small>(within [[Hamilton Heights]])</small><br>St. Nicholas Avenue<br><small>(within Washington Heights)</small>
|'''Washington Heights'''<br>St. Nicholas Avenue/193 Street
|-
|4
|'''[[Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963)|New York Penn Station]]'''
|Fifth Avenue<br>Central Park North/Cathedral Parkway<br>Riverside Drive<br>Broadway<br>Fort Washington Avenue
|'''[[The Cloisters]]'''
|-
|5/19
|'''Washington Square Park'''
|Fifth Avenue<br>West 57 Street<br>Broadway<br>Riverside Drive<br><small>(through the [[Upper West Side]])</small><br>Broadway (5 through Hamilton Heights)<br>Riverside Drive (19 through Hamilton Heights)
|'''Washington Heights'''<br>Broadway/167 Street
|-
|6
|'''Upper West Side'''<br>West 72 Street<br>Central Park West
|Broadway<br>West 57 Street<br>Fifth Avenue<br>East 72 Street
|'''[[Yorkville, Manhattan|Yorkville]]'''<br>East 72 Street/York Avenue
|-
|9
|'''Washington Square Park'''
|Fifth Avenue<br>West 57 Street<br>Broadway
|'''Upper West Side'''<br>West 72 Street<br>Central Park West
|-
|15
|'''Madison Square'''
|Fifth Avenue<br>[[Queensboro Bridge]]<br>Queens Boulevard<br>Roosevelt Avenue
|
*'''[[Jackson Heights, Queens|Jackson Heights]]'''<br>Northern Boulevard/81 Street
or
*'''[[Corona, Queens|Corona]]'''<br>[[Flushing Meadows–Corona Park]]
|-
|16
|'''Jackson Heights'''<br>Northern Boulevard/81 Street
|81/82 Streets<br>Baxter Avenue<br>Broadway
|'''[[Elmhurst, Queens|Elmhurst]]'''<br>Broadway and Queens Boulevard
|-
|20
|'''[[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen]]'''<br>12 Avenue/West 55 Street
|57 Street Crosstown
|'''[[Sutton Place, Manhattan|Sutton Place]]<br>Sutton Place and East 59 Street'''
|}
==See also==
*[[Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority]], successor to FACCST within New York City
*[[Liberty Lines Transit, Inc.]], successor to the FACCST routes in Westchester County
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/f/fifth_avenue/fifth_avenue.htm Fifth Avenue Transportation Company, 1885-1895; Fifth Avenue Coach Company, 1895-1962, New York, New York]
* [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/fifthave/ The Fifth Avenue Coach Company Collection] at the New-York Historical Society
{{NYC surface transit}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1896 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:1962 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1896]]
[[Category:American companies disestablished in 1962]]
[[Category:Transport companies established in 1896]]
[[Category:Transport companies disestablished in 1962]]
[[Category:1899 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:1925 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:1954 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:Fifth Avenue]]
[[Category:Surface transportation in Greater New York]]
[[Category:Bus transportation in New York City]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in New York City]]
[[Category:Defunct public transport operators in the United States]]