It took NYC DOT too many years to complete any bus procurements before operators received and could provide the riding public with new modern buses. Too many buses in revenue service were between 12 and 27 years old, with far more mileage. In many cases, bus operators had to operate and maintain buses well beyond the industry standard useful life of 12 years and/or 500,000 miles. With insufficient income, they all counted on NYC DOT starting in the 1970s to begin purchasing replacement buses, fareboxes, radios and other support equipment for their respective aging bus fleets. For 35 years, these grant funds paid for replacement buses, radios, fare boxes, bus stop shelters, bus stop signs, bus washers, facility improvements and new bus garages for Queens Surface in College Point, Queens and Command Bus in Spring Creek, Brooklyn.Īll seven private bus companies could not survive on farebox revenues alone. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration. Virtually all of the capital funding was provided by grants from the U.S. Prior to 2005, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) using a combination of city, state and federal funding provided both capital and operating assistance to all seven private bus operators. The deal was supposed to benefit riders and taxpayers. Subsequently, they entered into a 50-year lease agreements to utilize and operate all of their garages and assets. They entered into an agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that created a new operating agency, MTA Bus Company, to continue service previously provided by these private bus operators. This included Green Bus Lines, Jamaica Buses and Triboro Coach Corporation, along with Queens Surface providing service in Queens, Command Bus (Brooklyn), Liberty Lines Bronx Express and New York Bus Service (Bronx). It was 18 years ago in 2005, when the city of New York initiated (completed by 2006) the purchase of seven remaining New York City (NYC) private bus operator franchises.

Nyc mta bus operator