Double-decker buses in New York are strictly used for tourist rides these days. But that wasn’t always the case: The city once teemed with them, like London.
New Yorkers can find a vestige of that bygone era at the New York Transit Museum’s annual Bus Fest at Brooklyn Bridge Park this Sunday. The event is basically the Woodstock of buses. And the headlining act is “Betsy,” a century-old double-decker bus that once trundled along Manhattan’s streets. When the bus lovers see good ol’ Betsy, they go nuts.
Betsy, a forest green Z-type bus with a mustard yellow-accented upper deck, was manufactured in 1930 and run by the Fifth Avenue Coach company in New York City until 1947. Its wine-red vinyl seats and wood paneling are a testament to the quality craftsmanship that’s no longer en vogue in mass transit. And beautiful Betsy remains in near perfect condition even though she was sold to an Alaskan tourist company and then to an operator in Toronto. Betsy lives in the Bronx and rarely makes public appearances, much like a star from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Courtesy New York Transit Museum/Photo by Patrick Cashin
These types of double-decker buses were common in New York City up until the 1950s, according to the Transit Museum’s curator Jodi Shapiro.
The buses required a driver as well as a conductor who collected fares, so they were costly to operate. They also required more fuel and maintenance than conventional buses. But the advent of overhead traffic lights was a primary reason they stopped running in New York.
When double deckers first appeared in New York in the 1930s, traffic lights were positioned on corners, not hanging over the streets, Shapiro said. When the newfangled traffic signals were installed, the two-tiered buses kept smacking into them.
“ When traffic signals started getting hung over roadways in some areas of Manhattan the buses would interfere with their operation,” Shapiro said. “And then trees that would grow over the road, the bus would hit some of the lower branches.”
Shapiro said the buses were also popular in other U.S. cities like Chicago, as well as Europe. Betsy could hold 67 passengers, about as many as today’s MTA articulated accordion buses, also known as “bendy bois.”
Shapiro said an Alaskan touring company called “Skagway Transportation Service Have Bus Will Travel” purchased Betsy in 1961. Shapiro believes the bus was driven out to Alaska, where it was used for tours. Its engine was replaced in 1978, and Shapiro said the bus ended up in Toronto at some point. That’s where Betsy was when the Transit Museum got the call in 2004 asking if New York wanted her back.
MTA officials have considered restoring double-decker bus service in New York over the last 50 years. In 1976, the transit agency ordered eight of them to test out in New York thanks to a federal grant. After a three-year pilot, officials decided not to move forward with the double deckers.
But the MTA couldn’t shake the dream. Transit officials piloted a double-decker in 2008 and again in 2018 on express routes. But neither of those trials led to their permanent return.
For now, Betsy’s appearance at Bus Fest is your best bet to see a double-decker bus of this era in New York — and the country.
“ I wouldn't think there were that many because a lot, the buses that were decommissioned, double-decker buses were scrapped,” Shapiro said.
The Transit Museum’s peers at the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania were envious when they heard about Betsy, agreeing a bus of this era in this condition is about as rare as a hen’s teeth.
“ I'm not saying there isn't one, but I do not know of another one in the U.S.,” Dave Millhouser, a former bus salesperson and volunteer at Hershey’s museum, told Gothamist. “ It's very rare.”
Curious Commuter
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“Why can't NYC have automated subways such as Seoul, Paris, London, Hong Kong and any other major cities in the world? I feel like the L train would be a great start as it doesn't share any tracks with other trains and it's one of the most used lines in NYC.”
- Alex in Brooklyn
You’re on the right track, Alex. The L and the 7 trains are the only two subway lines in New York City that run on automatic systems from end to end. That’s thanks to the MTA’s installation of modern signal systems called communications-based train control. But trains on those lines still have two-person crews like much of the rest of the city. The operators at the front of the automated trains don’t actually drive them — they essentially just push a button several times each minute to let a system know they’re monitoring the tracks. The MTA is working on rolling out new signal technology on other lines that would make other lines fully automated.
But don’t expect the MTA to cut any transit worker jobs as train operators become obsolete. This year, the Legislature passed a bill that’s currently before Gov. Kathy Hochul that would effectively legally mandate two-person train crews. It’s a move Transport Workers Union Local 100 supports. Right now, the city runs one-person crews on shorter trains, including the shuttles, and has done it on the G and the M on weekends.
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