Grand Concourse buses

The New York City Transit Authority operates two bus routes - the Bx1 Grand Concourse and Bx2 Grand Concourse - on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, New York City, United States. As the numbers suggest, these were the first two bus franchises in the Bronx.

Bx1 and Bx2 buses

Except at their extreme ends, the Bx1 and Bx2 share the same aligmnent. The only differences are:

• In Mott Haven, the Bx2 turns east at Hostos Community College and then runs along 149th Street to serve the shopping district between there and Third Avenue, then operating down Third Avenue, while the Bx1 continues down the Grand Concourse.
• In Kingsbridge Heights, only the Bx1 (except for some early morning Bx2 cut-ins and early Sunday AM service) continues down into Riverdale along 231 Street.

The Bx1 and Bx2 bus routes share the majority of their alignment from the Grand Concourse and 149th Street north along the Concourse and Mosholu Parkway and west along Sedgwick Avenue to Heath Avenue on the west side of the Jerome Park Reservoir. At their ends, a divergence occurs as noted above.

Until August 2008, when permanent traffic reconfigurations were done in Mott Haven at 149th Street, Melrose/Willis Avenues, and Third Avenue, the Bx2 turned east off of the Grand Concourse at 165th Street and ran down Melrose Avenue to 149th Street.

Along the way, connections to the subway can be made at Third Avenue – 138th Street, 138th Street – Grand Concourse (Bx1 only), 149th Street – Grand Concourse, Third Avenue – 149th Street (Bx2 only), 161st Street – Yankee Stadium, Bedford Park Boulevard, Mosholu Parkway, and 231st Street (Bx1 all times, Bx2 Weekday [S/B only] and Sunday mornings only). As of September 2010, only Bx1 includes limited-stop buses on weekdays and Saturdays from roughly 6:30 am to 7:30 pm. Before September 2010, both routes included limited-stop service. ^[1]

History

Concourse Bus Line, Inc. was incorporated in early July 1921 by Major Emit Leindorf,^[2] deputy police commissioner in charge of motor transport under Mayor Hylan.^[3] The company soon began operating on the Grand Concourse as part of Hylan's "emergency bus lines". The Third Avenue Railway obtained an injunction against the operation on early March 1923,^[4] leading the city to assign two franchises to the company in mid-April, from Grand Concourse and Mosholu Parkway south to Fifth Avenue (Harlem, Manhattan) and Melrose Avenue and 150th Street (the Hub, Bronx).^[5] Along with a route to the Rockaways, the Concourse service was one of only two of Hylan's lines unaffected by a July 1923 injunction, since they had franchises,^[6] but were discontinued anyway by September 1924^[7] due to the failure of the five-cent fare to pay the costs.^[8]

The franchises were reassigned to the Fifth Avenue Coach Company, which began operating the routes on October 11, 1924 for ten cents. (The Manhattan line had been truncated to 138th Street in the Bronx.)^[9][10] On September 14, 1927, the routes were again reassigned to the Surface Transportation Corporation, the bus subidiary of the Third Avenue Railway, as two of its initial twelve routes.^[11] The bankrupt Surface Transportation Corporation's routes were taken over by Fifth Avenue Coach Lines in 1956,^[12] and the New York City Transit Authority subsidiary Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority acquired all of the Fifth Avenue Coach routes in 1962.^[13]

References

1. ^ Bx1/Bx2 timetable, effective September 2006
2. ^ New York Times, New Incorporations, July 7, 1921, page 32
3. ^ New York Times, Hylan Ex-Aide Sues Fifth Av. Bus Line, October 17, 1931, page 13
4. ^ New York Times, Bronx Bus Line Must Stop, March 4, 1923, page H8
5. ^ New York Times, Concourse Bus Line Gets Its Franchise, April 21, 1923, page 19
6. ^ New York Times, City's Bus Appeal is Denied by Court, July 15, 1923, page 1
7. ^ New York Times, Interboro Offers Plan to Run Buses, September 17, 1924, page 25
8. ^ Zachary M. Schrag, The Bus Is Young and Honest, page 21, accessed April 1, 2007
9. ^ New York Times, Hylan Gives Way to 10-Cent Buses for a Bronx Need, October 11, 1924, page 1
10. ^ New York Times, Ovation Welcomes Buses on Concourse, October 12, 1924, page 26
11. ^ New York Times, Bronx Bus Routes Approved by Board, September 15, 1927, page 10
12. ^ New York Times, Court Completes City Bus Merger, December 18, 1956, page 1
13. ^ New York Times, Profit for Seized Bus Routes Foreseen by Transit Chairman, April 11, 1962, page 31