The Manhattan and Queens Traction Company, also known as the Manhattan and Queens Transit Company, was a

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

company operating in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and

Queens County, New York Queens is the largest by area of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn and by Nassau County ...

between 1913 and 1937.

History

The Manhattan and Queens Traction Company was originally part of the

South Shore Traction Company The Manhattan and Queens Traction Company, also known as the Manhattan and Queens Transit Company, was a streetcar company operating in Manhattan and Queens County, New York between 1913 and 1937. History The Manhattan and Queens Traction Compa ...

based in

Sayville, New York Sayville is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Located on the South Shore of Long Island in the Town of Islip, the population of the CDP was 16,569 at the time of the 2020 census. History The earli ...

. The company was established in 1903 as a horsecar service, and built two lines; both of which began at

Sayville Railroad Station Sayville is a station on the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road in the hamlet of Sayville, New York, on Depot Street between Greeley Avenue and Railroad Avenue. Ferries to Fire Island board from a nearby port located to the station's so ...

. One line ran from Railroad Avenue down to

Montauk Highway Montauk Highway is an east–west road extending for across the southern shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It extends from the Amityville, New York, Amityville–Copiague, New York, Copiague line, where ...

and then to Candee Road towards the

Great South Bay The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about long and has an average depth of and is at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island ...

. The other ran from the station to Middle Road through Bayport then turned north Oakwood Avenue, then east along the south side of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City to Montauk. However, in LIRR maps and sche ...

onto Railroad Street which served Bayport LIRR Station. Railroad Street becomes Maple Street in Blue Point, and the trolley that ran along it turned north onto Blue Point Avenue where it momentarily connected to Blue Point station before reaching

. Their original plans were far more ambitious. Besides a line running east into Patchogue, they were proposing a cross island trolley line, which was intended to run north through

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Lake Ronkonkoma Lake Ronkonkoma is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, on Long Island, New York, United States. The population was 18,619 at the time of the 2020 census. Located on the north and east sides of the eponymous lake, La ...

, Saint James, Stony Brook, Setauket,

East Setauket East Setauket is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Brookhaven, in Suffolk County, on Long Island, New York, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census, at which time it had a population of 10,998. Bef ...

, and finally

Port Jefferson Port Jefferson, also known as Port Jeff, is an Administrative divisions of New York (state)#Village, incorporated village in the Administrative divisions of New York (state)#Town, town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New Y ...

. Beyond that it also planned to build lines through Nassau and Queens Counties, as part of their charter to connect to all the lines on Long Island, mostly along the South Shore. As part of the effort to do so, it acquired and operated a line across the

Queensboro Bridge The Queensboro Bridge, officially the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens with the Midtown Manhattan ...

from

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...

. However, it was unable to break through the monopoly of the LIRR-held lines in Nassau County such as the

New York and Long Island Traction Company The New York and Long Island Traction Company was a street railway company in Queens and Nassau County, New York, United States. It was partially owned by a holding company for the Long Island Rail Road and partially by the Interborough Rapid T ...

, as well as local litigation. The railroad sold off its original two lines to the

Suffolk Traction Company The Suffolk Traction Company is a former streetcar system in Suffolk County, New York. It operated primarily between Patchogue and Holtsville, New York, Holtsville, but also included a route that served Blue Point, New York, Blue Point, Bayport, ...

, and moved to Long Island City in 1912, re-chartering themselves as the Manhattan and Queens Transportation Company. The main line of the M&QT was that line along the Queensboro Bridge, but it was expanded into Woodside, Elmhurst, Forest Hills, and finally

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

by 1914. The terminus in Jamaica was largely due to trackage rights with the

Brooklyn Rapid Transit The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using ...

subsidiary known as the

Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad The Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad (BQC&S) was a street railway company in Brooklyn and Queens, New York (state), New York, United States. It originated as a horsecar line until it was acquired by the Long Island Traction Company o ...

. This was officially known as the Queens Boulevard Line. Other than this, it contained a short industrial track along Van Dam Street in Long Island City, and a slight extension south of Jamaica Station that was to be part of a never-completed southern extension. The last trolleys of the M&QT ran in 1937. The company converted itself into the Manhattan and Queens Bus Corporation, running the line as the Q60 bus and was bought out by

Green Bus Lines Green Bus Lines, also referred to as Green Lines, was a private bus company in New York City. It operated local service in Queens and express service to Manhattan until January 9, 2006, when the city-operated MTA Bus Company took over its route ...

in 1943.

References

External links

Public Transportation: Railroad, Liveries and Trolleys, Buses (Sayville Historical Society)
{{NYC streetcar transit Streetcar lines in Queens, New York Streetcar lines in Manhattan Defunct public transport operators in the United States Defunct New York (state) railroads Railway companies established in 1913 Railway companies disestablished in 1937 1913 establishments in New York City American companies disestablished in 1937