Queens Surface Corporation was a

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

company in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, operating local service in

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

and

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and express service between Queens and

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 ...

until February 27, 2005, when the

MTA Bus Company MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the bus operations division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The MTA operates local, limited-stop, express, and Select Bus Service ( bus rapid transit) services across the city o ...

took over the operations. The company was known for its orange paint scheme, used since the company's inception in the late 1930s. Queens Surface Corporation was privately held by the Gordon and Burke families. The Queens Surface Corporation facility was located at 128-15 28th Avenue in the

College Point College Point is a working-middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Whitestone Expressway and Flushing; to the east by 138th Street and Malba/ Whitestone; to the north by the East River; a ...

neighborhood of Queens.

History

New York and Queens County Railway

The

New York and Queens County Railway Queens Surface Corporation was a bus company in New York City, United States, operating local service in Queens and the Bronx and express service between Queens and Manhattan until February 27, 2005, when the MTA Bus Company took over the operat ...

(NY&QC) became the largest trolley line in Queens in 1896, through the consolidation of four previous streetcar operators: Flushing and College Point Electric Railway, Long Island City and Newtown Railway, Newtown Railway, and the original Steinway Railway Company. It served

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 ...

, Woodside, Astoria, North Beach,

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 ...

, and even 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 ...

. Between 1903 and 1922, the NY&QC became an affiliate of the

Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...

. On June 24, 1930, the Woodside Car barn was hit with a massive fire that destroyed much of their fleet, along with the fleet of their competitors, the Steinway Railway (''see below'').

Steinway Railway

The Steinway Railway operated in northwestern Queens in 1892, through the merger of the Rikers Avenue and Sanford Point Railroad and Steinway and Hunters Point Railroad, only to be acquired by NY&QC in 1896. As NY&QC faced bankruptcy in 1922, it began to sell off Steinway as a somewhat independent company. It was bought by the Third Avenue Railway System but was allowed to operate under its own name.

Bustitution and re-merging

On February 19, 1926, NY&QC established a bus division called the Queens-Nassau Transit Lines. Queens-Nassau buses replaced all NY&QC trolleys by 1937, with the last being motorized on October 30 of that year. In the fall of 1938, the Steinway Railway was bought by

Queensboro Bridge Railway Company Queensborough or Queensboro may refer to: Places and geographic features *Queens, one of the five boroughs of New York City * Queensborough, New Westminster, a neighbourhood in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada; also the original name of th ...

and renamed as Steinway Omnibus. Steinway began operating buses over former Steinway Railway lines on September 29, 1939. Both companies were operated by the same management, and casually referred to as the "orange buses". Queens-Nassau was renamed Queens Transit Corporation in 1957, and Steinway Omnibus became Steinway Transit in 1959. The two companies merged again in 1986 to form the Queens/Steinway Transit Corporation. The joint company was owned by the

H.E. Salzberg Company H.E. Salzberg Company was a scrap dealer and operator of a group of shortline railroads and bus lines throughout the eastern United States. Headquartered in New York City, the company was primarily in the business of dismantling abandoned railroads ...

(

scrap metal Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

and short-haul railways) with father Harold Salzberg, son Murray M. Salzberg (1915-1984, aged 69) and grandson Harry Salzberg, which had ripped up the rails, running these two companies until 1988, when the Linden Bus Company acquired the routes from the aging grandson Harry Salzberg. Shortly thereafter and before operations commenced, Linden Bus Company changed its name to Queens Surface Corporation. On February 27, 2005, the

took over the operations of the Queens Surface routes, part of the city's takeover of all the remaining privately operated bus routes.

Bus routes

Prior to MTA Bus takeover, Queens Surface operated the following routes that are now based in

College Point Bus Depot MTA Regional Bus Operations operates local and express buses serving New York City in the United States out of 27 bus depots. These depots are located in all five boroughs of the city, plus one located in nearby Yonkers in Westchester County. 1 ...

, the LaGuardia Depot (the former

Triboro Coach Triboro Coach Corporation was a bus company in New York City, United States, operating local service in Queens and express routes to Manhattan until February 20, 2006, when MTA Bus took over all of its bus operations and services. History Salvat ...

depot), and the

Eastchester Depot MTA Regional Bus Operations operates local and express buses serving New York City in the United States out of 27 bus garage, bus depots. These depots are located in all five boroughs of the city, plus one located in nearby Yonkers, New York, Yo ...

(the former

New York Bus Service New York Bus Service was a private bus company in New York City. Originally a school bus company founded in the mid-1940s, it was known for providing express bus service between Midtown Manhattan and eastern sections of the Bronx from 1970 unti ...

depot in the Bronx).

Depots

Queens Surface depot

Queens Surface's depot was located at 128-15 28th Avenue in the

section of

, near the printing plant of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and the former site of

Flushing Airport Flushing Airport was an airfield in northern Queens in New York City. It was located in the neighborhood of College Point, near Flushing. The airfield operated from 1929 to 1984. History Flushing Airport was constructed atop of wetlands be ...

. It was built in 1997 by the

NYCDOT The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure. Ydanis Rodriguez is the Commissioner of the Depart ...

, and leased to Queens Surface. Many buses under Queens Surface used

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in ...

(CNG). It is now the College Point Depot of the MTA Bus Company.

Steinway Transit depot

The Steinway Transit depot, built in 1939, was located at the northwest corner of

Steinway Street Steinway Street is a major street in the borough (New York City), borough of Queens in New York City, New York (state), New York, in the United States. Steinway Street is a 2.4 mile two-way street that runs north-south between Berrian Boulevar ...

and 20th Avenue in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

, near the northern terminus of the company's route. It was the successor to the Steinway Railway depot. The trolley depot sat across from the

Daimler Manufacturing Company The Daimler Manufacturing Company (DMFG), was a boutique United States, American automaker company from 1898 to 1907. From 1888 to 1898, the company was known as the Daimler Motor Company (DMC), formed under a partnership between Gottlieb Daimle ...

automobile factory, opened in 1890 by

Gottlieb Daimler Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development. He invented the high-speed liquid petroleum-fue ...

and local businessman

William Steinway William Steinway, also known as Wilhelm Steinway (born Wilhelm Steinweg; March 5, 1835 – November 30, 1896), son of Steinway & Sons founder Henry E. Steinway, was a businessman and civic leader who was influential in the development of Astoria, ...

. The bus depot was closed prior to the company's takeover by the city, and has long been demolished, and replaced by new apartment buildings, similar to what was done at the old West Farms Depot site.

Woodside Garage

The Woodside Garage was located at 51-00

Northern Boulevard New York State Route 25A (NY 25A) is a state highway on Long Island in New York (state), New York, United States. It serves as the main east–west route for most of the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, running ...

, at the southeast corner 51st Street and Northern Boulevard in

Woodside, Queens Woodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the borough (New York City), borough of Queens in New York City. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, Queens, Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, Queens, Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside, ...

, adjacent to the Winfield Junction 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 ...

. It was the original headquarters of Queens-Nassau Transit. It was also the successor to the NY&QC Woodside Trolley Barn, which opened in 1896 and burned down on June 24, 1930. The front facade of the trolley barn survives as a

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

store in the Tower Square Shopping Center.

References

*''Lost Trolleys of Queens and Long Island'' by Stephen L. Meyers, 2006

External links

Queens Surface Corp
(via the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

)
''New York and Queens County Railway and the Steinway Lines, 1867-1939''

Chicago Transit & Railfan Web Site: New York City TransitTrolley Barn with Anchovies: Woodside's Trolley Terminal (Forgotten New York)
{{Steinway & Sons Transport companies established in 1926 Bus transportation in New York City Defunct public transport operators in the United States Transport companies disestablished in 2005 1926 establishments in New York (state) 2005 disestablishments in New York (state)