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 operations. The company was known for its orange paint scheme, used since the company's inception in the late 1930s.[1]
Queens Surface Corporation was privately held by the Gordon and Burke families.[2] The Queens Surface Corporation facility was located at 128-15 28th Avenue in the College Point neighborhood of Queens.
The New York and Queens County Railway (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, Woodside, Astoria, North Beach, College Point, Jamaica, and even the Queensboro Bridge. Between 1903 and 1922, the NY&QC became an affiliate of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company.[3] 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).
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.
On February 19, 1926, NY&QC established a bus division called the Queens-Nassau Transit Lines.[4] Queens-Nassau buses replaced all NY&QC trolleys by 1937, with the last being motorized on October 30 of that year.[5] In the fall of 1938, the Steinway Railway was bought by Queensboro Bridge Railway Company and renamed as Steinway Omnibus. Steinway began operating buses over former Steinway Railway lines on September 29, 1939.[5] Both companies were operated by the same management, and casually referred to as the "orange buses".[6] Queens-Nassau was renamed Queens Transit Corporation in 1957, and Steinway Omnibus became Steinway Transit in 1959.[7] 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 (scrap metal 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 MTA Bus Company took over the operations of the Queens Surface routes, part of the city's takeover of all the remaining privately operated bus routes.[8] [9]
Prior to MTA Bus takeover, Queens Surface operated the following routes that are now based in College Point Bus Depot, the LaGuardia Depot (the former Triboro Coach depot), and the Eastchester Depot (the former New York Bus Service depot in the Bronx).[10] [11]
| Route | Terminal A | Major streets of travel | Terminal B | Notes/History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FORMER QUEENS SURFACE CORPORATION BUS ROUTES | ||||
| Bronx and Queens Local | ||||
| QBx1 | Flushing Main Street and 39th Avenue near Flushing – Main Street | Whitestone Expressway, Hutchinson River Parkway, Bruckner Boulevard, Co-op City Boulevard | Co-op City, Bronx Earhart Lane and Erskine Place | Limited Stop Service; most service ran exclusively between Pelham Bay Park and Co-op City. Interborough service is now called the . Co-op City shuttle service is now the . |
| Queens Local | ||||
| Q25 | Jamaica Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue at Sutphin Boulevard – Archer Avenue – JFK Airport and Jamaica LIRR / AirTrain Station | Parsons Boulevard, Kissena Boulevard, 127th Street | College Point Poppenhusen Avenue and 119th Street |
|
| Q34 | Parsons Boulevard, Kissena Boulevard, Union Street | Whitestone Willets Point Boulevard and 149th Street |
| |
| Q65 | 164th Street, 45th Avenue, College Point Boulevard | College Point 14th Avenue and 110th Street |
| |
| Q65A | Forest Hills Queens Boulevard and 71st Avenue at Forest Hills – 71st Avenue | Jewel Avenue | Electchester 164th Street and Jewel Avenue |
|
| Q66 | Long Island City 28th Street and Queens Plaza South at Queensboro Plaza and Queens Plaza | 21st Street, 35th Avenue, Northern Boulevard | Flushing Main Street and 39th Avenue near Flushing – Main Street |
|
| Q67 | 21st Street, Borden Avenue, 55th Avenue, 69th Street | Middle Village Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road |
| |
| Queens-Manhattan express | ||||
| QM2 | Midtown Manhattan 6th Avenue | Manhattan: 34th Street, 6th Avenue (or 3rd Avenue), 57th Street (Manhattan bound), 59th Street (Queens bound) Queens: Whitestone Expressway service road (weekdays only), Parsons Boulevard (weekends only), Cross Island Parkway service road | Bay Terrace Bay Terrace Shopping Center |
|
| QM2A | Manhattan: 34th Street, 6th Avenue, 57th Street (Manhattan bound), 59th Street (Queens bound) Queens: Willets Point Boulevard, Utopia Parkway, 26th Avenue | Bay Terrace Corporal Kennedy Street and 23rd Avenue |
| |
| QM3 | Manhattan: 34th Street, 6th Avenue, 57th Street (Manhattan bound), 59th Street (Queens bound) Queens: Northern Boulevard, Little Neck Parkway. | Little Neck Little Neck Parkway and Horace Harding Expressway |
| |
| QM4 | Manhattan: 34th Street, 6th Avenue (or 3rd Avenue), 57th Street Queens: Jewel Avenue | Electchester 164th Street and Horace Harding Expressway |
| |
| FORMER STEINWAY TRANSIT BUS ROUTES | ||||
| Queens Local | ||||
| Q101 | East Midtown, Manhattan East 61st Street and 2nd Avenue | Northern Boulevard, Steinway Street, 20th Avenue | Steinway 77th Street and Hazen Street |
|
| Q101R | Long Island City Jackson Avenue and Queens Plaza South at Queensboro Plaza and Queens Plaza | 21st Street, 20th Avenue | Rikers Island, Bronx |
|
| Q102 | Roosevelt Island, Manhattan Coler-Goldwater Hospital | Main Street (Manhattan), Vernon Boulevard, 31st Street, 30th Avenue | Astoria 27th Avenue and 2nd Street |
|
| Q103 | Hunters Point Borden Avenue and Vernon Boulevard at Vernon Boulevard – Jackson Avenue and Long Island City LIRR station | Vernon Boulevard | Astoria 27th Avenue and 2nd Street |
|
| Q104 | Ravenswood Vernon Boulevard and 34th Avenue | Broadway, 48th Street | Sunnyside 48th Street and Queens Boulevard at 46th Street – Bliss Street |
|
| Queens-Manhattan express | ||||
| QM1 | Midtown Manhattan 6th Avenue or Downtown Manhattan Downtown Loop | Manhattan: 34th Street, 6th Avenue, 57th Street Queens: Union Turnpike, 188th Street | Fresh Meadows 188th Street and 64th Avenue |
|
| QM1A | Manhattan: 34th Street, 6th Avenue, 57th Street Queens: Union Turnpike, 73rd Avenue, Horace Harding Expressway, Lakeville Road | Glen Oaks 260th Street and Union Turnpike or Lake Success North Shore Towers |
| |
See also: Bus depots of MTA Regional Bus Operations.
Queens Surface's depot was located at 128-15 28th Avenue in the College Point section of Queens, near the printing plant of The New York Times and the former site of Flushing Airport.[25] [26] [27] It was built in 1997 by the NYCDOT, and leased to Queens Surface.[25] [28] Many buses under Queens Surface used compressed natural gas (CNG).[29] [28] It is now the College Point Depot of the MTA Bus Company.[8] [28]
The Steinway Transit depot, built in 1939, was located at the northwest corner of Steinway Street and 20th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, near the northern terminus of the company's route.[30] [31] It was the successor to the Steinway Railway depot.[5] The trolley depot sat across from the Daimler Manufacturing Company automobile factory, opened in 1890 by Gottlieb Daimler and local businessman William Steinway.[32] [33] [34] 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.
The Woodside Garage was located at 51-00 Northern Boulevard, at the southeast corner 51st Street and Northern Boulevard in Woodside, Queens, adjacent to the Winfield Junction of the Long Island Rail Road. It was the original headquarters of Queens-Nassau Transit.[35] [36] It was also the successor to the NY&QC Woodside Trolley Barn, which opened in 1896 and burned down on June 24, 1930.[5] [37] The front facade of the trolley barn survives as a Verizon store in the Tower Square Shopping Center.[37]