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Jersey City DOT Flex New Look oddities.....
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:28 pm    Post subject: Jersey City DOT Flex New Look oddities..... Reply with quote

All:

Firstly, note this 1977 photo of a "CENTRAL AVENUE" Flex New Look, was snapped near the abandoned CNJ ferry terminal on Johnston Avenue.

Note "CNJ STA." on the roller curtain.

This reading has always puzzled me, as, not only had the CNJ terminal been closed since April, 1967, it would be several more years before it partially re-opened to the public, as part of Liberty State Park.

As the CNJ gave up freight service in Jersey City by 1973, and the LV float operations being abandoned when ConRail took the helm in 1976 (this would have been about the time the DOT Flex New Looks began to arrive); this meant that there were no longer any rail employees at this location, that might have used the "CENTRAL AVENUE" buses.

Too, as the predominant color of the old "CENTRAL AVENUE" buses was brown, the new buses should have worn a BROWN stripe, which would have been more "in sync" with the new "GREENVILLE" buses.......

"NYO"

See: http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2957

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:39 pm; edited 2 times in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now, here we have a "LAFAYETTE & GREENVILLE" DOT Flex; note that it sports an ORANGE stripe, which would have been more appropriate for the "BERGEN AVENUE" buses, which had long been been predominantly orange.

These buses should have had a GREEN stripe applied......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?692

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The orange stripe on this "BERGEN AVENUE" Flex, at least, makes sense, as orange had long been the predominate color of the "BERGEN AVENUE" fleet.

This "scheme" is virtually the same as that used on the "GREENVILLE" DOT buses.......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?114

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's an "oddball" photo of a "BERGEN AVENUE" Flex, dating to May, 1980.

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?126

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

Note that the bus is near the Holland Tunnel at Canal Street; the roller curtain displays "JOURNAL SQUARE".

Note too, that, even this is an a/c bus, the passengers have the windows opened.

As this was about the time of the nearly back-to-back MTA/PATH strikes, I'm wondering if this run was a service that operated during the strike.

Note also, the other DOT Flexies parked in the left background; also, the classic "INTERBOROUGH" signs on the subway entrances on the right.

I was only working a little bit more than a year downtown at that time; my dad passed away that July.

Before the PATH strike, I would take the TNJ #21 to Hoboken, and then take the Tubes down to the WTC (usually a 1958 "K" class train)

During the strike, I took a "MAPLEWOOD" (ex-"ORANGE & BLACK") bus into the PABT, and then take a "CC" train (R-10's back then) downtown.

In the afternoon, I would usually take the IRT #2 or #3 back uptown from Wall Street (R-12's/14's/15's) on the 7th Avenue line, back then.

Cannot believe that it is now 40 years later.....

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

See also:

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?131

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An interesting photo of L&G Flex #7357, on a charter at South Ferry, 1978.

Note under the driver's window:

"COLAPINTO BUS CO. INC.", of N. Arlington.

This, indeed, harks back to the heyday of the Jersey City-area "indy" companies.

Look closely on the extreme left, and you will see the entrance to the old IRT Bowling Green-South Ferry Shuttle, which itself was abandoned in the late 1970's.......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?694

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While this "BERGEN AVENUE" Fishbowl displays:

"BERGEN AVE. LOCAL" on its roller curtain.

The roller curtains on the new DOT Flxies reads:

"BERGEN AVENUE"

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?120

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?125

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Though this photo is in b/w, it depicts the brown paint I remember on "CENTRAL AVENUE's" Old Looks and MACKS, back in the 1960's.

This bus (#70) was a 1948 MACK C-33; note that the bus was owned by:

"PIERRO & SONS" of Jersey City (another "indy")

The sign roller sign reads:

"CITY LINE"*

"JOURNAL SQUARE"

"MEDICAL CENTER"

*"CITY LINE" was the (now long, long gone) off-street terminal, located on Summit Avenue, on the Jersey City/Union City border, that I knew well when I was growing up.

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1478

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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N4 Jamaica




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PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for pointing out the side roller sign with its description. However, is the front sign WESTERN SLOPE a destination or a route?
---
Today's Manchester Guardian website has a lengthy article on the service employees of The Bronx who still must get to work. Over the years, just as the Medical Center on the side sign of bus 70 is an important source of traffic, in the same way New York's TA attempts to connect service employees' homes with their hospital jobs.
---
At present the Covid19 bus routes in Washington D.C. shows the H2 deviation into two hospitals off Irving Street. I think the first of those hospitals was constructed in the 1960's, and I recall the detour being added at that time.
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Joe:

You are quite welcome! Wink

With the old "CENTRAL AVENUE" buses, I remember that the signs that listed "MEDICAL CENTER" were white-on-green; the signs for the buses serving the CNJ ferry terminal, were red-on-white, and (on the side curtain), read:

"CRR FERRY"

The old "Medical Center" was once known to virtually all Hudson County residents, and surely, generated a lot of bus traffic.

In fact, my brother Joe was born there, several years after it opened.

There is a photo in the Jersey City book (McNulty) from the mid-1950's, showing a "CENTRAL AVENUE" Old Look at the corner bus stop, near the Medical Center, which is so immense that the bus looks like a small scale model.

In later years, the Center had fallen on hard times; some buildings were torn down, others vacant, some repurposed.

At the time of the McNulty book's publication (1997), there were plans to build a new hospital building on the southwest corner of Jersey Avnue and Grand St.

As to the "WESTERN SLOPE" roller curtain on MACK #70, that sign was a mystery to me from the first time I saw the photo, nearly 20 years ago.

I remember showing it to Mom, and even she wasn't familiar with that sign.

As I had mentioned previously, the old "City Line" (Central Avenue) off-street terminal was on the border of Union City and Jersey City; I remember there being a small inside waiting area, a dispatcher's desk, and offices/bus driver's restrooms, etc..

Several buses could lay over here; when I was growing up, I mostly remember Old Looks and MACKS (we used to take the route down to the CNJ terminal often before it closed; I remember riding that line only once afterwards)

Sometime after my folks and I moved to West Orange in 1971 (we moved back into "the city" three years later), the old bus depot was sold, and it became an Arthur Treacher's "Fish 'n Chips"; the former bus layover area (which could hold several buses) then became the parking lot.

The buses would then be relegated to laying over at curbside, usually two at the most, from what I can remember, and even this was a few decades ago..........

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:30 am; edited 2 times in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Note the "WESTERN ELECTRIC" sign on "CENTRAL AVENUE" Fishbowl #68, in this 1975 photo (PSNJ streetcars served "WESTERN ELECTRIC", as a Wartime route for War workers, back in the 1940's)

I'm guessing that this "first generation" Fishbowl was purchased second-hand in later years, to replace older buses.

When Mom and I were riding the "CENTRAL AVENUE" buses, I remember only Old Looks and MACKS.........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1477

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's another view (1977) of a "CENTRAL AVENUE" DOT Flex New Look, near the then-abandoned CNJ ferry terminal on Johnston Avenue.

As I said, the "CNJ STA." reading on the roller curtain was redundant, as the terminal had been closed since 1967, nearly a decade before the Flexies arrived.

This was a VERY desolate area in the years after rail and ferry operations shut down; I remember those days well, a far cry from the days when all the CNJ and LV rail facilities in the area were still busy.......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2958

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Joe:

You should find this of interest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_City_Medical_Center
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"CENTRAL AVENUE" also operated charter service; this undated (1970's-era) photo was snapped in Manhattan, at 10th Avenue & 24th St.......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1525

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"BERGEN AVENUE" Flex New Look at the garage, 1977.

As was indeed the case with the other DOT New Looks operated by the other Jersey City "indy" companies of that time, painting was minimal; only the older buses that remained in service were still painted in "full" colors........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?130

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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