MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the bus operations division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The MTA operates local, rush, limited-stop, express, and Select Bus Service (bus rapid transit) services across the city of New York, forming a key part of the city's transportation system. The system's fleet of over 5,000 buses is the largest in the United States, and many of its over 300 routes operate 24/7.
MTA Regional Bus Operations was formed in 2008 to consolidate the MTA's bus operations, which currently consist of two operating companies. MTA New York City Bus operates citywide, with its origins in New York City's first municipal bus service in 1919. MTA Bus operates primarily in Queens, and was formed in 2006 to take over seven private bus companies. The two operating companies have distinct administration and history, but they operate as a single bus system, with unified scheduling, fares, and customer service.
In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
Brands and service area MTA Regional Bus Operations provides public bus service in the southeast of the state of New York under several brands.
Regional Bus Operations is currently only used in official documentation, and not publicly as a brand. The current public brands are listed below: MTA New York City Bus – most routes within the City of New York, operated by the New York City Transit Authority (NYCT) and its subsidiary, Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA). MTA Bus – service previously administered by the New York City Department of Transportation and operated by seven private companies at the time of the takeover, mostly concentrated in Queens, with some routes in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and most express service from Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to Manhattan. The seven former companies were, Command Bus Company, Inc.; Green Bus Lines, Inc.; Jamaica Buses, Inc., Liberty Lines Express, Inc.; New York Bus Service, Inc.; Queens Surface Corp.; and Triboro Coach Corp.
The most common livery scheme today is a straight blue stripe across the sides of the bus against a white base, with no colors on the front or back, and black window trim. From 1977 until late 2007, the livery was a full all-around stripe with a black rear, and until late 2010 (and still present on buses repainted during this time), the scheme was a stripe with a white rear and no rear stripe. Most buses operated in Select Bus Service bus rapid transit service are wrapped with a light blue-and-white wrap below the windows. In spring 2016, a new livery was introduced based on navy blue, light blue, and yellow, with a mostly blue front and sides, a light blue and yellow wave, and a yellow back. This new livery will gradually replace the blue stripe on a white base livery. The livery is commonly known as the MTA's Andrew Cuomo Scheme or Excelsior Scheme (after the state motto for New York).
RBO is led by Frank Farrell, the Executive Vice President of the NYCT Department of Buses and MTA Bus. Currently, many RBO's operational changes have been at the management level, with the creation of a unified command center and consolidation of management for all bus operations, with the aim of reducing redundancies in the agency. Other changes have included eliminating the MTA Bus call center, folding it into that of MTA New York City Transit, and the unification of the fare policy for all of the MTA's services.
History The history of the MTA's bus operations generally follows the history of the New York City Transit Authority (NYCT) (also known as MTA New York City Transit) which was created on June 15, 1953, by the State of New York to take over operations then operated by the New York City Board of Transportation. In 1962, the State established the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA) as a subsidiary of NYCT to take over operations then operated by two private companies, Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc. and Surface Transit, Inc. Both NYCT and MaBSTOA operate service pursuant to a lease agreement with the City of New York.
MTA New York City Bus
City involvement with surface transit in the city began in September 1919, when Mayor John Francis Hylan, through the New York City Department of Plant and Structures (DP&S), organized private entrepreneurs to operate "emergency" buses to replace four abandoned storage battery streetcar lines: the Madison Street Line, Spring and Delancey Streets Line, Avenue C Line, and Sixth Avenue Ferry Line.New York Times, East Side Bus Line Gets City Permit , September 19, 1919, page 6 Many routes were soon added, replacing lines such as the Brooklyn and North River Line (trolleys)New York Times, Brooklyn Bus Line Starts , October 6, 1919, page 36 and Queens Bus Lines (buses),New York Times, Queens Bus Routes Taken Over by City , September 19, 1926, page 24 and the DP&S also began operating trolleys in Staten Island to replace the Staten Island Midland Railway's system.New York Times, Says City Cleared $4,359 on Car Line , July 18, 1921, page 14Zachary M. Schrag,
Another city acquisition was the Bridge Operating Company, which ran the Williamsburg Bridge Local trolley, acquired in 1921 by the DP&S.New York Times, City to Run Bridge Line , February 5, 1921, page 22 Unlike the other lines, this one remained city-operated, and was replaced by the B39 bus route on December 5, 1948, by then transferred to the New York City Board of Transportation.Bridge Cars of '04 Yielding to Buses , December 2, 1948, page 58
With the city takeover of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation's surface subsidiary, the Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation, on June 2, 1940,New York Times, B.M.T. Lines Pass to City Ownership , June 2, 1940, page 1 the city gained a large network of trolley and bus lines, covering all of Brooklyn and portions of Queens.Railway Directory and Yearbook, 1967 On February 23, 1947, the Board of Transportation took over the Staten Island bus network of the Isle Transportation Company. Further acquisitions were made on March 30, 1947, with the North Shore Bus Company in Queens, and September 24, 1948, with the East Side Omnibus Corporation and Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation in Manhattan. The final Brooklyn trolleys were the Church Avenue Line and McDonald Avenue Line, discontinued on October 31, 1956,New York Times, Trolley Era Ends Today On City-Operated Lines , October 31, 1956, page 35 though the privately operated (by the Queensboro Bridge Railway) Queensboro Bridge Local remained until 1957.New York Times, End Soon of Two Brooklyn Trolley Lines Will Leave City With but One Short Route , December 30, 1955, page 15New York Times, Queensboro Bridge Trolley Line, Last One Here, Appears Doomed , March 20, 1957New York Times, City's Last Trolley at End of Line , April 7, 1957, page 1
By the late 1950s, the city operated all local service in Staten Island and Brooklyn, approximately half of the local Queens service, and several Manhattan routes. Several private companies operated buses in Queens, and the Avenue B and East Broadway Transit Company operated a small Manhattan system. The largest system was the Fifth Avenue Coach Company and Surface Transit, which operated almost all Manhattan routes and all Bronx routes, plus two into Queens (15 Fifth Avenue – Jackson Heights and TB Triborough Bridge) and one within Queens (16 Elmhurst Crosstown). After a strike in 1962, the city condemned the assets of the bus companies.
To facilitate the anticipated sale of the bus service back to private ownership, a new agency, the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA) was formed as a subsidiary of the New York City Transit Authority to operate the former Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc. and Surface Transit, Inc. routes under lease from the city. The final acquisition was in 1980, when MaBSTOA took over operations of the Avenue B & East Broadway Transit Co. Inc.'s routes, using MaBSTOA equipment with Avenue B red route roll signs (NYCTA acquired the 13 Grumman Flxibles that had been assigned to Avenue B and placed them in NYCTA service).
In late 1981, the MTA merged the New York City Transit Authority's Surface Division (aka NYCTA Civil Service) with the Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (aka MaBSTOA Non Civil Service) into one single entity using the MTA New York City Transit Authority (or MTA – New York City Bus) moniker instead of the former.
Public takeover of the remaining Queens buses, as well as most express routes, was implemented in 2005 and 2006 when the city purchased the assets of seven private bus companies, and entered into an agreement with the new MTA Bus Company for their operation and funding. In 2008, the bus operations of New York City Transit and MTA Bus Company (as well as the now former Long Island Bus division) were merged into a new regional operation, MTA Regional Bus Operations. The New York City Bus and MTA Bus brands continue to be used on all buses, but New York City Transit (NYCT), Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA), and MTA Bus Company continue to be the legal entities operating the services.
MTA Bus
MTA Bus Company was established as a subsidiary public benefit corporation in late 2004 to operate bus services resulting from the city's takeover of the privately operated bus route operations previously administered and subsidized by the NYCDOT.
The routes were taken over on a staggered schedule, beginning with the former Liberty Lines Express bus routes on January 3, 2005, Queens Surface Corporation bus routes on February 27, 2005, New York Bus Service bus routes on July 1, 2005, Command Bus Company bus routes on December 5, 2005, Green Bus Lines bus routes on January 9, 2006, and Jamaica Buses bus routes on January 30, 2006. Triboro Coach Corporation, the final remaining company, ceased operating on February 20, 2006.
Up until January 3, 2022, the only NYCDOT-subsidized lines not consolidated into the MTA were those run by Academy Bus and formerly by Atlantic Express until their bankruptcy in 2013. Academy Bus previously operated those routes and others until 2001, when Atlantic Express and NYCT took them over.https://web.archive.org/web/20110707183208/http://www.atlanticexpress.com/SouthShore.htm EMERGENCY INTERIM COMMUTER SERVICE For the South Shore Community of Staten Island Although the X23, and X24 routes were absorbed by Atlantic Express, the X17J, X21, X22, and X30 routes were absorbed by the New York City Transit Authority. NYCT discontinued service on the X21 months after the takeover. At the time, NYS Assemblyman Lou Tobacco and NYS Senator Andrew Lanza, along with U.S. Congressman Michael E. McMahon and NYC Councilmen Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo have asked the MTA to look into the possible consolidation of the remainder of the NYCDOT routes.http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=062&sh=story&story=33897 Staten Island Officials Call on MTA to Take over Bus Routes and Expand South Shore Express Bus Service
In Brooklyn, a company called Private Transportation operates the B110 route. This is franchised but not subsidized by NYCDOT. Atlantic Express also ran the AE7 express route from the Tottenville and Travis neighborhoods of Staten Island in the same manner as the Private Transportation B110 local route. Citing low ridership and increased costs, Atlantic Express canceled the AE7 service on December 31, 2010. Councilmen Ignizio and Oddo as well as Congressman Michael G. Grimm have called on the MTA to revamp that route also.