Vintage TA Busses!

During the Seventies the TA may have been perpetually broke, but it had some interesting busses in its fleet. These photos were taken by my fellow transit fan Ben at the 2005 Transit Museum's Bus Fest.

In the top picture we see the color scheme which the TA started to use in the early 70s. It took a while for them to convert their entire bus fleet from green to blue, especially on Staten Island, which was usually stuck with the most ancient vehicles. The top photo shows a well-preserved TA bus from the early 70s.

In the middle photo we see the interior of one of the older busses, some of which were still around during the Seventies. Note the hard plastic, molded seats. The TA originally offered passengers soft seats, but after so many of these had been slashed by vandals they converted to these rather uncomfortable seats, which were always in sets of two. In the front half of some models of busses the seats mostly faced the front, while past the rear exit door most faced the center aisle, with the exception of those mounted directly over the rear wheel, and the last row. These made good "conversation pits" for groups of teens, who usually considered the back of the bus to be the cooler place to ride. On other models, all of the seats faced the center aisle. This wasn't too good for sightseeing, but it allowed for more space for people to stand and walk around.

The bottom photo shows a type of illuminated advertising that was popular on busses for a time in the early Seventies. The large billboards that ran along the top of each side of the bus were translucent, and were illuminated at night. This made the busses very easy to spot. The route signs were also, for the first time, well-illuminated, especially those on the sides.