This post may seem sacrilegious for an electric railway site, but the development of buses is an important, if sad, part of the electric railway story. We’ve previously discussed how gasoline-powered buses gradually replaced trolleys and, eventually, largely eliminated them. When did this process begin and how rapidly did it progress?

A very early introduction of buses in the US on a fairly large scale occurred in 1908 when French built double decker busses were introduced on New York’s 5th Ave — although this was a street where the wealthy residents had never allowed anything as plebeian as trolleys to operate.

By the early 1920’s, a few streetcar operators tried buses on suburban lines with little traffic but, in 1922, only 370 such buses were in operation nationwide. Soon, however, the number began to increase. In 1924, street railway companies purchased about 1200 new busses, and about 1800 the following year. By 1932, trolley companies were operating some 15,000 buses, carrying more than a billion passengers! The motor bus had arrived to stay!

Pictures: 1) Fifth_Avenue_Coach_Company_Yellow_Coach_Z-BH-602_1263 1931 – 1953. 2) Stoughton_Bus,_1920-1930_-_Evergreen_Aviation_&_Space_Museum_-_DSC00752. 3) Mack, New Britain, CT, 1930 DATTCO100_1