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| Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 (344510) | |
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| (344510) | |
Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Mon Jan 17 12:19:50 2022 Tuscarora Almanac - January 17, 1963 - The Book of First Runs Surface Division Manhattan, New York The Port of New York Authority The George Washington Bridge Bus Station located on the Manhattan side of the George Washington Bridge is opened. Larry, RedbirdR33 |
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| (344511) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by Joe on Mon Jan 17 15:33:44 2022, in response to Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Mon Jan 17 12:19:50 2022. Design means a lot. About 1950, some architect designed PABT with a long corridor of nose-in loading in the basement long-distance level, but then encountered a problem with how to provide run-through platforms (no backing up) on the suburban level. That produced a maze of escalators and stairs to individual island platforms. Exploring it one day, I got waylaid by an official of the carrier that ran out US 22 to the Raritan Valley. At the top of the escalator, he demanded my ticket. I said I only wanted to see the buses on that route. "Get out!"--- The same maze on the mezzanine brought the issue of safety, with too many hidden corners. --- When more upper floors were added to PABT, they had 8th Avenue and 9th Avenue escalators (for easier maintenance). And the boarding gates were nose-in. Waiting passengers did not have to breath the exhausts. --- The design lesson was not yet learned when GWBS was built. Again, island platforms. Those awaiting a bus to Bergen County or Paterson endured the cold winds Pier Nervi (from balmy Italy) never considered. Luckily, the PA installed television, so that commuters could huddle at the foot of the escalator and watch for the arriving coach. --- Then that design was changed fifty years later. The ticketing level was deemed rentable, and a small waiting room on top allows people to see when their (now too few) buses arrive nose-in. Most of the movement is with vans. |
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| (344512) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by W.B. on Mon Jan 17 16:24:46 2022, in response to Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Mon Jan 17 12:19:50 2022. Yet, it was nearly eight years before any of the MaBSTOA Manhattan routes were extended to have their terminus within the GWB Station - Jan. 10, 1971, when FACO Division's #5 was extended from 168th and Broadway to 178th and Broadway.I walked through this station in the 1980's. Almost resembled the interior of the PABT prior to that terminal's late 1970's / early '80's remodeling / rebuilding. |
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| (344513) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Mon Jan 17 17:16:23 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by Joe on Mon Jan 17 15:33:44 2022. The lower level bus gates were a traffic nightmare. You lost twenty minutes just getting the bus in and out of there. Larry, RedbirdR33 |
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| (344514) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by Joe on Mon Jan 17 18:35:39 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Mon Jan 17 17:16:23 2022. Larry, are you describing the one-way lower level gates at GWBS? Do I guess that the problem was fitting the over-the-road coaches into parking positions. Subtracting the roadway and sidewalks of West 178th St. and West 179th Street, you get an underpass of less than 200 feet, barely enough for four 45' coaches at each curb. But half of them have doors swinging into traffic.--- Offhand, I would say that long-distance schedules via GWBS were thin. Was that underpass also used by taxis? --- Google Street View doesn't help much. One view shows a van exiting in 2014. The newer views show the underpass locked. |
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| (344515) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by Spider-Pig on Mon Jan 17 20:55:13 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by Joe on Mon Jan 17 18:35:39 2022. In the street view with the van, you can see through to 179th, but all of the street view from 179th shows the modern view, where apparently wherever the opening was it was plugged up with retail.I’ve used the GWBBS, but always the suburban level and I don’t even remember the street level. |
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| (344516) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by Joe on Mon Jan 17 21:11:56 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by Spider-Pig on Mon Jan 17 20:55:13 2022. On very thin memory, dating back decades, I recall the long distance station merely a drive-through one-way from West 179 to West 178. There was some sort of waiting room and short stairway and/or escalator to the level above. Now that we are on the topics of PABT and GWBS, I realize that the thinking of that era prescribed escalators, not elevators, and ADA regulations were in the future. |
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| (344517) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by Dyre Dan on Tue Jan 18 01:12:38 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Mon Jan 17 17:16:23 2022. The strange thing about those gates is that the entrance was on 179th St., while the exit was on 178th, rather than the reverse. So buses either coming from OR going to the GWB (which means most of them) had to turn left on Broadway, then left again on 179th, before entering the terminal or the bridge. Why not make 178th the terminal entrance and 179th the exit? Those few buses heading east via the Washington Bridge and Cross Bronx instead could do the left-and-left routine on Ft. Washington Ave. |
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| (344518) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Tue Jan 18 09:35:18 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by Joe on Mon Jan 17 18:35:39 2022. Joe: I used to ride the Mohawk Coach Lines back in the 50's and 60's. They ran from the PABT north along various streets and then Broadway. They had to make a left onto W 179 St and then left into the lower level bus station. This had head end loading, maybe six or seven bays. Leaving the bus made a left onto W 178 St, then Broadway, then left onto W 179 St and over the bridge. Due to what was always heavy traffic at this location the procedure took about twenty minutes. I believe that at some point in time the lower (street) level gates were closed but I do not know when. Larry, RedbirdR33 |
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Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by Joe on Tue Jan 18 10:13:52 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Tue Jan 18 09:35:18 2022. Thanks for the explanation about Mohawk and about the head-in bays.Joe |
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| (344521) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Tue Jan 18 19:09:00 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by Joe on Tue Jan 18 10:13:52 2022. Mohawk Coach Line was basically a long haul local bus line. They ran along Route 9W in New York State and made every traffic light. They were consistently half a hour late getting into Newburgh. This contrasted with the Shortline Newburgh-PABT which ran via the thruway and the Lincoln Tunnel. It was much faster. Larry, RedbirdR33 |
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| (344522) | |
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by Joe on Tue Jan 18 21:48:35 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Tue Jan 18 19:09:00 2022. Our usual route to visit my sister in her Hiddenbrooke Beacon novitiate was via the New York Central from Marble Hill. When the Newburgh-Beacon ferries were painted for the New York State Bridge Authority, Dad decided that using Mohawk Coach gave us a chance to ride the Storm King Highway and look down on two shores of railroads. I don't know whether our Mohawk tickets were for Newburgh or Beacon, but the coach went onto the ferry. Maybe it reached Poughkeepsie by NY 9D or NY 52 and US 9. |
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Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17 |
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Posted by IRTRedbirdR33 on Wed Jan 19 16:39:58 2022, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for January 17, posted by Joe on Tue Jan 18 21:48:35 2022. Joe: The base route for the Mohawk Coach Lines was PABT-Newburgh via the GWB and Route 9W. Several buses continued on to Poughkeepsie. They crossed the river via the ferry as you said. After November 1963 they ran across the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge (north span). On Saturdays and Sundays one bus from New York would cross the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge and run to Poughkeepsie via Route 9D. It ran up in the morning and returned in afternoon. This was done to serve the various religious retreat house located along Route 9D;Graymorr, St Josephs etc. Hiddenbrook by the way is still in use. It now house small communities of Carmelite and Redemptionist nuns. Larry, RedbirdR33 |
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