The New York City Transit Authority operates several local bus routes on the one-way pair of Madison Avenue (northbound) and Fifth Avenue (southbound) in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The M1 Fifth and Madison Avenues, M2 Fifth and Madison Avenues/Powell Boulevard, M3 Fifth and Madison Avenues/St Nicholas Avenue, and M4 Fifth and Madison Avenues/Broadway run along the avenues from Midtown into Harlem, and several primarily east-west routes, including the Q32 Roosevelt/Fifth Avenues, use portions of them. Many express buses from the north or the south also use Fifth and Madison Avenues.
The routes are the successors to the New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth and Madison Avenues Line, which began operations in 1832 as the first street railway in the world, and several lines of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company, a bus operator that started running on Fifth Avenue in 1886.
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The M1, M2, M3, and M4 all run between Midtown or Lower Manhattan and Upper Manhattan, while the Q32 runs from Midtown north along Fifth and Madison Avenues and east over the Queensboro Bridge to Jackson Heights, Queens. The M1, M2, and M3 routes all turn around at Eighth Street. North of there, they use Fifth Avenue north of Eighth Street (southbound) and Park Avenue north of Union Square (northbound), switching to Madison Avenue at 25th Street (northbound). Weekend M1 service does not operate into Midtown, instead terminating at 106th Street.The M4 and Q32 begin at Penn Station, joining Madison Avenue at 32nd Street (northbound) and Fifth Avenue at 34th Street (southbound). Thus, all five routes are on Fifth and Madison Avenues north of 34th Street.
The Q32 turns east on 59th Street (eastbound) and 60th Street (westbound) to reach the Queensboro Bridge, On the other side, it heads east on Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue to end at 81st and 82nd Streets and Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights. The four other routes continue north on Fourth and Madison Avenues past Central Park. The M1 stays on those avenues to 135th Street, making several turns before turning around at Seventh Avenue and 146th and 147th Streets. The M2, M3, and M4 all turn west on 110th Street, turning north at various points. The M2 uses Seventh Avenue and Edgecombe Avenue, ending at Broadway and 168th Street. The M3 uses Manhattan Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue to Fort George, and the M4 uses Broadway and Fort Washington Avenue to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters. All buses connect with subway service at various points on their route.
The M2 runs as a limited-stop service, with no local service during the daytime. Other times, service runs local only. The M1 and M4 also have peak directional limited-stop services.[1][2][3][4][5]
The Fifth Avenue Transportation Company (later the Fifth Avenue Coach Company) began operating stages on Fifth Avenue between 11th Street and 59th Street on January 23, 1886.[6] The company was formed because the wealthy residents of Fifth Avenue did not want a street railway. The route was later extended south to Washington Square Park and north to 89th Street, and in 1900 the company was authorized to extend north to 135th Street, and to operate on other streets including 110th Street and Riverside Drive to 124th Street.[7] More extensions, on 32nd Street from Fifth Avenue west to Seventh Avenue (Penn Station) and north from 110th Street on Seventh Avenue and Manhattan Avenue/St. Nicholas Avenue to 155th Street, were soon authorized. After the company's horse cars were replaced with motor buses in July 1907, it began operating these extensions, and assigned them numbers in 1916 or 1917:[8][9]
The Fifth Avenue Coach Company (FACCo) obtained a permit on July 1, 1925 and on July 9 began operating its 15 and 16 routes.[10] The 15 began at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street at Madison Square Park, and traveled north on Fifth Avenue, east via 57th Street to the Queensboro Bridge, and along Queens Boulevard, Roosevelt Avenue, and 25th Street (now 82nd Street) to Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights, Queens. The short 16 (Elmhurst Crosstown), later named Q89, began at Roosevelt Avenue and 82nd Street and used Baxter Avenue and Broadway to reach Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst.[11]
Even before the Fifth Avenue company began operating its coaches, the New York and Harlem Railroad was operating its Fourth and Madison Avenues Line of horse cars, later trolleys, mainly on Fourth Avenue below and Madison Avenue above 42nd Street (Grand Central Terminal). The Madison Avenue Coach Company, a New York Railways subsidiary,[12] started operating replacement buses on February 1, 1935. Several changes were made to the route: instead of the Bowery, a shorter alignment via Centre Street and Lafayette Street was used, and a variant stayed on Madison Avenue south to 26th Street and short-turned at Astor Place.[13] As part of the New York City Omnibus Corporation system (NYCO; also a New York Railways subsidiary), these two routes were numbered 1 (via Park Avenue) and 2 (short-turn via Madison Avenue).[14]
On July 17, 1960, Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue became a one-way pair. The NYCO's 4, which had traveled along Lexington Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue to northern Harlem, was discontinued. To cover this travel pattern, the 1 was extended west on 135th Street and north on Lenox Avenue, and the 2 was realigned to turn west on 116th Street and north on Lenox Avenue.[15] The path of the 1 and 2 south of Union Square was changed on November 10, 1963 to use Broadway rather than Fourth Avenue and Lafayette Street, due to Lafayette Street becoming one-way northbound and Broadway becoming one-way southbound.[16]
Fifth and Madison Avenues became one-way streets on January 14, 1966, and the four FACCo routes on Fifth Avenue past Central Park and the two NYCO routes on Madison Avenue were combined into four routes on both avenues. In particular, the following changes were made:[17][18]
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