Green Bus Lines

A former Green Line Q40 MCI Classic in South Jamaica, Queens.

Green Bus Lines was a bus company in New York City, United States, managed most recently by Jerome Cooper (son of the late co-founder and shareholder William Cooper 1895–1985, aged 90), operating local service in Queens and express service to Manhattan until January 9, 2006, when the MTA Bus Company took over its routes.

History

The company was incorporated on April 3, 1925 to provide local service in several boroughs. It acquired several Manhattan routes (including the current M22, M50, M79, M86, and M96) in 1933, but these were transferred to the Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation in 1935 and New York City Omnibus Corporation in 1936, and Green obtained new franchises in southeast Queens.[1] Green also acquired the Manhattan and Queens Bus Corporation, which had operated the ex-Manhattan and Queens Traction Company Queens Boulevard Line into Manhattan since 1937, in 1943.

Green stockholders acquired two other transit companies that continued to operate independently, Triboro Coach Corporation and Jamaica Buses; jointly these three companies formed Command Bus Company to take over the routes that had been operated by Pioneer Bus Corporation.

The QM23 was started in the 1950s to replace Long Island Rail Road service to the Brooklyn Manor station on the Rockaway Beach Branch. It was discontinued in 2010. Four more express routes began operation in the 1970s.

Just prior to MTA Bus takeover, Green Bus lines operated the following routes, which mostly continued to be based in Far Rockaway Bus Depot and John F. Kennedy Bus Depot:[2]

Bus routes

Queens local
Queens-Manhattan express

Reorganization as Real Estate Investment Trust

Green Bus Lines, Inc. (incorporated April 8, 1925); Triboro Coach Corporation (incorporated April 21, 1931); and Jamaica-Central Railways, Inc. (incorporated March 22, 1926) were each owned by individual shareholders. Jamaica-Central Railways, Inc. had a wholly owned subsidiary, Jamaica Buses, Inc. (incorporated Apr. 24, 1931). Several subsidiary corporations were owned 40 percent by Green Bus Lines, Inc.; 40 percent by Triboro Coach Corporation; and 20 percent by Jamaica-Central Railways, Inc. These jointly owned subsidiary corporations included Command Bus Company, Inc. (incorporated October 3, 1979) and G.T.J. Co., Inc. (incorporated February 15, 1968 as Varsity Transit, Inc., and changed name on January 3, 1989 to G.T.J. Co., Inc.). Among the wholly owned subsidiaries of G.T.J. Co., Inc. was Transit Facility Management Corp. (incorporated May 18, 1998), which provided Access-A-Ride paratransit service using the name TFM Paratransit; Varsity Transit, Inc. (incorporated November 19, 1965 as Varsity Coach Corp., and changed name on January 3, 1989 to Varsity Transit, Inc.), which provided school bus service within the City of New York; and Varsity Coach Corp. (incorporated February 3, 1989), which provided school bus service outside the City of New York.

On June 23, 2006, GTJ REIT, Inc. was formed under the laws of Maryland as a real estate investment trust. Two weeks later, on July 7, 2006, three wholly owned subsidies of GTJ REIT, Inc. were formed: Green Acquisition, Inc.; Triboro Acquisition, Inc.; and Jamaica Acquisition, Inc.

A special meeting of the shareholders of Green Bus Lines, Inc.; Triboro Coach Corporation; and Jamaica-Central Railways, Inc. was held on March 26, 2007 for the purpose of obtaining the consent of a majority of the shareholders of each company to be merged into the GTJ REIT, Inc. subsidiaries. A majority of shareholders of each company voted in favor, and on March 29, 2007 Green Bus Lines, Inc. was merged into Green Acquisition, Inc.; Triboro Coach Corporation was merged into Triboro Acquisition, Inc.; and Jamaica-Central Railways, Inc. was merged into Jamaica Acquisition, Inc. Shareholders exchanged their old shares in the bus companies for new shares in GTJ REIT, Inc. Command Bus Company, Inc. and Varsity Coach Corp. were both dissolved on January 21, 2010. Jamaica Buses, Inc. was dissolved on May 13, 2010.

GTJ REIT, Inc. is headquartered in West Hempstead, N.Y. Its portfolio of real estate investments includes the five garages once used for transit bus operations, two of which (Baisley Park Depot and LaGuardia Depot) are leased to the City of New York for use as bus garages by MTA Bus Company, whereas the other three formerly GTJ REIT owned bus garages (Far Rockaway Depot, JFK Depot, and Spring Creek Depot) were outright sold to the MTA in 2011 respectively. Also note that the Spring Creek Depot was partially owned by the New York City Department of Transportation during its days as Command Bus Company.

References

  1. ↑ www.nycsubway.org: Local Bus Companies of Manhattan
  2. ↑ Green Bus Lines, Inc. (accessed January 19, 2007)