Fifth Avenue Bus at Washington Square South and Thompson Street, October 21, 1936. Founded in 1885 as the Fifth Avenue Transportation Company, the horse-drawn omnibus line was established to hinder the installation of trolley tracks on fashionable Fifth Avenue. It was incorporated as The Fifth Avenue Coach Company in 1896. The Fifth Avenue vehicles went from horse-powered to gas-powered in 1907, and the company soon began manufacturing their own coaches, including those of the double-decker variety. In 1930, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company purchased 100 Yellow Coach “Z-type” double-decker buses. The bus in this image looks to be one of these coaches. The New York Transit Museum also has a 1930 coach in its historic fleet (its oldest bus rolling stock). The coach, affectionately nicknamed "Betsy," is featured during the Museum's annual Bus Fest.

In honor of the New York Transit Museum's annual Bus Festival, we've put together a collection of vintage bus photography to go along with our vintage bus fleet. These historic images look back on a time when green and white buses crisscrossed Brooklyn and double deckers stopped in Washington Square Park. Hop on! Don't forget to try out the Urban Archive photo recreation feature and tag your #thenandnow photos @nytransitmuseum and @urbanarchiveny