The Union Bus Terminal
Buffalo Transit Company
Home
United Traction Company & Others
The Bee Line System
The Walters Transit Story
Route of Scenicruiser Service
Wyoming Transit Service
Route of The Orange Buses
Edwards Motor Transit Company
Public Transit in Oneida County
Public Transit in The Salt City
The Easy Rider Route
NFTA Metrobus
Serving The Niagara Frontier
Buffalo's Largest Suburban Bus Line
Go Big Red,Go Trailways
Golden Coach Service
Pride of The Enchanted Mountains
About Me
Favorite Links
Route of Red Carpet Service
Contact Me

Here, we will cover the Buffalo Transit Company, founded in 1924 by William Pennseyers as the Buffalo-Akron Transit Company, whose original routes operated between those communities and evolved into a 100 plus bus suburban bus operation that serviced most of Buffalo's northern,eastern, and southern suburbs. It was purchased in 1941 by Mr. John G. Campbell, a GM bus salesman, who also purchased the Jamestown Motor Bus Company of that New York State city and sold to Niagara Frontier Transit System in 1961, which continued the company as a separate operation until about 1963, after which BTC's operations were completely merged into NFT's operations and the buses renumbered.

1924 saw the first run of the Buffalo and Akron Transit Company by Mr. William Pennsyres, along its first route,which ran from Buffalo through Cheektowaga and Clarence to Akron,NY.About two years later, the company added a route from Buffalo out to Depew,Lancaster,Alden,Darien, and Attica,NY. Fageol Safety Coaches were the company's first buses. In 1927, the company shortened its name to Buffalo Transit Company. In 1930, the company added service to Williamsville,thus replacing the just terminated streetcar operation there. BTC's service area,thus consisted of Cheektowaga,Depew,Lancaster,Bowmansville,Wende,Alden,Darien,Alexander,

Attica,Clarence,Akron, and now, Williamsville, not bad for a bus company that had only been in business less than six years and the Buffalo Transit Company was just getting started. In 1931, another company that figured into BTC's future, Erie Motor Coach Lines, was established to operate service between Orchard Park,Hamburg,Gardenville, and Ebenezer. This company put the Buffalo Transit Company into the southern Buffalo suburbs. Still another company that figured into BTC's future was the Hamburg Bus Company, whose Hamburg-Lackawanna routes were as follows:

1-Lakeshore/Camp

2-South Park

3-Abbott Road

Hamburg Bus Company had 30 buses and 62 route miles. It was merged into BTC in 1946 as its Lakeshore Division. When John G. Campbell bought BTC in 1942, it had 42 buses including 30 BTC and 12 ECMCL buses as the result of a 1941 merger. With its headquarters at 200 Broadway, BTC originated Broadway Division runs here. The Williamsville Division had its own garage for buses assigned to it.This was located on Main Street in the heart of Williamsville and later served as the original location for Ed Young's Hardware Store. Thus,Buffalo Transit Company connected with NFT at Michael Loop on Broadway,Windermere Loop on Main Street, and Pine Hill Loop on Genesee Street. 1946 saw another company come into the BTC fold; The Orange Line, which served the Village of Sloan and connected with BTC at Michael Loop. By this time, the Buffalo Transit Company had received its first diesel buses from General Motors Truck and Coach Division. Five years later, the company achieved 68% dieselization and in 1959 was a 100 % diesel operation, by which time the company had 125 buses in service, though 78 were used in normal operations, of which 28 were assigned to the Lakeshore Division, which encompassed BTC routes serving Lackawanna, Hamburg,Woodlawn,Blasdell,Athol Springs,Boston,Springville, Ebenezer, and Orchard Park. The Broadway Division encompassed those routes serving Sloan,Cheektowaga,Depew,Lancaster,Wende,Bowmansville, and Alden. The Williamsville Division encompassed the BTC routes serving Eggertsville,Snyder,Williamsville,Clarance, and Akron. Thus, the Buffalo Transit Company operated 222 miles of routes. It was the Williamsville and Broadway divisions where most of BTC's riders originated 35,000 daily trips, which meant $1 million worth of business to the Buffalo Transit Company. The following is Buffalo Transit Company's final fleet roster before being absorbed by NFT:

GMC TDH5302 1960 53 seats 340-349 to NFT 700-709

GMC TDH4512 1953-54 45 seats 350-372

GMC TDH4512 1954-55 45 seats 373-380

GMC TDH4512 1957 45 seats 381-382

GMC TDH5106 1958 51 seats 300-329 to NFT 600-629

None of the 45 seaters saw NFT service. In addition, BTC also had an order for 20 GMC model TDH5301s, which were to seat 55 passengers and be of the single door 'muzzle loader' configuration,which would have made them the only such buses in use in the Buffalo,NY area. NFT switched the order for 20 more conventional 5301s to be tacked on to the group of 7400-7459, then being delivered to NFT. These became 7460-7479, to which NFT added 7480-7489 from another cancelled order.

BUFFALO TRANSIT COMPANY ROUTE DESIGNATIONS
A-Abbott Road
C-Camp Road
E-Electric Avenue
F-Gardenville (Seneca Street)
G-Genesee Street
H-Harlem Road
J-Sloan
K-Kensington
L-Cheektowaga-Depew
M-Main Street-Williamsville
O-Orchard Park
R-Ridge Road
S-South Park-Scranton
W-William

Enter supporting content here