New York City Transit Buses - History

History

The history of the MTA's bus operations generally follows the history of the New York City Transit Authority, which was created in 1953 by the State of New York to take over operations then operated by the New York City Board of Transportation. The current system came into being in the mid 2000s following the MTA's assumption of services previously operated by private carriers under contract to the New York City Department of Transportation, the successor to the Board of Transportation. This brought almost all bus transportation in New York City under its control. Completed in 2006, the MTA then moved to streamline its operations through consolidation of management function. To that effect, RBO was officially created in May 2008, with the president of what was then New York City Transit's Department of Buses, Joseph J. Smith, named to lead the consolidated bus operations. MTA Regional Bus also included the MTA Long Island Bus division until January 2012, when its services were transferred to a private operator by Nassau County (see below for more information).

Currently, many RBO's operational changes have been at the management level, with the creation of a unified command center and consolidation of management for all bus operations, with the aim of reducing redundancies in the agency. Other changes have included eliminating the MTA Bus call center, folding it into that of New York City Transit, and the unification of the fare policy for all of the MTA's services.