23rd Annual New York Transit Museum Bus Festival
Vintage buses, special activities, and all the excitement of the Atlantic Antic!
Sunday, September 25, 11am – 6pm
The New York Transit Museum’s annual Bus Festival returns on Sunday, September 25! See and step aboard selections from the Museum’s vintage fleet representing more than 80 years of New York City surface transit history. Located on Boerum Place between State Street and Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the event is free and open to the public from 11am to 6pm alongside the festivities, food, and fun of the 42nd Annual Atlantic Antic.
Toys and transit merchandise will be available and families are invited to participate in an interactive scavenger hunt, work on a communal “Build-A-City” art project and visit the Transit Museum’s “Education Depot” tent, where singing and storytelling will take place throughout the day. Guests will even have the opportunity to meet costumed historical characters and hear stories from when the buses on display were in service!
Throughout the day, admission to the Transit Museum will be just $1. Inside the Museum, a temporary tattoo station will be available and Educators will display transit artifacts from the Museum’s collections as part of an interactive “Hands-On History” activity. The Museum will be open from 11am to 5pm, with last admission at 4:30pm.
Some of this year’s special guests include:
· Bus 3100 – A Fifth Avenue Coach Company prototype bus, this vehicle debuted in 1956 as one of the first air-conditioned transit buses nationwide. Designed and built as an experiment, the General Motors Model 5106 features a push-type rear exit door, wrap-around soft seating in the rear, and fluorescent lighting.
· Bus 9098 – Part of the last order of “Old Look” style buses from General Motors in 1958, this model introduced the two-tone green color scheme, which later became a standard for the era, and was among the first buses to be outfitted with fiberglass seats and sliding windows.
· Bus 236 – Part of the first order of buses with electronic destination signs, this 1980 Grumman model represents the arrival of a new generation of buses known as the “Advanced Design Buses” (or ADB).
· Bus 1502 – One of 25 “New Look” buses ordered by the New York Bus Service in 1981, these vehicles were equipped with suburban bus features, including forward-facing seats on platforms, parcel racks, reading lights, and a single door.
Some of the work vehicles to be on display include:
· Tunnel Wrecker – Nicknamed “the Monster of the Tunnels,” this unusual emergency truck was built to move disabled vehicles in the Hugh L. Carey and Queens-Midtown Tunnels. Square in shape, it is equipped to tow everything from a compact car to a tractor-trailer.
· Tunnel Wash Truck – This vehicle is used to wash the inside walls and ceiling at the Hugh L. Carey and Queens-Midtown Tunnels.
NOTE: Equipment on display is subject to change.
- What: 23rd Annual Bus Festival
- When: Sunday, September 25, 11am – 6pm
- Where: At Atlantic Antic on Boerum Place between State Street and Atlantic Avenue
- Admission: Bus Festival – Free!
- NY Transit Museum Admission – $1, last admission at 4:30pm
- More Information: www.nytransitmuseum.org/BusFest
