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Then & Now
Public Transportation 101
If the last time you took public transportation was when you still lived in Manhattan, it’s time to park the SUV and take a look at our system here in Westchester. Around for more than 160 years, the first public transportation system was the New York and Harlem Railroad, which ran from 125th Street to White Plains. For inter-city travel, the first trolley tracks were built in 1893, with the line running from Yonkers to New
Rochelle. Eventually, the sophisticated system had links from New Rochelle to Larchmont to Tuckahoe. With five-cent rides and 24-hour service, the trolleys carried some 11 million passengers per year.
Buses started rolling in around the 1920s and, on November 9, 1952, trolley service officially ended. Today, the Bee Line Bus System has 64 routes and about 350,000 buses in operation (including a hybrid), with all but three routes operated by Liberty Lines Inc. out of Yonkers. Tickets are $1.75 with about 55,000 people riding the bus daily. And now, just like your old subway standby, buses are accepting Metro Cards.