Betsy, NYC’s first air-conditioned double-decker, stars at vintage bus festival

New York's vintage bus festival at Brooklyn Bridge Park drew thousands on Sunday as the New York Transit Museum spotlighted decommissioned buses, led by Betsy, a double-decker that operated on Fifth Avenue from 1931 to 1947. The annual Bus Festival gave visitors walk-through access to six of the museum's buses and showcased more than 30 vehicles on display around the park, drawing curious crowds and longtime transit fans alike.

Betsy could carry more passengers than a standard bus at the time, but it was decommissioned after 15 years because the city needed to pay both a conductor and a driver. The plan to revive the two deck design faced practical hurdles in the 1970s, including infrastructure limitations such as low hanging traffic signals. Betsy was sold in 1961 and spent time in Nevada, Alaska and Toronto before the museum restored and returned it to New York. Most of the museum's collection is stored at a Bronx depot, where volunteers and staff continue preservation work on a rotating slate of historic vehicles. The curator noted that accordion-style buses today can carry nearly as many passengers, though they do not capture the same charm as classic double-decker buses.

Other festival highlights included a 2016 Ford F750 tunnel-scrubber truck and a green-and-yellow 1950s bus that served as the first air-conditioned model in the United States when it debuted on Fifth Avenue. Additional notable displays included a 1970s General Motors New Look bus and a 1969 Flxible electric-blue bus that served the Bronx and Staten Island due to its handling of steep hills. The day also featured a look at other museum pieces and discussions about future restorations as staff continue to diversify the collection.

Shapiro said there are a few more buses in the collection being restored, including several from the 1940s and 1950s, as well as a 1917 double-decker that has taken more than three years to bring back to life. The museum noted ongoing preservation efforts with city agencies and referenced the stock of orange subway cars slated for phasing out this year as part of broader modernization. The festival, now in its second decade, remains a cultural touchstone for New Yorkers and visitors who want a tangible peek at the city’s transit past. For many attendees, the event offers a way to experience history without leaving the waterfront and underscores how public transportation shaped daily life in the city.

Images from the event capture attenders and enthusiasts around Betsy and the lineup of historic vehicles on display.

As families and transit fans moved through the exhibits, the festival highlighted the enduring appeal of vintage vehicles and the stories they tell about urban life and mobility. The annual gathering has drawn thousands for more than twenty years, serving both as entertainment and education about New York Citys transportation history and its evolution over the decades.

In addition to Betsy, the day showcased vehicles such as a 1950s-era green-and-yellow bus and other artifacts that reveal how bus design, technology and advertising shifted through the mid to late 20th century. The juxtaposition of the era's engineering with today’s modern fleets underscored the citys ongoing dialogue with its own mobility legacy.