The company was founded in 1896 when it succeeded the bankrupt
Fifth Avenue Transportation Company. The company introduced electric buses two years later The company became independent of the New York Transportation Company in 1912. In 1925, the year that they came under control of
The Omnibus Corporation, the company purchased a majority share in the
New York Railways Corporation. When the New York Railways Corporation started converting streetcar lines to buses in 1935–36, the new replacement bus services were operated by the
New York City Omnibus Corporation, which had been formed in 1926 and had shared management with The Omnibus Corporation. New York Railways Corporation was dissolved in 1936. The
New York and Harlem Railroad trolleys were replaced by
Madison Avenue Coach Company, Inc. buses, and the
Eighth and
Ninth Avenue Railway trolleys by
Eighth Avenue Coach Corporation buses, both companies owned by Fifth Avenue Coach. (Fourth and Madison Avenues; 86th Street Crosstown was not replaced with buses). Madison Avenue Coach and Eighth Avenue Coach were folded into New York City Omnibus in November 1951. In 1954, The Omnibus Corporation sold the Fifth Avenue Coach Company to the New York City Omnibus Corporation which changed its name to
Fifth Avenue Coach Lines two years later. In 1956, the company also acquired the
Westchester Street Transportation Company, a bus company previously affiliated with the
Third Avenue Railway. The same year, they also acquired the
Surface Transportation Corporation, and allowed it to operate under a new name as a subsidiary of Fifth Avenue. After a strike in 1962, and a fight for control with financier
Harry Weinberg, bus operations were taken over by the city. Buses in Westchester survived the strike and city takeover until they were acquired by
Liberty Lines Transit in 1969. ==Routes==