Quick Facts
Definitions:
Omnibus: horse-drawn carriages traveling along a fixed route. Service started in 1827 and the last omnibus route ended service in 1905.
Streetcars: Horse-drawn carriages on rails. Introduced by the NY and Harlem Railway in 1832, with the last streetcar ending operation in 1917.
Trolleys: Electrified lines that emerged from the horse streetcars. The first electrified line began in 1887 on Jamaica Avenue, with the last trolley service ending in 1957 with the 59th Street Bridge.
Definitions from The Wheels that Drove New York, pg. 4
Image Source: 5th Avenue horse drawn omnibus. 1890. NYPL Digital Collections Image ID 5192725
Catalog Tips
Online Research Catalog
- When using the Advanced Search function of the Online Research Catalog, checkmark "Cartographic" under Format.
- If you are interested in finding maps that showcase street-level forms of transit, we recommend the following searches:
- Keyword Search: Omnibuses New York
- Keyword Search: Horse-drawn omnibuses
- Keyword Search: Trolley [borough/city]
- Example: Trolley New York City
- Example: Trolley Bronx
- Keyword Search: Surface Lines [borough/city]
- Example: Surface Lines New York City
- Example: Surface Lines Staten Island
A Selection of Street-Level Transit Maps at NYPL's Map Division
- Map of New York City except Richmond borough showing passenger transportation systems, July 1901.
- Map Div. 14-1296
- Note: Shows ferries, steam railroads lines, electric conduit surface lines, overhead trolley surface lines, storage battery lines, cable surface lines, horse surface lines, omnibus lines, elevated railroads, subway lines (under construction) and proposed Long Island Railroad under ground extension.
Map of New York and Westchester counties showing the lines of the Metropolitan and Third Avenue railway systems : of the Interurban Street Railway Company New York. [1903]
- Map Div. 14-1299
- Note: Shows streetcar lines in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester County. Also shows lines operated by "electric traction" and "animal traction."
- Rapid transit facilities of greater New York : showing all surface, elevated, subway, steam and electric r.r. routes operated in the greater city and those contemplated new subway routes approved and validated under the Rapid Transit Act : The whole embracing the existing and projected transportation facilities for the comprehensive accomodation of each of the boroughs of the city and for the entire city considered as one great municipality / by D.L. Turner. 1910
- Map Div. 14-1310
- Note: Shows subway lines (existing and proposed), steam railroads lines, electrified railroads lines, elevated lines and surface lines in N.Y.C. and vicinity.
- Williams' map of borough of Richmond / Williams Map & Guide Co., N.Y. 1911
- Map Div. 22-1880
- Note: Shows railroads, surface lines and ferries.
- Available digitally via UWM Libraries: American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection: Click here to access
- Map shows five cent rides over surface car lines of the Brooklyn rapid transit system : from points in Brooklyn & Queens to and across the Williamsburg Bridge to Delancey St. Manhattan. [1915]
- Map Div. 15-487
- Note: Shows trolley car lines in Brooklyn and Queens.
Image Source: Map of New York City except Richmond borough showing passenger transportation systems, July 1901. Map Div. 14-1296
Additional Recommended Books and Documents at NYPL
To find supplementary books and documents related to the commuting at street level, please conduct the searches listed on this page's "Catalog Tips" with "Cartographic" NOT checkmarked in either our Online Research Catalog or Digital Collections Portal. See below for a list of recommended materials:
- Photographic views of New York City, 1870s-1970s, from the collections of the New York Public Library.
- AZ 12-2335
- Located in Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy
- Available digitally via NYPL Digital Collections. In the collection site, click "Filters" and type:
- "Trolley" as your search term: Click here to see those results.
- New York Transit memories / by Harold A. Smith. 1997
- IRH 02-4857
- Manhattan's lost streetcars / Stephen L. Meyers. 2005
- IRH 06-4167