Bus routes managed by the city, soon known as Mayor John Hylan's "emergency bus lines", replaced the rail lines.[when?][6][7] The Spring and Delancey Streets Line was soon ordered resumed by the courts, and operated until 1931.[8][9]
New York Railways Company entered receivership on March 20, 1919[10] after an application for a fare increase was denied.[11]
The Traction Company also began leasing its subsidiaries to each other, starting with the leases to the Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad of the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad (May 13, 1890), the Chambers Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad (January 31, 1891), and the Twenty-third Street Railway, including its lease of the Bleecker Street and Fulton Ferry Railroad (April 25, 1893). Two companies not owned by the Traction Company - the Sixth Avenue Railroad and Ninth Avenue Railroad - were leased to the Houston on February 1 and March 12, 1892. The minority-owned Central Park, North and East River Railroad and majority-owned Forty-second Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad were leased to not only the Houston, but also the Metropolitan Cross-Town Railway, on October 14, 1892, and April 6, 1893. The Houston merged with the Broadway Railway and South Ferry Railroad on December 12, 1893, forming the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. That company was merged with the Lexington Avenue and Pavonia Ferry Railroad and Metropolitan Cross-Town Railway on May 28, 1894, creating a second company with the same name, and a third Metropolitan Street Railway was formed on November 12, 1895, when it was merged with the Columbus and Ninth Avenue Railroad. The Metropolitan leased two other non-owned lines: the Eighth Avenue Railroad on November 23, 1895, and the New York and Harlem Railroad (City Line) on June 11, 1896. On September 16, 1897, the Metropolitan Traction Company, which had acquired most of Manhattan's street railways, was dissolved, the stock being transferred to the Metropolitan Street Railway. That company signed operating agreements with the Fulton Street Railroad on February 19, 1896[1] and the Thirty-fourth Street Crosstown Railway (which had been formed in March 1896 by a merger of the Thirty-fourth Street and Eleventh Avenue Railroad with its lessor, the Thirty-fourth Street Railroad) on December 21, 1896, and acquired a lease on the Second Avenue Railroad on January 28, 1898.[15][17][18]
The only remaining company was the Third Avenue Railroad, which had built up its own system through ownership and leases. Among the company's lines were two crosstown lines on 42nd Street and 125th Street, two north–south lines on Third Avenue and Broadway, the entire street railway network of the Bronx, and a number of lines in Westchester County.[19] The great cost of electrifying its lines brought it to bankruptcy in 1900, and the Metropolitan acquired a majority of its stock in March of that year[20] and leased it on April 13.[17] With this acquisition, the Metropolitan had complete control of the street railways of Manhattan and the Bronx.
Interurban Street Railway Company
The Interurban Street Railway Company was incorporated on November 25, 1901, to take over the bankrupt North Mount Vernon Street Railway. The Interurban leased the overcapitalized and water-logged Metropolitan on February 14, 1902, and the newly formed Metropolitan Securities Company acquired the stock of the Interurban, which itself took over the stock of many of the Metropolitan's subsidiaries. The Interurban's name was changed to the New York City Railway Company on February 10, 1904.[1][15] The Metropolitan leased the Central Crosstown Railroad, which it had owned - and through it the Christopher and Tenth Street Railroad - on February 8, 1904.[21] On November 1, 1905, when the Fort George and Eleventh Avenue Railroad - controlled by the Metropolitan since its incorporation in 1898[22] - opened its line on 145th Street, it entered into an operating agreement with the New York City Railway.[1]
The New York City Interborough Railway began operating street railways in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan on May 31, 1906, feeding the stations of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which controlled it. Prior to this, in January 1906, the Interborough and Metropolitan agreed to consolidate their holdings, and the Interborough-Metropolitan Company was incorporated on January 24 and acquired a majority of the stock of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, Metropolitan Street Railway, and Metropolitan Securities Company. The Panic of 1907 toppled the system, and on September 24, 1907, the New York City Railway entered receivership.[1][15]
After entering receivership, New York City Railway's leases and operating agreements were canceled and their properties were turned over to the receivers of the subsidiaries in 1908:
The remaining Metropolitan Street Railway lines were operated by the receivers until January 1, 1912, when they were turned over to the Interborough Consolidated Corporation-controlled[18]