Bee-Line Bus System

Westchester County Bee-Line System

New Flyer XDE60 #364 operates on Route 21 making limited stops towards Bedford Park.
Parent	Westchester County Department of Public Works and Transportation
Founded	May 1, 1978
Headquarters	100 East First Street, 9th Floor Mount Vernon, NY 10550
Locale	Westchester County, New York
Service area	Westchester County, New York and Putnam County, New York; The Bronx and Manhattan in New York City; and Greenwich, Connecticut
Service type	Local, Limited, express, shuttle buses
Routes	64
Fleet	327 fixed route 91 paratransit
Daily ridership	81,613 (2024)[1]
Fuel type	Diesel, Diesel-electric hybrid
Operator	Liberty Lines Transit, Inc. (all fixed routes except 16, 18, and 31) P.T.L.A. Enterprise, Inc. (16, 18 and 31) Suburban Paratransit Service (Mobico Group subsidiary) (paratransit)
Chief executive	Hugh J. Greechan, Jr., P.E., Commissioner
Website	Bee-Line Bus System

The Westchester County Bee-Line System, branded on the buses in lowercase as the bee-line system, is a bus system serving Westchester County, New York. The system is owned by the county's Department of Public Works and Transportation.

The system was founded on May 1, 1978, by the then Westchester County Department of Transportation to consolidate the bus system with thirteen private bus companies and has been given control over the buses, fare structure, routes, and services. By the 1980s, the bus system had an identity problem in who was providing the service. On May 19, 1987, WCDOT officially named the bus service "The Bee-Line System" with a 'bee-in-flight' mascot drawn by cartoonist Jack Davis.^[2][3]

The Westchester County Department of Public Works and Transportation currently contracts out to two private bus companies to provide service in Westchester County and the surrounding counties: Yonkers-based Liberty Lines Transit, Inc., the main company that either bought out or obtained franchises from the other twelve bus companies over the years, operates buses on all but three bus routes; and Cortlandt Manor-based P.T.L.A. Enterprise, Inc., a small company that operates buses on routes 16, 18, and 31.

Most Bee-Line routes operate seven days a week throughout the year. Until 2024, there was no service county-wide on two days of the calendar year: Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November), and Christmas (December 25). Starting in 2025, Bee-Line will operate limited service on these holidays.^[4]

The system's 64 routes are mostly concentrated in the more urban southern portion of the county, with the cities of Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and Yonkers receiving a high frequency of service. White Plains, the county seat and most centrally located city, is a major transportation hub with many routes converging on the city's TransCenter.

Service in the northern portion of Westchester is sparse and is concentrated near slightly populated areas such as Mount Kisco, Ossining, or Peekskill. Areas such as Lewisboro, North Salem, and Pound Ridge receive paratransit service only. During the school year, special bus routes also operate. All but the county's smallest, most rural communities have at least rush hour service.^[5]

Because Westchester County borders on the New York City borough of the Bronx, many of the Bee-Line's routes operate into the Bronx, offering Westchester residents connections to MTA New York City Transit buses and subways; at least one Bee-Line route connects to each subway route serving the Bronx. The Bee-Line System also operates an express route, the BxM4C from White Plains, Greenburgh, Hartsdale, Scarsdale, and Yonkers along Central Park Avenue to Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (return trips operate on Madison Avenue within Manhattan).

Bee-Line operates mostly closed-door service in the Bronx (local service is not provided solely for travel within the Bronx; appropriate MTA Regional Bus Operations service must be used instead). The only exceptions are:

• Routes 40, 41, 42 and 43, which run along White Plains Road north of the Wakefield – 241st Street subway terminal;
• Route 45, which serves the Pelham Bay Park subway terminal, the Pelham Bay and Split Rock Golf Course, and the Bartow-Pell Mansion;
• Route 54, which runs on Mundy Lane along the Bronx/Mount Vernon border, since no other bus routes travel entirely through these areas;
• Routes 60 and 61, which run along US Route 1 (East Fordham and Boston roads in the Bronx).

In addition, Route 12 briefly enters Greenwich, Connecticut along King Street, in which it makes stops in Greenwich and Rye Brook, New York along the New York/Connecticut border; Route 16 briefly enters Putnam County to serve the Mahopac Village Centre; and Route 77 enters Putnam County to serve the US Route 6 corridor between Mahopac and Carmel.^[5]

All fares require exact change, OMNY, or MetroCard. All transfers are free with payment of fare. Dollar bills are not accepted on any Bee-Line System buses.^[6]

Bee-Line Bus started accepting MetroCard on April 1, 2007.^[8] The fare for the BxM4C went down from $7 to $5. The regular fare was $2 for MetroCard, and $1.75 if paid in cash. Dollar bills, passports, and ticket books were no longer accepted for fare payment after this date.^[9] MetroCard Vans made stops on heavily used routes to help people get ready for the MetroCard.^[10] On July 23, 2019, it was announced that the Bee-Line bus fare system on all buses would be upgraded to the OMNY fare system in 2021–2022, replacing the MetroCard. The Westchester County Department of Transportation states that "OMNY is targeted for introduction on the Bee-Line Bus System beginning in 2022 at the earliest." OMNY hasn't been installed as of May 2025^[update], but is expected to be installed in 2025 to 2026.^[11] MetroCard continued to be accepted by New York City Transit subways and buses and Bee-Line service until 2026. Although MetroCard sales ended on December 31, 2025, OMNY fare payments on the Bee-Line system were not implemented until January 4, 2026; in the meantime, passengers used cash or their remaining MetroCard balance for fare payment. The Reduced-Fare MetroCard Program will also be converted over to OMNY.^[12][13]

For certain periods during the summer and winter of 2022, the buses were fare-free.^[14] During the summers of 2023 and 2024, buses were fare free until Labor Day.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bee-Line Bus System" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

As of 2025^[update], the Bee-Line System had 325 buses in its fleet, of which 40 were diesel vehicles and the rest were hybrid or electric vehicles.^[15] This roster only lists buses and shuttle vans used in fixed route service. Paratransit vehicles are not listed. All buses are wheelchair accessible.

Fleet numbers	Year	Photo	Manufacturer	Model	Length	Width	Engines	Transmission
116–136	2005		Orion Bus Industries	Orion V 05.505	32 ft (9.8 m)	96 in (2.4 m)	Detroit Diesel Series 50 EGR	Allison B400R
801–830	2008			Orion V 05.501	40 ft (12 m)	102 in (2.6 m)	Cummins ISL
205-299	2010		North American Bus Industries	NABI 40-LFW HEV			Cummins ISL9	Allison EP40 Hybrid System
301–378	2018–2020		New Flyer Industries	Xcelsior XDE60 articulated	60 ft (18 m)		Cummins L9	BAE Systems HDS300 hybrid system
100–106	2023			Xcelsior XDE35	35 ft (11 m)		Cummins B6.7	BAE Systems HDS200 hybrid system
141–144	2021			Xcelsior XE35			Siemens HV1DB2016	Siemens ELFA2
145–146	2021			Xcelsior XE40	40 ft (12 m)
398–503	2021–2022			Xcelsior XDE40			Cummins L9	BAE Systems HDS200 hybrid system
504–515	2023–2024

In February 2020, it was announced that Westchester County's Bee-Line Bus fleet would be expanding with 78 hybrid-electric 60-foot buses (all delivered by summer 2020), 106 hybrid-electric 40-foot buses and two 40-foot battery-electric buses – all built by New Flyer Industries – under a plan to have the entire transit bus fleet running on either fully electric or diesel-electric hybrid technology by 2025. As of July 2020, 106 40-foot diesel-electric buses and two 40-foot battery-electric are planned to be delivered between 2021 and 2025. Four 35-foot battery-electric buses are also planned to be delivered, totaling 6 battery-electric buses by 2025.^[16][17][18]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bee-Line Bus System.

• Bee-Line Bus System
• Bee-Line Roster as of 2002