Bobby
The first photo is indeed at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. It was probably taken from the foot of the Pedestrian walkway. The cars coming off the Bridge were from the New York Railway or better known as The Green Line. These cars traveled over the Williamsburg Bridge on the North Side roadways to Washington Plaza in Brooklyn. The BQE ramp to the Bridge occupies much of the area that was used for turning these cars in Brooklyn. There were several routes going both uptown and downtown in Manhattan . Service lasted until the early 1930s when operations ceased. The Green Line was the forerunner of The Fifth Ave Coach Co.
The cars in the foreground were third ave company TARS, and were for a north south line in front of the Bridge. If you look into the distance in the photo, you can make out the Second Avenue Elevated. on Allen Street. Below the area in the photo was the Terminal for the B&QT trolleys that ran to Brooklyn on the South Side of the Bridge. At this time, there was only one roadway 2 lanes on either side of the Bridge for vehicles including both motorized and horse drawn. The trolloeys and the BMT Broadway line ran on dedicated right of ways over the bridge. Looks like they had quite a traffic problem when the photo was taken.
I like the Coney Island Photo as well . In 1940. most of the folks in the photo came to Coney Island via the Culver Line, The SeaBeach Line, The west End Line and the Brighton Line, all on the BMT operating in and out of the Stillwell Avenue Depot.
