The founder of Villani Bus Company, Frank Villani, Sr., was a true entrepreneur. Returning home after World War I, he found Newark embroiled in a trolley car strike. With so many people unable to get to work, he saw a chance to leverage the situation, create an income opportunity and do something of value at the same time. He commissioned a carpenter to build him a bus, improvising with a chassis that had a wooden body fitted out with benches to seat 20. That first make-shift bus shuttled workers up and back in Newark until the strike ended.

With a bus already built but his jitney service no longer necessary, Villani petitioned the city for a permit to operate bus service out of Elizabeth, NJ. That's how the #44 Line started! When Linden needed a bus to transport school children to and from home, Villani Bus Company was officially launched!

Photo circa 1920