New York City Subway stations
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
is a
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
system that serves four of the five
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...
s of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
:
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
,
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, and
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. Its operator is the
New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City. P ...
, which is itself controlled by the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...
of New York. In 2015, an average of 5.65 million passengers used the system daily, making it the busiest rapid transit system in the United States and the 11th busiest in the world. The present New York City Subway system is composed of three formerly separate systems that merged in 1940: the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT w ...
(IRT), the
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the IND subway s ...
(BMT), and the
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND or ISS), formerly known as the Independent City-Owned Subway System (ICOSS) or the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad (ICORTR), was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of th ...
(IND). The
privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
IRT, founded in 1902, constructed and operated the first underground railway line in New York City. The opening of the first line on October 27, 1904, is commonly cited as the opening of the modern New York City Subway, although some elevated lines of the IRT and BMT that were initially incorporated into the New York City Subway system but then demolished predate this. The oldest sections of elevated lines still in operation were built in 1885. The BMT, founded in 1923 and also privately held, was formed from the bankruptcy of the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using ...
. The IND was created by the City of New York in 1921 to be a municipally owned competitor of the two private companies. Unification in June 1940 by the
New York City Board of Transportation The New York City Board of Transportation or the Board of Transportation of the City of New York (NYCBOT or BOT) was a city transit commission and operator in New York City, consisting of three members appointed by the mayor. It was created in ...
brought the three systems under one operator. The New York City Transit Authority, created in 1953 to be a public benefit corporation that acquired the rapid transit and surface line (buses and
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s) infrastructure of the Board of Transportation, remains the operator of the New York City Subway today. The official count of
stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...
is ; however, this tabulation classifies some transfer stations as two or more stations, which are called "station complexes" within the nomenclature of the New York City Subway. If station complexes are counted as one station each, the number of stations is . Thirty-two such station complexes exist. The reason for the higher count generally lies in the history of the New York City Subway: IRT, BMT and IND stations are usually counted separately, particularly if their lines are not parallel and are adjacent to or on another level to each other. Regardless of how stations are counted, the New York City Subway has the largest number of rapid transit stations in the world. There are numerous New York City Subway stations that are closed, many of which stem from the demolition of elevated lines once operated by the IRT and the BMT that were made largely but not completely redundant to underground lines subsequently constructed. The newest New York City Subway stations are part of the
Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...
, and are located on Second Avenue at 72nd, 86th and 96th streets. They opened on January 1, 2017. Stations that share identical street names are disambiguated by the line name and/or the cross street each is associated with. For example, " 125th Street station" can refer to four separate stations: 125th Street on the
IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in New York City, United States, and is part of the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND), and the ''Eighth Avenu ...
(), the
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the IRT Seventh Avenue Line or the IRT West Side Line) is a New York City Subway line. It is one of several lines that serves the A Division, stretching from South Ferry in Lower Manhatta ...
(), the
IRT Lenox Avenue Line The Lenox Avenue Line is a line of the New York City Subway, part of the A Division, mostly built as part of the first subway line. Located in Manhattan, New York City, it consists of six stations between and , all of which are situated with ...
(), and the
IRT Lexington Avenue Line The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East H ...
(). This situation occurs numerous times.


Station facilities and amenities

Of the stations in the system, are served 24 hours a day. Underground stations in the New York City Subway are typically accessed by staircases going down from street level. Many of these staircases are painted in a common shade of green, with slight or significant variations in design. Other stations have unique entrances reflective of their location or date of construction. Several station entrance stairs, for example, are integrated into adjacent buildings. Nearly all station entrances feature color-coded globe or square lamps signifying their status as an entrance (see below). Out of all the stations on the New York City Subway, * 275 are fully underground (59%) * 153 are elevated stations (32%) * 29 are on an embankment (6%) * 15 are open-cut stations (3%) This means that 61% of the stations are below the surface (59% being fully underground and about 2% with most of the station below the surface). 39% of stations are above the surface or overground.


Entrances


Turnstiles and entrance gates

The New York City Subway primarily employs two types of
turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a t ...
s: a waist-high turnstile, and a full-height turnstile known as a
High Entry-Exit Turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of peopl ...
(HEET). The waist-high turnstiles, the most prominent in the system, were installed beginning in 1993 along with the implementation of MetroCard, though they originally accepted tokens. The newer HEETs resemble several older turnstiles of that design informally called "iron maidens", and are prevalent at subway entrances without token booths to discourage fare evasion. Both turnstiles are stainless steel and are bidirectional, allowing passengers to enter with fare payment and to exit. A third older type of turnstile, the High Exit Turnstile (HET), is a black-painted unidirectional iron maiden and only turns in the exiting direction. Entrance is also available via Service Entry gates or AutoGates, which cater primarily to handicapped passengers or passengers with large items such as strollers and luggage. These gates double as pushbar Emergency Exits, though they are often used for regular exiting in crowded stations.


Lamps

At most of the system's entrances and exits, there is a lamppost or two bearing a colored spherical or cube-shaped lamp. These lights roughly indicate the station's availability (i.e. how often it is accessible): green means always a full-time (24/7) entrance and the presence of a 24 hour booth, typically located at the busiest entrance, red means either a part-time booth or no booth, hence either exit-only or more and more often 24/7 entrance with MetroCard exclusively via HEETs. Older lamps are completely colored green or red, while newer ones, called "half-moons", have only the top half colored, while the bottom half is milky white; this is to provide more light, and the half-colored globes have the same meanings as the globes with full colors. There are also some square lamps. The meaning of the lights is poorly understood by passengers and was originally more complicated. Green, yellow, and red lights were introduced in the early 1980s (exactly in 1982) to indicate the entrance's availability, mostly to prevent muggings by warning riders away from entrances that were closed at night. Originally, green signified an entrance located at a full-time station booth, which was open
24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty ...
and had regular waist-high
turnstiles A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a ...
; yellow signified a part-time booth, to which access to the platforms could be gained using
High Entry-Exit Turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of peopl ...
s (HEETs); and red signified an exit-only. This proved too complicated and yellow was dropped in the early 1990s. Red globes now indicate both part-time entrance or exit-only; indeed, a joke when the system was introduced was that "green meant go in, red meant don't. And yellow meant to take a cab." ( NYC medallion taxis are yellow). Further, with the introduction of the
MetroCard The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and MTA ...
in 1994, the MTA converted many previous exit-only entrances to full-time entrances via HEETs. The introduction of half-colored globes further confused riders of the subway system, and as of a 2002 survey, the globe lamps are poorly understood.


Concourse

Many stations in the subway system have
mezzanines A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...
. In underground stations, this typically consists of the first level below the street or the areas between the street and platform level. For open-cut, grade-level and elevated stations, prevalent in uptown Manhattan and the outer boroughs, the mezzanine area often consists of a station house at street level or above the street. Mezzanines allow for passengers to enter from multiple locations at an intersection and proceed to the correct platform without having to cross the street before entering. At busy intersections, they also act as a
pedestrian underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing which crosses underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor traffic or trains respectively. Terminology In the Un ...
or overpass. They also allow for crossover between uptown and
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
trains on
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...
s or a pair of
island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
s, which is very useful when local tracks are closed for construction. Within the mezzanines are
fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...
areas, where passengers physically pay their fare to enter the subway system. In underground subway stations built close to ground level or under narrow streets, a characteristic of early IRT and BMT construction, the fare control area is at platform level with no mezzanine crossovers. Many elevated stations also have platform-level fare control with no common station house between directions of service. Upon entering a station, passengers may use station booths (formerly known as token booths) or vending machines to buy their fare, which is currently stored in a
MetroCard The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and MTA ...
. Each station has at least one booth open 24/7, typically located at the busiest entrance. After swiping the card at a turnstile, customers enter the fare-controlled area of the station and continue to the platforms. Inside fare control are "Off-Hours Waiting Areas", which consist of benches and are identified by a yellow sign. For various reasons, including maintenance costs, decreases in ridership, along with crime and safety issues, many stations have fare control areas, mezzanine areas and entrances that have been closed. Many mezzanines that previously stretched the entire length of a station have been split or partitioned by fencing or permanent walls. These closed areas have been abandoned or converted into space for Transit Operations or the
New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
.


Facilities and amenities


Air conditioning

In August 2006, the MTA announced that all future subway stations, which include 34th Street–Hudson Yards, South Ferry, and all
Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...
stations, will have platforms outfitted with air-cooling systems. The existing
Grand Central–42nd Street Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...
station also has these cooling systems; however, for the most part, subway stations lack air-cooling systems due to their expense, and only a few stations have ceiling fans.


Artwork

Many stations are decorated with intricate ceramic tile work, some of it dating back to 1904 when the subway first opened. The subway tile artwork tradition continues in a
Percent for Art The term percent for art refers to a program, often a city ordinance, where a fee, usually some percentage of the project cost, is placed on large scale development projects in order to fund and install public art. The details of such programs var ...
program. The
MTA Arts & Design MTA Arts & Design, formerly known as Arts for Transit and Urban Design, is a commissioned art program directed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the transportation systems serving New York City and the surrounding region. Since 198 ...
program oversees art in the subway system. Permanent installations, such as sculpture, mosaics, and murals; photographs displayed in lightboxes encourage people to use mass transit. In addition, commissioned art displayed in stations and "art cards", some displaying poetry, are in many of the trains themselves in unused advertisement fixture slots. Some of the art is by internationally known artists such as Elizabeth Murray's ''Blooming'', displayed at Lexington Avenue/59th Street station.


Accessibility

Since the majority of the system was built before 1990, the year the
Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...
(ADA) went into effect, many New York City Subway stations were not designed to be handicapped-accessible. Since then, elevators have been built in newly constructed stations to comply with the ADA. (Most grade-level stations required little modification to meet ADA standards.) In addition, the MTA identified "key stations", high-traffic and/or geographically important stations, which must conform to the ADA when they are extensively renovated. , out of total stations in the system, 119 are accessible; many of them have AutoGate access. Five stations on the
Staten Island Railway The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit line in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Trans ...
are also accessible. Additionally, there are 16 more non-ADA-accessible stations with
cross-platform interchange A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines at a metro (or other railway) station. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the Uni ...
s, as well as other same-platform transfers, available, though the MTA notes that the gaps between train cars and platforms at these stations may nonetheless exceed the maximums established by the ADA.


Entertainment

While a permit is not required for
performances A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...
in the subway, certain codes of conduct are required. Any musician/entertainer may perform in subway mezzanines and platforms. On platforms, there may be no amplifications as this is part of MTA policies: Performers must not be within of a token booth or from an MTA office/tower, blocking access to an escalator, stairwell, or elevator, interfering with transit services or passenger movement; or in an area where construction is occurring. In addition, performance is prohibited during public service announcements and may be no louder than 85 dBA at away or 70 dBa at from a token booth. Performances are prohibited in subway cars. Since 1987, MTA has sponsored the "
Music Under New York Music Under New York (MUNY) is a part of the Arts & Design program by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that schedules musical performances in transportation hubs across its rapid transit, ferry, and commuter rail systems. MTA gr ...
" (MUNY) program in which street musicians enter a competitive contest to be assigned to the preferred high traffic locations. Each year, applications are reviewed and approximately 70 eligible performers are selected and contacted to participate in live auditions held for one day. At present, more than 100 soloists and groups participate in MUNY providing over 150 weekly performances at 25 locations throughout the transit system, for example
Natalia Paruz Natalia 'Saw Lady' Paruz is a New York City-based musical saw player, bell ringer and busker. She is the founder and director of the annual Musical Saw Festival in New York City. She also organized the musical saw festival in Israel. She is a ...
, a
musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...
player, plays at
Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
.


Restrooms

Restrooms are rare in the subway system; in 2010, there were 133 open restrooms in 81 of the system's 468 stations. Most station restrooms previously open to the public have been closed and converted to storage spaces or employee use. However, there are a few major stations that have operating restrooms, including on the concourses of 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal, Chambers Street, 57th Street–Seventh Avenue,
Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue Coney may refer to: Places * Côney, a river in eastern France * Coney, Georgia, an unincorporated community in the United States * Coney Island (disambiguation) People * Dean Coney (born 1963), English footballer * Hykiem Coney (1982–2006), ...
, and Lexington Avenue/59th Street. The majority of restrooms in the New York City Subway are found in express and transfer stations, at ADA-accessible stations, and at terminals, though not all of the aforementioned types of stations have restrooms. Newer subway stations have restrooms, including 34th Street–Hudson Yards on the
IRT Flushing Line The IRT Flushing Line is a rapid transit route of the New York City Subway system, named for its eastern terminal in Flushing, Queens. It is operated as part of the A Division. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), a private operator, ...
and three
Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...
stations. By the 2010s, the MTA planned to "overhaul" and reopen previously-closed restrooms. All of the system's restrooms were closed in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...
. The restrooms remained closed in 2022, despite a drastic increase in the number of "soiled train" incidents, where human waste was found on trains. In October 2022, the MTA announced that it had hired additional janitors and would reopen restrooms in eight stations. At the time, there were restrooms in 69 of the system's 472 stations, and there were 163 total restrooms across the system.


Retail

Some platforms have newspaper stands that sell various items including newspapers and food. The MTA also installed retail spaces within paid areas in selected stations, including the station concourses of the Times Square–Port Authority complex and the Sixth Avenue concourse at 42nd Street–Bryant Park. According to the MTA, the New York City Subway is home to 345 retail spaces, making over US$70 million in rent and licensing fees in 2009 for the authority. It is continuing to make efforts in attracting more diverse retailers and vendors to set up shop in the subway system. , there are 111 newsstands in the system, including 20 that are vacant. This includes three empty stands on the
Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...
that opened that year.


Connections

Rapid transit and rail connections are available at designated stations to
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
,
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
,
AirTrain JFK AirTrain JFK is an elevated people mover system and airport rail link serving John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport) in New York City. The driverless system operates 24/7 and consists of three lines and nine stations within the ...
,
Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...
,
New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...
and
PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...
. Connections to the
Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry ...
and privately operated ferries such as
NYC Ferry NYC Ferry is a public network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises. , there are six routes, as well as one seasonal route, connecting 25 ferry piers across all five boroughs. NYC Ferry has the largest passenger fleet ...
,
NY Waterway NY Waterway (or New York Waterway) is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Port ...
and
New York Water Taxi New York Water Taxi (NYWT) is a water taxi service based in New York City. It offers sightseeing, charter and commuter services mainly to points along the East River and Hudson River. It is one of several private operators of ferries, sightseei ...
, as well as intercity and commuter bus lines at the
Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus station, bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving abo ...
and
George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal The George Washington Bridge Bus Station is a commuter bus terminal located at the east end of the George Washington Bridge in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan in New York City. The bus station is owned and operated by the Port Authori ...
, are also available. Free
MetroCard The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and MTA ...
-only transfers to buses are available to
MTA New York City Transit buses MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...
(including the bus rapid transit
Select Bus Service Select Bus Service (SBS; stylized as +busservice) is a brand used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s Regional Bus Operations for limited-stop bus routes with some bus rapid transit features in New York City. The first SBS route ...
),
MTA Bus Company MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...
, NICE buses (Nassau County) and Bee-Line buses (Westchester County).


Station management

In 2018, New York City Transit president
Andy Byford Andy Byford (born 1965) is a British transport executive who has held several management-level positions in transport authorities around the world, such as the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authori ...
implemented a "group station manager" program, where 24 people would be hired to oversee up to 25 stations. This replaced a previous system where station managers could be responsible for up to 100 stations. Group station managers were generally responsible for coordinating repairs and operations, as well as providing customer service in each of the stations under their purview. These group station managers had repaired over 62,000 issues by early 2020.


Station platforms and configurations

Out of the system's stations, 283 are underground, 149 are
elevated An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the Track (rail transport), tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast i ...
, 20 are in open cuts, 7 are at-grade, and 13 are on embankments. File:163 St-Amsterdam Ave station.jpg, Typical underground station ( 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue) File:176th Street station with departing downtown train.jpg, Typical elevated station ( 176th Street) File:21alstindstair.jpg, Typical entrance to an underground station ( 21st Street–Van Alst) File:30th Av BMT sta jeh.JPG, Typical entrance to an elevated station ( 30th Avenue) File:UnionSquareNQRWSubway.jpg, Typical underground station mezzanine ( 14th Street–Union Square) File:233 Street exit vc.jpg, Typical elevated station mezzanine ( 233rd Street) A typical subway station has waiting platforms ranging from long, though some IND platforms may be as long as long. Platforms of former commuter rail stations, such as those on the
IND Rockaway Line The IND Rockaway Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, operating in Queens. It branches from the IND Fulton Street Line at Rockaway Boulevard, extending over the Jamaica Bay, into the Rockaways. The trai ...
, are even longer. Due to the large number of transit lines, one platform or set of platforms often serves more than one service (unlike other rapid transit systems including the
Paris Metro Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Sin ...
, but like some lines on the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
). A passenger needs to look at the signs hung at the platform entrance steps and over each track to see which trains stop there and when, and at the arriving train to see which train it is. Almost everywhere express trains run, they run on the inner one (of 3) or two (of 4) tracks, and local trains run on the outer two tracks. In a 3-track configuration, the center track can be used toward the center of the city in the morning and away from the center in the evening, though not every 3-track line has that express service. There are several common platform configurations: * On a 2-track line, a station may have one center island platform used for trains in both directions, or 2
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...
s, one for a train in each direction. * For a 3-track or 4-track line, local stops will have side platforms and the middle one or two tracks will not stop at the station. * For most 3- or 4-track express stops, there will be two island platforms, one for the local and express in one direction, and another for the local and express in the other direction. Each island platform provides a
cross-platform interchange A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines at a metro (or other railway) station. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the Uni ...
between the local and express services. In a few cases, a 4-track station has an island platform for the center express tracks and two side platforms for the outside local tracks. This occurs only at three stations near major railway stations where the next station along the line is also an express station with the more common platform configuration. The purpose of splitting the platforms is to limit overcrowding by preventing cross-platform interchanges between local and express services. The oldest station to be built with this layout is the
Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station The Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station (formerly Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street station) is a New York City Subway station complex shared by the BMT Fourth Avenue Line, the BMT Brighton Line and the IRT Eastern Parkway Line, located at ...
on the
IRT Eastern Parkway Line The Eastern Parkway Line is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn south along Flatbush Avenue and east along Eastern Parkway to Crown Heights. After passing Utica Avenue, the line ri ...
(), where the connection is to the
Atlantic Terminal Atlantic Terminal (formerly Flatbush Avenue) is the westernmost stop on the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Atlantic Branch, located at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It is the primary terminal for the F ...
of the
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
, with an adjacent express station at Nevins Street. The layout also exists at 34th Street–Penn Station on both the
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the IRT Seventh Avenue Line or the IRT West Side Line) is a New York City Subway line. It is one of several lines that serves the A Division, stretching from South Ferry in Lower Manhatta ...
() and
IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in New York City, United States, and is part of the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND), and the ''Eighth Avenu ...
(), with adjacent express stations at Times Square–42nd Street and 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal, where the connection is to
Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
, one of the two major New York City railway stations. This does not occur with the connection to New York's other major station,
Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
, at Grand Central on the
IRT Lexington Avenue Line The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East H ...
(), which has no adjacent express station. There is one notable 6-track local station,
DeKalb Avenue At Fort Greene Park DeKalb Avenue is a thoroughfare in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, with the majority of its length in Brooklyn. It runs from Woodward Avenue (Linden Hill Cemetery) in Ridgewood, Queens to Downtown Brookly ...
on the
BMT Fourth Avenue Line The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express duri ...
, where trains to or from the
Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is long, with the suspension cables be ...
either stop at the outer tracks of the island platforms () or pass through and bypass the station on the middle tracks ("bypass express tracks") (). Trains to or from the
Montague Street Tunnel The Montague Street Tunnel is a rail tunnel of the New York City Subway under the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, connecting the BMT Broadway Line and BMT Fourth Avenue Line. The R uses the tunnel at all times, the N us ...
() stop across the platform from the respective outer track.


Stations with two levels

Some stations have two levels. The levels separate the platforms of different services and/or directions. For example: * the local trains on one level and the express trains on another level * trains of two different lines on two different levels * trains of two different directions on two different levels, with a cross-platform interchange on each level * trains of different services on two different levels that are on the same line


List of stations

In addition to the main list detailing ridership and daytime services, the complete list of stations is also split by
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...
. The second column displays the number of stations as counted by the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...
. The third column shows the number of stations when "station complexes" are considered to be one station each.


Station complexes

The New York City Subway has several types of transfer stations, among them station complexes (i.e. sets of two or more stations connected with a passageway inside
fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...
) and stations serving two or more
lines Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...
(considered to be one station each). The table below only lists the station complexes. For a more detailed list see the main article.


See also


Notes


References


External links


Locations of subway stations
from NYC Open Data website {{NYCS navbox