The R Broadway/Fourth Avenue Local
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 ...
service in the
B Division B Division, Division B, or variant may refer to:
* ''B Division'' (New York City Subway)
* ''B Division'' (Irish League), association football
* ''Division B'' (Scottish Football League)
* ''Divizia B'' (Romanian Football League)
* Moldovan "B ...
of the
New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored since it uses the
BMT Broadway Line
The BMT Broadway Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan. , it is served by four services, all colored : the on the express tracks and the on the local tracks during weekdays (the N and Q train ...
in
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 ...
.
The R operates local between
71st Avenue in
Forest Hills, Queens and
95th Street in
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn at all times except nights, when it short turns at
Whitehall Street–South Ferry
The South Ferry/Whitehall Street station is a New York City Subway metro station, station complex in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District neighborhood of Manhattan, under Battery Park. The complex is shared by the IRT Broadway ...
in
Lower Manhattan from
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 ...
. The R runs via
Queens Boulevard
Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens connecting Midtown Manhattan, via the Queensboro Bridge, to Jamaica. It is long and forms part of New York State Route 25.
Queens Boulevard runs northwest to s ...
in
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 ...
,
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in Manhattan, and
Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. One northbound a.m. rush hour trip terminates at
96th Street on the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
of Manhattan instead of 71st Avenue in Queens.
The R was originally 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 2 service, running along 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 ...
in Brooklyn then traveling through 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 u ...
to Manhattan, then running local on the BMT Broadway Line. The 2 became the RR in 1961. The RR ran local along the
BMT Astoria Line in Queens, terminating at
Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard until it switched terminals with the N in 1987. The RR became the R in 1985. After 1987, the R ran via the
IND Queens Boulevard Line to Forest Hills, Queens. A variant of the RR/R, from Bay Ridge to
Chambers Street in
Lower Manhattan via the
BMT Nassau Street Line
The BMT Nassau Street Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system in Manhattan. It is a continuation of the BMT Jamaica Line in Brooklyn after crossing the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan; it continues to ...
, ran from 1967 until 1987.
History
Early history
The current R service is the successor to the original route 2 of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation. When 2 service began on January 15, 1916, it ran between
Chambers Street on the BMT Nassau Street Line and
86th Street on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line, using the
Manhattan Bridge to cross the
East River
The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
, and running via Fourth Avenue local.
Service on the BMT Broadway Line, which at the time ran only between Whitehall Street–South Ferry and
Times Square–42nd Street, began exactly two years later on January 15, 1918. On July 10, 1919, service was extended to
57th Street–Seventh Avenue with the opening of that station.
The Montague Street Tunnel and the
60th Street Tunnel
The 60th Street Tunnel carries the of the New York City Subway under the East River and Roosevelt Island between Manhattan and Queens.
History Construction and opening
The tunnel was built as part of the Dual Contracts, which expanded the ...
both opened on August 1, 1920. At that time, the 2 service was rerouted from the Manhattan Bridge to the Montague Street Tunnel, running local from
Queensboro Plaza in Queens to 86th Street–Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn.
The Bay Ridge–95th Street station opened on October 31, 1925, and became the service's new southern terminus. During this time, rush-hour specials to Chambers Street were sporadically added and removed, eventually becoming an addition to the line.
At one time, including during 1931, additional midday service operated local between 57th Street and Whitehall Street–South Ferry. The 2 also used the
Nassau Street Loop
The Nassau Street Loop, also called the Nassau Loop, was a service pattern of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) inaugurated in 1931 when the BMT Nassau Street Line was completed, providing a physical link that allowed a train to o ...
during rush hours, entering Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge or Montague Street Tunnel and leaving via the other.
On October 17, 1949, the platform edges on the BMT Astoria Line had been shaved back to accommodate the larger BMT trains, and the BMT's Astoria Shuttle was replaced with service from the 2 Fourth Avenue Line operating from Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens to Bay Ridge–95th Street in Brooklyn at all times. On June 29, 1950, special rush hour trains began running between Bay Ridge–95th Street and Chambers Street via the south side of the Manhattan Bridge and/or the Montague Street Tunnel. The special rush hour trains were discontinued two years later.
On June 28, 1952, special service from 95th Street to the Nassau Street Line was discontinued on Saturdays.
1960s–1970s changes
In the winter of 1960–61, letter designations started to appear on the route with the introduction of the
R27s, which featured it on roll signs. The route was labeled the RR "Fourth Avenue Local via Tunnel".
This was in accordance with 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 ...
's lettering system, which gave double letters to local trains and single letters to express trains.
On January 1, 1961, the RR's northern terminus was relocated to its current location at Forest Hills–71st Avenue, via the BMT
60th Street Tunnel Connection, also known as the "11th Street Cut", and the IND Queens Boulevard Line. Night and weekend RR trains still terminated at 57th Street in Manhattan. Evening rush hour Fourth Avenue–Nassau trains went back to the routing that was used prior to 1959, in which trains ran from Broad Street to 95th Street via the Manhattan Bridge, and the Fourth Avenue express tracks.
On November 27, 1967, the day after the
Chrystie Street Connection opened, the RR was moved back to Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard on the BMT Astoria Line. Replacing it on the Queens Boulevard Line was the new
EE service, running weekdays only between Forest Hills–71st Avenue and Whitehall Street (with additional trains terminating at Canal Street). The Nassau Street specials, which could no longer run as a loop via the
Manhattan Bridge, were through-routed from Bay Ridge–95th Street to
168th Street in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
as RJ, along the route used today by the
J and Z services. Under the first color scheme, RR was colored green and RJ was red. In the original Chrystie Street routing plans, the TA planned to totally eliminate the RR service, and maintain the RJ route as the main Bay Ridge service.
The RJ designation was only used from November 1967 until July 1, 1968, when it was cut back to Chambers Street and renamed as additional RR rush-hour peak-direction service. Because track connections between the Nassau Street Loop and the south tracks of the Manhattan Bridge were severed as part of the construction of the Chrystie Street Connection, these trains could not run in a loop anymore.
On August 30, 1976, the EE was discontinued, with the
N being extended to Forest Hills on weekdays to replace it.
On January 24, 1977, as part of a series of NYCTA service cuts to save $13 million, many subway lines began running shorter trains during middays. As part of the change, RR trains began running with six cars between 10:45 a.m. and 2:05 p.m.
In 1979, the MTA released a revised coloring scheme; RR service was assigned the color yellow (because it used the BMT Broadway Line). Although BMT Nassau Street Line services were colored brown, the rush hour RR service that used the Nassau Street Line was colored yellow, using a diamond bullet.
The RR service via Nassau Street was referred to as the "Chambers Street Special".
1980s-2000s changes
On May 6, 1985, the MTA eliminated double letters for local service; the RR became the R. R service on the Broadway Line continued to use a yellow bullet, while the special Chambers Street–Bay Ridge rush-hour service was signed with a brown diamond with a white R inside, matching the J and
M services using the BMT Nassau Street Line.
Starting on April 28, 1986, R service on the Nassau Street Line was extended to
Metropolitan Avenue
Metropolitan Avenue is a major east-west street in Queens and northern Brooklyn, New York City. Its western end is at the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the eastern end at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The avenue was constructe ...
for layups and put-ins from
Fresh Pond Yard
The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betw ...
. After the N/R swap, the Nassau R used
East New York Yard
The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betwee ...
equipment. This rush hour service was discontinued on November 20, 1987.
On May 24, 1987, the northern terminals of the N and R were swapped. The swap placed the R along the IND Queens Boulevard Line to Forest Hills–71st Avenue once again, with the N replacing it in Astoria.
The change was made to give the R direct access to the
Jamaica Yard
The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betwee ...
(where the train is assigned to this day),
and previously, R trains had to make non-passenger runs, or "deadheads", to/from the
Coney Island Yard
The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betw ...
. As part of the reroute plan, F service along Queens Boulevard was discontinued during late nights (1 a.m. to 5 a.m.). Late night local service was replaced by the R, which ran as a Queens Boulevard Local at all times.
F trains were cut back to
57th Street on the Sixth Avenue Line during late nights.
[*
*] In 1986, the TA studied which two services should serve the line during late nights as ridership at this time did not justify three services. A public hearing was held in December 1986, and it was determined that having the E and R run during late nights provided the best service.
On December 11, 1988, the
Archer Avenue Lines opened, and the E was rerouted to its current terminus at
Jamaica Center via the Queens Boulevard Line's express tracks. E trains began running express east of Continental Avenue, skipping
75th Avenue and
Van Wyck Boulevard
A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...
at all times.
The R was extended from Continental Avenue to 179th Street to provide local service; this allowed F trains to continue running express to 179th Street, and F trains skipped 169th Street between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
During the morning rush hour, four R trains went into service at Continental Avenue, because local ridership from 179th Street during rush hours did not warrant it.
All R trains went to 179th Street during the afternoon rush to avoid taking loaded R trains out of service at Continental Avenue.
Two service plans were identified prior to a public hearing on February 25, 1988 concerning the service plan for the new extension. The first would have split rush-hour E service between the two branches, with late night service to 179th Street provided by the R, while the second would have had all E trains run via Archer Avenue and would have extended R locals to 179th Street.
A modified version of the second plan was decided upon: some E trains would run from 179th Street instead of Archer Avenue during morning rush hours, though all E trains would run to Archer Avenue during the afternoon rush hour to reduce confusion for Queens-bound riders.
The 1988 changes angered some riders because they resulted in the loss of direct Queens Boulevard Express service at local stations east of 71st Avenue—namely the 169th Street, Sutphin Boulevard, Van Wyck Boulevard and 75th Avenue stations. Local elected officials pressured the MTA to eliminate all-local service at these stations.
As part of service cuts on September 30, 1990, the R was cut back to 71st–Continental Avenues outside of rush hours. Local service to 179th Street was replaced by F trains, which provided Queens Boulevard Express service, during middays, evenings, and weekends. Late-night R service became a shuttle between 36th Street/Fourth Avenue and Bay Ridge–95th Street in Brooklyn, and service along Queens Boulevard to 179th Street was replaced by G service.
In 1992, the MTA considered three options to improve service at these local stops, including leaving service as is, having E trains run local east of 71st Avenue along with R service, and having F trains run local east of 71st Avenue replacing R service, which would be cut back to 71st Avenue at all times. The third option was chosen to be tested for six months starting in October or November 1992. On October 26, 1992, R trains were cut back to 71st Avenue at all times, and in its place, the F ran local east of 71st Avenue at all times, thus eliminating express service along Hillside Avenue.
After the six months, the change was kept because there was minimal negative passenger reaction and because of the intensity of the request, even though 77% of passengers had benefited from the pre-October 1992 service plan. The change increased travel time along the F by minutes, and reduced travel time for passengers at local stations by one to two minutes.
In October 2000, late-night shuttle trains in Brooklyn began skipping 53rd Street and 45th Street in the northbound direction. This was so shuttle trains could terminate more quickly at 36th Street–Fourth Avenue, their northern terminal. Previously, all northbound B, N, and R trains had stopped at the same track at 36th Street, which resulted in delays because it took several minutes for the R trains to be cleared.
On
September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, after the attack on the
World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
, the BMT Broadway Line was damaged, and the R service was cut back to run only south of
Court Street. On September 17, R service was completely suspended, being replaced with service in Brooklyn and service in Manhattan and Queens. All three trains returned to normal service by October 28. Effective December 16, 2001, to accommodate new V service, the frequency of R service during the morning rush hour was decreased, with trains running every six minutes instead of every five minutes.
On September 8, 2002,
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 (1982–200 ...
was closed for reconstruction. As a result, late night R service was extended to
Pacific Street, running express between that station and 36th Street. On April 27, 2003, the frequency of Saturday morning and afternoon service was decreased, with trains running every 12 minutes instead of every 8 minutes. Trains also ran every 12 minutes on Sunday mornings and afternoons, instead of every 15 and 12 minutes on Sunday mornings, and every 10 and 8 minutes on Sunday afternoons.
Service was cut back to 36th Street when the north side of the Manhattan Bridge reopened on February 22, 2004.
2010s changes
After
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
flooded the subway system, 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 u ...
was completely flooded. When service was restored, the R train was split into two sections (between Forest Hills and
34th Street–Herald Square at all times except late nights, and between
Jay Street–MetroTech and Bay Ridge–95th Street at all times). On December 4, the Queens–Manhattan section was extended to Whitehall Street–South Ferry. On December 21, full service was restored between Manhattan and Brooklyn after the Montague Street Tubes were drained.
However, from August 2, 2013, to fall 2014, the tunnel was closed again so that extra repairs could be completed, bringing back similar storm changes to the R train. On weekdays, the divided R ran in two sections: one section between Forest Hills and Whitehall Street–South Ferry, and the other between
Court Street and Bay Ridge–95th Street. On weekends, the R train ran its full route via the Manhattan Bridge, skipping all stations between
Canal Street and
DeKalb Avenue. The weekday service between Forest Hills and Whitehall Street essentially recreated the former EE route from 1967 to 1976. Originally slated to open by October 2014, the tunnel reopened a few weeks early, on September 15, 2014, and several million dollars under budget.
On June 16, 2016, it was announced that late-night R service would be extended north to
Whitehall Street
Whitehall Street is a street in the South Ferry/Financial District neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City, near the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The street begins at Bowling Green to the north, where it is a continuation of the ...
in order to provide a one-seat ride into Manhattan. This eliminated the need for northbound trains to skip
45th Street and
53rd Street
53rd Street is a Midtown Manhattan, midtown cross street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, that runs adjacent to buildings such as the Citigroup Center, Citigroup building. It is 1.83 miles (2.94 km) ...
as R trains no longer needed to reverse on the express tracks at
36th Street. The change took place on November 5, 2016. During late weekend evenings, every other R train
short turn
In public transport, a short turn, short working or turn-back is an earlier terminus on a bus or rail line that is used on some scheduled trips that do not operate along the full length of the route.
Short turns are practical in scheduling when t ...
ed at Whitehall Street, resulting in waiting time doubling along the entire Brooklyn portion of the route. As part of the changes, these short-turns were extended to 95th Street.
Starting November 6, 2017, one northbound R trip was diverted to serve the then-new
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, ...
in order to increase service on that line during the morning rush hour.
In February 2019, in the midst of a
transit crisis, several Bay Ridge politicians proposed splitting the R route in half, similar to the pattern enacted during the Montague Street Tunnel closures in 2013 and 2014, citing the route's length and unreliability. This proposal has been met with criticism from local riders, mostly because it would eliminate a one-seat ride into Manhattan.
Route
Service pattern
The following table shows the lines used by the R, with shaded boxes indicating the route at the specified times:
Stations
For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.
References
External links
MTA New York City Transit – R Broadway Local*
*
{{NYCS navbox
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New York City Subway services