Jay Street–MetroTech Station (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
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The Jay Street–MetroTech station is a
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...
station complex on the IND Fulton Street, IND Culver, and BMT Fourth Avenue lines. The complex is located in the vicinity of
MetroTech Center Brooklyn Commons, formerly MetroTech Center, is a business and educational center in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. Location Brooklyn Commons lies between Flatbush Avenue Extension and Jay Street, north of the Fulton Mall, Fulton Street Mall ...
(near Jay and Willoughby Streets) in
Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...
. It is served by the A, F, and R trains at all times; the C train at all times except late nights; the N train during late nights only; and a few rush-hour W and <F> trains in the peak direction. The complex consists of two distinct, perpendicular stations. The Jay Street–Borough Hall station was built by the
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...
(IND) in 1933, while the Lawrence Street–MetroTech station was built by 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 sy ...
(BMT) in 1924. Despite being one block away from each other, the two stations were not connected for 77 years. As part of a station renovation completed in 2010, the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
(MTA) built a passageway to connect the two stations and made the complex fully compliant with the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 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, ...
. Both stations also contain "money train" platforms, which were formerly used to deliver MTA token revenue to neighboring
370 Jay Street 370 Jay Street, also called the Transportation Building or Transit Building, is a building located at the northwest corner of Jay Street and Willoughby Street within the MetroTech Center complex in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The site is ...
.


History


BMT station

The
Dual Contracts The Dual Contracts, also known as the Dual Subway System, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the New York City, City of New York. The contracts were signed on March 19, 1913, by the ...
were formalized in March 1913, specifying new lines or expansions to be built by 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 ...
(IRT) and 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 ...
(BRT; later 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 sy ...
, or BMT). The Dual Contracts included the construction of 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 Nassau Street Line with the BMT Fourth Avenue Line. The R ...
, which connected the Broadway Line in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
with the Fourth Avenue Line in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
at DeKalb Avenue station. Originally, the only station on the Montague Street Tunnel in Brooklyn was to have been at Court Street. After the contract was approved for the Montague Street Tunnel and the associated subway line, the planners realized there should have been a station at Lawrence Street. In 1916, local business owners proposed an additional station at Lawrence and Willoughby Streets. Supporters of the plan said the distance from the south end of the Court Street station to the north end of the DeKalb Avenue station was apart, much longer than comparable stations on the IRT and BRT in Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn. The original contract was modified in July 1917, and a provision for the station was added. On May 16, 1918, the
New York Public Service Commission The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Ser ...
approved a report by the Chief Engineer requesting that work on the construction of the station stop due to a wartime shortage of materials and men due to
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Only one-ninth of the labor estimated to be required to allow the construction of the station to be completed along with the rest of the line was available. With this reduced labor force, work on this station could not be completed before July 1919, and work on the Court Street station could not be finished before April 1919, following the completion of the Montague Street Tunnel. It was decided to postpone work to complete this station, and use the labor force working on this station and concrete material intended to be used at the station to complete work on the Court Street station, accelerating the estimated completion of that station to January 1919, allowing service through the tunnel to operate in early 1919 as opposed to late 1919. Construction stopped on May 18, when about half the station was completed. Service running through the Montague Tunnel and this station began on August 1, 1920, with the station being constructed alongside in-service trains. The line was called the Montague Street Tunnel Line. Construction resumed on May 18, 1922. The scope of work included excavation from the street to provide an entrance, the construction of an island platform between the two cast iron-lined tunnels covered by a steel and concrete roof, and the construction of a passageway, mezzanine and entrances. On June 11, 1924, the Lawrence Street station opened with the Lawrence Street entrances; the Bridge Street entrances opened later. On March 29, 1993, Lawrence Street was renamed Lawrence Street–MetroTech to celebrate the revival of Downtown Brooklyn with the opening of the MetroTech complex. In response to increased ridership at the station from traffic MetroTech generated, new directional signs were installed, a wall that blocked the view of the token booth clerk was removed to improve security, a part-time token booth was added, and lighting was upgraded.


IND station

New York City mayor
John Francis Hylan John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936), also known as "Red Mike" Hylan, was the 96th Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskills, Hylan ...
's original plans for the
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...
(IND), proposed in 1922, included building over of new lines and taking over nearly of existing lines, which would compete with the IRT and BMT. On December 9, 1924, 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 of New York City, m ...
(BOT) gave preliminary approval for the construction of the
IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND); as such, New Yorkers originally applied the ''Eighth Avenue Subwa ...
. This line consisted of a corridor connecting
Inwood, Manhattan Inwood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, at the northern tip of Manhattan Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is bounded by the Hudson River to the west, Spuyten Duyvil ...
, to
Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...
, running largely under Eighth Avenue but also paralleling
Greenwich Avenue Greenwich Avenue, formerly Greenwich Lane, is a southeast-northwest avenue located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It extends from the intersection of 6th Avenue and 8th Street at its southeast end to ...
and
Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The avenue is commercial for much of its length, and traffic runs northbound, or uptown. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks b ...
in Lower Manhattan. An additional line, the IND Sixth Avenue Line, was approved in 1925, running from
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
underneath Sixth Avenue,
Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson ...
,
Essex Street Essex Street is a north–south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, ...
, and the
Rutgers Street Tunnel Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
to Downtown Brooklyn. By July 1927, the BOT had finalized its plans for new IND lines in Brooklyn. The Eighth Avenue Line was to continue into eastern Brooklyn as the Fulton Street Line, while the Sixth Avenue Line was to continue to
South Brooklyn South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn â€“ now the New York City borough of Brooklyn â€“ encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Winds ...
as the Smith Street (later Culver) Line. The lines were to intersect under Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The Jay Street–Borough Hall station was part of a three-stop extension of the IND Eighth Avenue Line from
Chambers Street Chambers Street may refer to: Streets * Chambers Street, Edinburgh, Scotland * Chambers Street (Manhattan), New York City, U.S. * Chamber Street, once known as Chambers Street, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England New York City Subway station ...
in
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...
. Construction of the extension began in June 1928. The extension opened to Jay Street on February 1, 1933. The outer tracks first saw service on March 20, 1933, when the IND Culver Line opened. The IND Sixth Avenue Line to West Fourth Street–Washington Square opened on April 9, 1936, and the Fulton Street Line to Rockaway Avenue opened the same day. Until 1969, a free transfer was available to/from the
BMT Myrtle Avenue Line The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated railroad, elevated line of the New York City Subway as part of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnan ...
at Bridge–Jay Streets and also issued at stations from Sumner Avenue on south. When the Myrtle Avenue Line south of
Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Myrtle is a main thoroughfare through the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton ...
closed, the transfer was issued to the B54 bus, which ran along the former route. Today, the
MetroCard metroCARD is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the city (and surrounding suburbs) of Adelaide, South Australia. The system is managed by Adelaide Metro and is usable on their bus, train and tram services ...
provides free transfer between bus and subway throughout the system.


Experimental installations and programs

In 1955, the city decided to experiment with placing raised safety disks on the edges of the platforms, in order to increase passenger safety. Compared to the painted orange-and-yellow stripes on the platforms, the disks, which were painted yellow and spaced one foot apart from each other, were expected to last about five times as long. The northbound platform's disks were in diameter, and the southbound platform's were . In 1957, the city conducted another experiment, this time placing an automatic token dispenser in the station. In September 1987, the station was the site of yet another experiment; the station's turnstiles were converted to allow new fare payment, consisting of "laminated polyester fare cards." (This would later become the MetroCard, which was not widely released until 1993.) The station's token booths were shuttered in May 2005, after fare tokens were replaced with
MetroCard metroCARD is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the city (and surrounding suburbs) of Adelaide, South Australia. The system is managed by Adelaide Metro and is usable on their bus, train and tram services ...
s; station agents were deployed elsewhere in the station to answer passengers' queries. This was part of a pilot program that was tested at seven other stations. In October 2019, the MTA unveiled an accessible station lab at Jay Street–MetroTech station, which was to run until the end of the year. The lab includes over a dozen features including Braille signs, tactile pads, wayfinding apps, diagrams of accessible routes, and floor stickers to guide passengers to the correct routes.


Complex

In 1981, the MTA had listed the IND portion of the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system. However, in 2005, planned renovation of twelve subway stations, including the Jay Street and Lawrence Street stations, was delayed indefinitely. The stations were separate from each other since the IND station's opening, despite their proximity. In March 2007, a contract was finally awarded for the renovation of the stations. The MTA constructed a transfer passageway as part of its 2005–2009 Capital Program. The $164.5 million project also brought the stations into compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 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, ...
and cosmetically improved the upper mezzanine. With the opening of the transfer on December 10, 2010, the complex was given its present name. The transfer was projected to benefit an estimated 35,000 daily passengers. In 2016, a new entrance to the BMT portion of the station was built as part of the AVA DoBro residential high-rise building. This entrance replaces an earlier entrance at the southeast corner of Willoughby and Bridge Streets, the corner where the building is located. The MTA was hopeful that this instance would encourage developers to build other entrances to other subway stations, since AVA DoBro's developer paid for the entrance in its entirety. New York City councilmember Lincoln Restler founded a volunteer group, the Friends of MTA Station Group, in early 2023 to advocate for improvements to the Jay Street–MetroTech station and four other subway stations in Brooklyn.


Station layout

The station consists of three underground levels. Just below ground is the IND mezzanine, then the IND platforms, followed by the BMT platform on the deepest level. The two stations connect to each other via a stair, two escalators, and an elevator at the west end of the BMT station. The BMT station also has its own mezzanine at its eastern end. The stations are located one block away from each other. The 2009 artwork in this station is called ''Departures and Arrivals'' by Ben Snead. It consists of a long glass mosaic depicting animals including starlings, sparrows, lion fish, parrots, tiger beetles, and koi fish. It was installed as part of the MTA Arts for Transit program during the station complex's renovation.


Entrances and exits

The full-time IND/BMT entrance is at the center and has a
turnstile A turnstile (also called a 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 people, one-way ...
bank, token booth, and a single street stair leading to the northeast corner of Willoughby and Jay Streets, while a set of staircases and escalators and one
ADA-accessible 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, ...
elevator lead to the northwest corner underneath
370 Jay Street 370 Jay Street, also called the Transportation Building or Transit Building, is a building located at the northwest corner of Jay Street and Willoughby Street within the MetroTech Center complex in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The site is ...
, the former headquarters of the
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...
. The other two entrances/exits are unstaffed. The one at the north end has a weekday-only turnstile bank and token booth, full height turnstiles, and a wide staircase to
MetroTech Center Brooklyn Commons, formerly MetroTech Center, is a business and educational center in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. Location Brooklyn Commons lies between Flatbush Avenue Extension and Jay Street, north of the Fulton Mall, Fulton Street Mall ...
and another stair and four escalators to the former
New York City Transit 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. Pa ...
Headquarters, a mostly vacant 13-story building at 370 Jay Street. These escalators were installed as part of a 1952 improvement, as were the squarish "Subway" entrance lamps that are found only in a few other places in the system. These were designed in
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
/
Art Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...
style. The building itself has a memorial to New York City Transit workers who died in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The entrance/exit at the south end has only full height turnstiles and two staircases leading to either side of Jay and Fulton Streets. The full-time BMT-only entrance is at Lawrence and Willoughby Streets near the west end. It has two platform stairs facing the opposite direction, a small turnstile bank, token booth, and four stairs to the two eastern corners of the aforementioned intersection. The stairs serve the BMT platform directly. There is an additional full-height turnstile entrance at the east end. It formerly contained a booth and has two street stairs to Bridge and Willoughby Streets, high turnstiles, and two platform stairs. This fare control area was the first in the system to have its service gate converted to an emergency exit. An exit-only escalator on the BMT platform also leads to the southeast corner's entrance/exit. The AVA DoBro building contains stairs and an elevator, which connect to the eastern, full-height turnstile entrance. Unlike the elevator entrance at Jay and Willoughby Streets, this elevator entrance is not ADA-accessible. The station has a total of 16 staircase/escalator entrances and 2 elevator entrances. Full-time entrances are indicated in green, and part-time entrances are indicated in red.


IND Fulton Street / Culver Line platforms

The Jay Street–MetroTech station (formerly Jay Street–Borough Hall station before the construction of the station complex) is an express station on both the IND Fulton Street and Culver lines. It has four tracks with two
island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...
s. Fulton Street Line trains use the center "express" tracks, while Culver Line trains use the outer "local" tracks. Current service patterns route all
IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND); as such, New Yorkers originally applied the ''Eighth Avenue Subwa ...
trains to the Fulton Street Line and all
IND Sixth Avenue Line The IND Sixth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in the United States. It runs mainly under Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and continues south to Brooklyn. The B, D, F, and M trains, which use ...
trains to the Culver Line. As such, for trains, the station is between to the north and to the south. For trains, the station is between to the north and to the south.
Diamond crossover A railroad switch ( AE), turnout, or (set of) points ( CE) is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off. Design T ...
s north of the station permit Eighth Avenue–Culver or Sixth Avenue–Fulton Street service; these switches are only used during service disruptions. The station originally measured long, and each platform measures about wide. The station has blue
I-beam An I-beam is any of various structural members with an - (serif capital letter 'I') or H-shaped cross section (geometry), cross-section. Technical terms for similar items include H-beam, I-profile, universal column (UC), w-beam (for "wide flang ...
columns on the Manhattan-bound platform and white concrete tile columns on the Brooklyn-bound one. The station's walls had blue tiles. Before renovation, the trim line on the platform walls was two-tone cobalt blue with "JAY" tiled in white lettering on a black background underneath. As part of the renovation, new tiling was placed on the trackside walls. After the renovation, the blue trim-line was widened and a double border of Heather Blue and black was added. The new blue tile in the centre of the trim-line is also somewhat darker than the original, the new color being shown as "Midnight Blue". Each platform has six staircases and one elevator leading up to the full-length
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in 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 with non-sloped ...
. Before renovation, the entire mezzanine was inside fare control, but the mezzanine was split into two separate parts during the renovation. Now, the mezzanine has a larger southern section connecting to the southern exits, the central exits, and the transfer to the BMT platform; as well as a smaller northern section connecting to the northern exits only. The two parts of the mezzanine are cut off by a large white wall.


Gallery

File:NYC Subway Track Geometry Car TGC3.jpg,
Track geometry car A track geometry car (also known as a track recording car) is an automated track inspection vehicle on a rail transport system used to test several parameters of the track geometry without obstructing normal railroad operations. Some of the ...
on northbound track from IND Culver line File:Jay St IND NB plat demolition jeh.jpg, Demolition in progress File:Jay Street Borough Hall Subway Station by David Shankbone.jpg, Column and sign on the IND platform, prior to renovation


BMT Fourth Avenue Line platform

The Jay Street–MetroTech station (formerly Lawrence Street–MetroTech station before the construction of the station complex) 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 dur ...
is a local station with two tracks and one narrow island platform. The station is between to the north and to the south. Unlike in the IND station, there are no tiles on the track walls. A narrow mezzanine above the platform connects the station's two easternmost
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 s ...
areas. It still has its original directional signs labeled as "to Lawrence Street" and "to Bridge Street". The platform formerly had a narrow up-only escalator that bypassed the Lawrence and Willoughby Streets fare control, and led to a small landing with two high exit-only gates. A short staircase then connected to the landing of the southeast street stairs to that intersection.


Gallery

File:Lawrence Street Escalator.jpg, Exit-only escalator from the BMT platform, permanently closed and removed File:Lawrence Street-MetroTech.jpg, Inside the BMT station; exit-only on the left (permanently closed) and main entrance on the right File:Lawrence Willoughby BMT sta sunny jeh.jpg, Entrance from street


Money train platforms

Formerly, "
money train A money train is one or more railcars used to collect cash fare revenue from stations on a subway system and return it to a central location for processing. This train was typically used to carry money bags guarded by transit police to det ...
s" collected the tokens that were used to pay fares at each of the subway stations and deposited them into a special door that led to a money-counting room under 370 Jay Street. The platforms were built in 1951, the same year the building opened, though "money trains" had been in use on the system since 1905. The platforms were placed next to 370 Jay Street because it was a convenient location near where all three subway companies had tunnels. Tokens became New York City Transit fare media in 1951. Tokens were last used in the entire New York City Transit system, including the subway, in 2003. This meant that the money trains were no longer used, and in December 2006, the platforms were closed. The money trains were also retired, though for a different reason: they moved slowly, and the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
was concerned that the money trains would delay train traffic. The money train later became part of the collection of the nearby
New York Transit Museum The New York Transit Museum (also called the NYC Transit Museum) is a museum that displays historical artifacts of the New York City Subway, MTA Regional Bus Operations, bus, and commuter rail systems in the greater New York City metropolitan ...
, and in October 2015, the museum started hosting another exhibit, ''The Secret Life of 370 Jay Street'', that chronicled the building's varying uses. Each of the three former companies that made up the current New York City Subway (the Independent Subway System, Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Company, and
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 ...
) had their own money train platforms. IND money trains made their deposits from the southbound IND Culver line track, and the still-visible door on the wall is where they connected to the vaults above before armored trucks replaced them. For the BMT, there was a second platform just west of the station, after a
diamond crossover A railroad switch ( AE), turnout, or (set of) points ( CE) is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off. Design T ...
between the two tracks; this was the deepest of the three money train platforms. A third platform is also in the
IRT Eastern Parkway Line The IRT Eastern Parkway Line is one of the lines of the A Division (New York City Subway), A Division of the New York City Subway. Built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), it stretches from Downtown Brooklyn south along Flatbush ...
tunnel that passes through this area for the same purpose.


Nearby points of interest

*
New York City College of Technology The New York City College of Technology (City Tech) is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1946, it is the City University of New York's college of technology. Its main urban campus is located in Downtown Brooklyn. History City Tech ...
*
NYU Tandon School of Engineering The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United St ...
*
MetroTech Center Brooklyn Commons, formerly MetroTech Center, is a business and educational center in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. Location Brooklyn Commons lies between Flatbush Avenue Extension and Jay Street, north of the Fulton Mall, Fulton Street Mall ...
*
Brooklyn Borough Hall Brooklyn Borough Hall is a building in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It was designed by architects Calvin Pollard and Gamaliel King in the Greek Revival style, and constructed of Tuckahoe marble under the supervision of superintendent ...
* Brooklyn Supreme Court *
Fulton Mall Fulton Street is a long east–west street in northern Brooklyn, New York City. This street begins at the intersection of Adams Street and Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights, and runs eastward to East New York and Cypress Hills. At the bo ...
* Brooklyn Tabernacle *
New York Transit Museum The New York Transit Museum (also called the NYC Transit Museum) is a museum that displays historical artifacts of the New York City Subway, MTA Regional Bus Operations, bus, and commuter rail systems in the greater New York City metropolitan ...


References


External links

* * * nycsubway.org â€
Departures and Arrivals Artwork by Ben Snead (2009)
* MTA.info â€
Welcome to the New Jay Street/MetroTech Station!
Made December 10, 2010. Station Reporter: * Station Reporter â€

* Station Reporter â€

* Station Reporter â€

* Station Reporter â€

* Station Reporter â€

The Subway Nut: * The Subway Nut â€
Jay Street–Borough Hall Pictures
* The Subway Nut â€
Lawrence Street–Metro Tech Pictures
Google Maps Street View
Willoughby and Jay Streets entrance

Willoughby and Bridge Streets entrance

Myrtle Avenue entrance near MetroTech

Fulton Mall entrance

Lawrence Street entrance

BMT platform

IND platforms

IND mezzanine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay Street - MetroTech (New York City Subway) BMT Fourth Avenue Line stations IND Culver Line stations IND Fulton Street Line stations New York City Subway stations in Brooklyn New York City Subway transfer stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1933 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1924 Downtown Brooklyn 1933 establishments in New York City 1924 establishments in New York City