42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal
New York City Subway rapid transit station

Southeastern stair
Station statistics
Address West 42nd Street & Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10036
Borough Manhattan
Locale Midtown Manhattan
Division B (IND)
Line IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services       A  (all times)
      C  (all except late nights)
      E  (all times)
System transfers 1  2  3  7  <7> N  Q  R  S  at Times Square – 42nd Street
Connection
Structure Underground
Platforms 2 island platforms
cross-platform interchange
Tracks 4
Other information
Opened September 10, 1932; 79 years ago (September 10, 1932)[1] (upper level)
1959; 52 years ago (1959) (lower level)
Closed 1981; 30 years ago (1981) (lower level)
Accessible (passageway to Times Square – 42nd Street also accessible)
Traffic
Passengers (2010) 58,422,597 (complex)[2]  0.6%
Rank 1 out of 422
Station succession
Next north 50th Street (local): A  C 
59th Street – Columbus Circle (express): A 
50th Street (Queens Boulevard): E 
Next south 34th Street – Penn Station: A  C  E 
Next north 59th Street – Columbus Circle (8th Ave): A  C 
Lexington Avenue – 53rd Street (Queens Boulevard): E 
Next south 34th Street – Penn Station: A  C  E 

42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal is an express station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, it is served by the A and E trains at all times, and by the C train at all times except late nights.

Contents

Upper level platforms

The upper level of the station is currently in use and contains four tracks and two offset island platforms. A free transfer to the Times Square – 42nd Street complex, the busiest in the subway system, is available via an underground passageway. The platforms here are extra wide to accommodate passenger volume. In order to fit the wider platforms, they are offset from north to south; the southbound platform runs from 42nd to 40th Streets while the northbound one runs from 42nd to 44th Streets. The mezzanine is four blocks long. Ramps are in place for access to the mezzanine and there are retail stores and various New York City Transit offices within fare control. The tile color is dark purple with black border and there is no IND-style tile name tablet.

Lower level platform

In addition to the level currently in use, there was formerly a lower platform on the southbound side (one track underneath the downtown local track on the upper level and one side platform underneath the island platform above). The lower level was built together with the upper level platforms in the late 1920s/early 1930s but was not used until 1959 when the lower level platform opened and used for occasional service specials including the Aqueduct Racetrack special fare trains from 1959 to 1981 and rush hour E trains in the 1970s.[3]

Beginning about the time of the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection in November 1967, E trains would use the lower level platform during the rush hours. This practice was discontinued after the PM Rush on April 14, 1975.

The lower level was tiled in the 1950s. Previously, a crossunder was open between the upper level platforms using a passageway at the northern end of the lower level. Rearrangement of the mezzanine in the 1990s allowed passengers to cross over using the mezzanine within fare control.

It is not known why the lower level was built. It could only be accessed by trains running from Queens via 53rd Street, which is the current E service. Heading downtown on the track from the lower level of 50th Street, switches allowed access to the either level of 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal. Trains leaving the lower level could become either local or express before entering 34th Street – Penn Station. However, trains departing 42nd Street from the upper level cannot cross over until reaching Canal Street. It is likely, therefore, that the extra platform was built to allow some operational flexibility.

One rumor was that the IND subway tunnels were being built by the city to compete directly with routes owned by the IRT and BMT. The IRT Flushing Line terminates at Times Square and the bumper blocks of the Flushing Line were directly against or very close to the eastern wall of the lower level of 42nd Street, blocking any extension of 7 <7> service to the west side of Manhattan.

Film producers have used the lower level platform for several films, most notably Ghost (1990), starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.

In 1998 and 1999, all but one entrance to the lower level was sealed up (the remaining one is under a lift-up trap door at the south end of the southbound platform). A report in the September 1999 Bulletin of the New York Division ERA reported that the lower level track D-3 from north of 42nd Street all the way to 34th Street was now out of service. As of January 2010, it was being demolished as part of the IRT Flushing Line extension to 34th Street.[4]

As of June 2011, most of the Flushing line extension work has been completed through the lower level.

Station Platform depths

The platforms in the 42nd Street – Times Square / Port Authority Bus Terminal complex have the following depths:

References

  1. ^ New York Times, List of the 28 Stations on the New Eighth Ave Line, September 10, 1932, page 6
  2. ^ "Facts and Figures: 2010 Annual Subway Ridership". New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority. http://mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_sub_annual.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-18. 
  3. ^ Mindlin, Alex (2008-04-20). "No Whoosh, No ‘All Aboard’". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/nyregion/thecity/20port.html. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 
  4. ^ Donohue, Pete (2009-06-20). "Abandoned No More: 2nd Life Drilled into Old 7 Subway Platform". New York Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/06/20/2009-06-20_abandoned_no_more_2nd_life_drilled_into_old_7_subway_platform.html. Retrieved 2010-01-30. 

External links