Bedford Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line)

Bedford Avenue
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station platform
Station statistics
Address	Bedford Avenue & North Seventh Street Brooklyn, NY 11211
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Williamsburg
Coordinates	40°43′04″N 73°57′27″W / 40.71772°N 73.95756°W / 40.71772; -73.95756Coordinates: 40°43′04″N 73°57′27″W / 40.71772°N 73.95756°W / 40.71772; -73.95756
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Canarsie Line
Services	L  (all times)
Connection	New York City Bus: B62
Structure	Underground
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	September 21, 1924 (1924-09-21)
Traffic
Passengers (2014)	9,892,516[1]  7.4%
Rank	32 out of 421
Station succession
Next north	First Avenue: L
Next south	Lorimer Street: L
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops in station at all times Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only Stops late nights and weekdays only Stops late nights and weekends only Stops weekends and weekend late nights Stops weekdays and weekday late nights Stops weekdays only Stops weekends only Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times except weekdays in the peak direction Stops daily except rush hours in the peak direction Stops rush hours only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only Station is closed (Details about time periods)

Bedford Avenue is a station on the BMT Canarsie Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and North Seventh Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, it is served by the L train at all times. With an annual total of 9,892,516 passengers for 2014, Bedford Avenue is the busiest subway station in Brooklyn outside of the borough's central business district, as well as the busiest station in Brooklyn served by one subway service.^[1]

History

Bedford Avenue opened on September 21, 1924, as part of the initial segment of the underground Canarsie Line that originally stretched from Sixth Avenue station in Manhattan to Montrose Avenue station,^[2] built by the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) under the system of Dual Contracts.^[3]

Ridership

Bedford Avenue has experienced a surge in ridership along with the recent gentrification of Williamsburg. In 2000, there were 3.783m boardings recorded at the station,^[4] but after the neighborhood was re-zoned in 2005, the MTA noted even higher ridership. By 2007, ridership had increased over 50% to 5.776 million passengers from 2000.^[5] In 2008, Bedford Avenue was used by more than 6 million people, making it the 53rd most-used subway station in New York City and one of the busiest in Brooklyn.^[6]

Growing passenger numbers along the line, partly influenced by Bedford Avenue station, have made the L train one of the most overcrowded in the system, a fact that has adverse effects on riders.^[7] For the first time, Bedford Avenue broke seven million entries in 2010, receiving press for its particularly high weekend passenger volume.^[8] Crowding has become such an issue that politicians have called upon the MTA to "create a schedule that is more reflective of ridership patterns."^[9]

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance
B1	Mezzanine	Fare control, station agent
B2 Platform level	Northbound	← toward Eighth Avenue (First Avenue)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Southbound	→ toward Canarsie – Rockaway Parkway (Lorimer Street) →

There are two entrance and exit points, both located on North Seventh Street. The western exit is at Bedford Avenue and contains a 24-hour booth, while the eastern exit is at Driggs Avenue. The B62 bus northbound connects at the former exit and southbound connects at the latter.

At platform level, Bedford Avenue utilizes a simple island platform setup with two tracks.^[10] Trains to Canarsie use track Q1 with trains to Manhattan using track Q2; the Q- prefix denotes that the track is on the Canarsie Line, but this is only used by MTA officials and not by the general public. Bedford Avenue station has a brown-and-green mosaic pattern with geometric shapes and embellished "B" ornamentations.^[10]

In popular culture

In the Netflix TV series Marvel's Daredevil, the station's entrance appears in Episode 1. The station is shown as 50th Street station in Manhattan.

Gallery

• 

  Street stair

• 

  Entrance at the northeastern corner of Bedford Avenue and North Seventh Street

References

External links

Media related to Bedford Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line) at Wikimedia Commons

• nycsubway.org—BMT Canarsie Line: Bedford Avenue
• Station Reporter – L Train
• The Subway Nut - Bedford Avenue Pictures
• Bedford Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Driggs Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View