Bedford–Nostrand Avenues station

Not to be confused with Bedford Avenue station.

The Bedford–Nostrand Avenues station is a station on the IND Crosstown Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Lafayette Avenue between Bedford and Nostrand Avenues in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, it is served by the G train at all times.

Bedford–Nostrand Avenues
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
View from southbound platform
Station statistics
Address	Lafayette Avenue between Nostrand Avenue & Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, New York
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Bedford–Stuyvesant
Coordinates	40.689587°N 73.953567°W / 40.689587; -73.953567
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Crosstown Line
Services	G  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus: B38, B44, B44 SBS
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 island platforms cross-platform interchange
Tracks	3 (2 in regular service)
Other information
Opened	July 1, 1937 (87 years ago) (1937-07-01)[2]
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Traffic
2023	1,985,142[3]  9.6%
Rank	168 out of 423[3]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Myrtle–Willoughby Avenues toward Court Square Classon Avenue toward Church Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend End of tail tracks to Myrtle–Willoughby Avenues to Classon Avenue
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times

History

This station opened on July 1, 1937, when the entire Crosstown Line was completed between Nassau Avenue and its connection to the IND Culver Line. On this date, the GG was extended in both directions to Smith–Ninth Streets and Forest Hills–71st Avenue.^[2]

Station layout

Ground	Street level	Entrances/exits
Mezzanine		Station agent, fare control, OMNY and MetroCard machines
Platform level	Northbound	← toward Court Square (Myrtle–Willoughby Avenues)
	Island platform
	Center track	→ No regular service
	Island platform
	Southbound	→ toward Church Avenue (Classon Avenue) →

An R46 G train arrives at the station

This underground station has three tracks and two island platforms. The G stops at the station at all times.^[4] The station is between Myrtle–Willoughby Avenues to the north and Classon Avenue to the south.^[5]

Both outer track walls have a light green trim line with a dark green border. Below the trim line are small black tile captions at regular intervals that alternate between "BEDFORD" and "NOSTRAND" in white lettering. The tiles were part of a color-coded tile system used throughout the IND.^[6] The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from Lower Manhattan. Because the Crosstown Line does not merge into a line that enters Manhattan at either end, all stations on the line had green tiles.^[7][8] Both platforms have green I-beam columns (formerly painted red) running along them at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate in white lettering.

Exits

Station mezzanine

This station has a full-length mezzanine above the platforms and tracks with staircases to each side at regular intervals that connect the two fare control areas. The full-time one is at the north (geographical east) end. It has a turnstile bank, token booth, two staircases going up to the western corners of Nostrand and Lafayette Avenues, and two more staircases going up to the eastern corners of Nostrand and Lafayette Avenues that have since been boarded up.^[9] The fare control area at the south (geographical west) end of the mezzanine is unstaffed, containing just full height turnstiles and staircases to all corners of Bedford and Lafayette Avenues.^[10][11][12] However, the two staircases on the western corners have been boarded up.^[12] They had been previously exit-only. A gate seals off the passageway towards the stairs.

Middle track and expansion provisions

G train on southbound track

The middle track is used for storage of rush hour trains, or for maintenance and refuse trains. West (railroad south) of this station, the center track has switches to the two outer tracks before ending at a bumper block, while the trackway continues into Classon Avenue. East (railroad north) of the station, the middle track splits into two tracks that ramp down under the outer tracks before those tracks curve north. The tail tracks continue to Marcy Avenue and end at bumper blocks.^[11][13][14] A signal and switch tower is located in the tunnel north of the station, staffed during rush hour and midday service, but primarily used during construction reroutes if trains need to be terminated at the station.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Unused in regular service, the middle and tail tracks were originally intended for an unbuilt extension proposed in the IND Second System. Not part of the first official plan in 1929, it was proposed by the city Board of Transportation on October 12, 1930 as an addition to the original plans.^[13][19] The plan was for a line to continue east along Lafayette Avenue to Broadway (at Kosciuszko Street of the BMT Jamaica Line), then northeast along Stanhope Street to a junction with the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line and a planned IND Myrtle-Central Avenues Line along Myrtle Avenue (between the Central Avenue and Knickerbocker Avenue stations). The IND would then run east along Myrtle Avenue past the Myrtle El, then along Central Avenue in Queens (distinct from the Central Avenue in Brooklyn) to 73rd Place and Cooper Avenue in Glendale, Queens, adjacent to the Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch. The line would have likely continued along or parallel to the Montauk and Rockaway Beach Branches of the LIRR to Rockaway Beach and Far Rockaway.^{[13][19][20][21]} Upon completion of the extension, the center track would have been used to terminate short-run trains, or to provide an additional track to hold trains during peak hours.^[19]

Following the construction of the subway, Banneker Playground was created atop the line's curve from Lafayette Avenue onto Marcy Avenue.^[22]

References

1. "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
2. "New Crosstown Subway Line Is Opened". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 1, 1937. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
4. "G Subway Timetable, Effective June 30, 2024". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
5. "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
6. "Tile Colors a Guide in the New Subway; Decoration Scheme Changes at Each Express Stop to Tell Riders Where They Are". The New York Times. August 22, 1932. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
7. Carlson, Jen (February 18, 2016). "Map: These Color Tiles In The Subway System Used To Mean Something". Gothamist. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
8. Gleason, Will (February 18, 2016). "The hidden meaning behind the New York subway's colored tiles". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
9. "Old and on a Train". Forgotten New York. September 30, 2012.
10. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Bedford Stuyvesant" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
11. "Review of the G Line: Appendices" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 10, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
12. "NYC DoT Maps: Bedford-Nostrand Avs (G)" (PDF). mta.info. New York City Department of Transportation. 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
13. Raskin, Joseph B. (2013). The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City's Unbuilt Subway System. New York, New York: Fordham University Press. doi:10.5422/fordham/9780823253692.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-82325-369-2.
14. Marrero, Robert (January 1, 2017). "472 Stations, 850 Miles" (PDF). B24 Blog, via Dropbox. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
15. "Review of the G Line" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 10, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
16. Roy, Jessica (February 25, 2015). "Mysterious Subway People Not Going to Hogwarts After All". New York. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
17. Carlson, Jen (February 25, 2015). "Witnesses Describe Portal To Mysterious G Train Platform Between Subway Stations". Gothamist. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
18. Carlson, Jen (February 26, 2015). "Photos: Here's The Mysterious G Train Portal". Gothamist. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
19. Blackford, Harold J. (October 12, 1930). "Shortline Tube To Link Queens To Stores Here: Altered City Subway Plan Provides Easier Way to Shopping Center". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved October 27, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
20. Duffus, R.L. (September 22, 1929). "OUR GREAT SUBWAY NETWORK SPREADS WIDER; New Plans of Board of Transportation Involve the Building of More Than One Hundred Miles of Additional Rapid Transit Routes for New York" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
21. Board of Transportation of the City of New York Engineering Department, Proposed Additional Rapid Transit Lines And Proposed Vehicular Tunnel, dated August 23, 1929
22. "Banneker Playground: History". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved October 17, 2018.

External links

• nycsubway.org – IND Crosstown: Bedford–Nostrand Aves.
• Station Reporter — G Train
• Bedford Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Nostrand Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View