Kingsbridge Road station (IND Concourse Line)

For the station at Kingsbridge Road & Jerome Avenue, see Kingsbridge Road (IRT Jerome Avenue Line).

The Kingsbridge Road station is an express station on the IND Concourse Line of the New York City Subway. Located within the Fordham Manor and Kingsbridge Heights neighborhoods in the Bronx, it is served by the D train at all times and the B train weekdays only. It has three tracks and two island platforms.

Kingsbridge Road  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
View from the southbound platform
Station statistics
Address	East Kingsbridge Road & Grand Concourse Bronx, New York
Borough	The Bronx
Locale	Fordham Manor, Kingsbridge Heights
Coordinates	40.866146°N 73.894343°W / 40.866146; -73.894343
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Concourse Line
Services	B  (weekdays only) ​   D  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus: Bx1, Bx2, Bx9, Bx22, Bx28 MTA Bus: BxM4
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 island platforms cross-platform interchange
Tracks	3
Other information
Opened	July 1, 1933; 91 years ago (1933-07-01)
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Traffic
2023	1,140,981[2]  5%
Rank	271 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Bedford Park Boulevard B  ​D  toward Norwood–205th Street Fordham Road B  ​D  toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Bedford Park Boulevard to Fordham Road
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times Stops rush hours only Stops weekdays during the day

History

This station was built as part of the IND Concourse Line, which was one of the original lines of the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND).^[3][4] The route of the Concourse Line was approved to Bedford Park Boulevard on June 12, 1925 by the New York City Board of Transportation.^[4][5] Construction of the line began in July 1928.^[6] The station opened on July 1, 1933, along with the rest of the Concourse subway.^[7][8]

Elevators at the station opened in December 2014, making it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.^[9][10] The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced in 2024 that it would replace the station's existing waist-high turnstiles with taller, wide-aisle turnstiles.^[11]

Station layout

G	Street level	196th Street exit/entrance
B1	Upper mezzanine	Fare control (not ADA-accessible)
B2 Platform level	Northbound local	← toward Bedford Park Boulevard rush hours and select midday trips (Terminus) ← toward Norwood–205th Street (Bedford Park Boulevard)
	Island platform
	Peak direction express	← PM rush toward Norwood–205th Street (Bedford Park Boulevard) → AM rush toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue (Fordham Road) →
	Island platform
	Southbound local	→ toward Brighton Beach rush hours and select midday trips (Fordham Road) → → toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue (Fordham Road) →
B3	Lower mezzanine	Kingsbridge Road exit/entrance, fare control, station agent Elevator at northeast corner of Grand Concourse (service road) and East Kingsbridge Road.

The ADA-compliant Kingsbridge Road mezzanine located below platform level

Station entrance from East 196th Street

The station has three tracks and two island platforms. The tile band in this station is Marine Blue and vent chambers are also present.^[12] White walls exist at the two northernmost platform staircases to the Kingsbridge Road exit. It is not known why they were built.

The station was renovated to comply with ADA standards, with one elevator from each platform to the Kingsbridge Road mezzanine underneath it, and another from the mezzanine to the northeast corner of the Concourse and Kingsbridge Road.^[9]

Exits

The station has one mezzanine above the platforms and another below them. The part-time and unstaffed entrance is at 196th Street on the north end and contains two street stairs to the northwest and southeast corners of the intersection, and one stair to each platform.^[9][13] This mezzanine is above the platform area.

The full-time entrance with a staffed token booth is at Kingsbridge Road on the south end and contains three pairs of staircases from platform level down to the lower mezzanine. Exits to the street are via a staircase to either northern corner of Kingsbridge Road and Grand Concourse; the exit to the northeastern corner also has an elevator. A ramp also leads to the north side of the Kingsbridge Road underpass, below the Grand Concourse.^[9][13]

The current booth setup (full-time at Kingsbridge; part-time at 196th Street) was instituted in 2013.^[14] This was also the original setup. From a booth operation switch in the 1990s until the switch in 2013, the part-time side was at the current full-time side (Kingsbridge) and vice versa. The current setup was created in order to accommodate new elevators in the station.^[9]

There is a closed passageway that begins next to the current exit to the Kingsbridge Road underpass, which led to an exit on the south side of the underpass. This exit is sealed by a concrete wall, and the stair to the passageway is walled off.^[15] During the summer of 2019, the underpass was the center of unsanitary conditions, a hangout spot for the homeless and a hotspot for fights and drug addicts.^[16][17][18] As a safety measure, the walkway was sealed off to the public on July 10, 2020.^[19]

Both exits to Kingsbridge Road and Grand Concourse also have closed passageways to both southern corners of the same intersection. They are sealed on street level.^[20][21] The passageway to the southwestern corner is blocked by a metal wall,^[22] and the one to the southeastern corner was walled off following the installation of the elevator shaft to the northeast corner.^[23][9][13]

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. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
3. 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.
4. "New Subway Routes in Hylan Program to Cost $186,046,000" (PDF). The New York Times. March 21, 1925. p. 1.
5. "Board Speeds Subway on Grand Concourse – Bids on Last Section Expected Before New Year – Eastern Spur Contemplated" (PDF). The New York Times. September 2, 1928. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
6. Joseph B. Raskin (November 1, 2013). The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City's Unbuilt Subway System. Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-5369-2. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
7. "New Bronx Subway Starts Operation". The New York Times. July 1, 1933. Archived from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
8. "Bronx-Concourse New Subway Link Opened at 12:57 A.M.: Adds 21 1/2 Miles to City's System−Connects With Manhattan Line at 145th". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 1, 1933. p. 20. Retrieved October 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Transit & Bus Committee Meeting - January 2013 (PDF) (Report). January 28, 2013. p. 163. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
10. "Elevators up and running at Bronx subway stop". News12. December 19, 2014. Archived from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
11. Brachfeld, Ben (May 22, 2024). "MTA will test middle-out turnstiles at 15 subway stops this year". amNewYork. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
12. Dave Frattini (May 27, 2014). The Underground Guide to New York City Subways. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-4668-7249-3.
13. "Kingsbridge Road Neighborhood Map" (PDF). new.mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. April 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
14. "Transit & Bus Committee Meeting January 2013" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 31, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
15. Google Maps: Sealed entrance on the southern side of the Kingsbridge Road underpass
16. As Opioid Crisis Rages, 52nd Precinct Leads in Overdoses
17. Neighbors: Kingsbridge underpass has become hangout for the homeless, site for fights
18. @NYPD52Pct (August 8, 2019). "The 52 Pct along with @NYPDPBBronx Operations collaborated to take care of this trash heap that created an unsanit…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
19. @NYC_DOT (July 10, 2020). "Work on Kingsbridge Rd under the Grand Concourse will begin 7/12 & last six weeks. Work will take place Sundays-Fri…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
20. Google maps: Slabbed over entrance on the southeastern side of Kingsbridge Road and Grand Concourse
21. Google maps: Slabbed over entrance on the southwestern side of Kingsbridge Road and Grand Concourse
22. "Showing Image 107522".
23. "Showing Image 107525".

External links

• MTA — Kingsbridge Road Station Plan
• nycsubway.org – IND Concourse Line: Kingsbridge Road
• Station Reporter — B Train
• Station Reporter — D Train
• The Subway Nut — Kingsbridge Road Pictures Archived January 5, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
• Kingsbridge Road underpass entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Kingsbridge Road entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 196th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View