Marcy Avenue station

Marcy Avenue  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
View from the eastbound platform, looking west
Station statistics
Address	Marcy Avenue & Broadway Brooklyn, NY 11211
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Williamsburg
Coordinates	40.708361°N 73.957944°W / 40.708361; -73.957944
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Jamaica Line
Services	J  (all times)    M  (all times except late nights)    Z  (rush hours, peak direction)​
Transit	MTA New York City Bus: B24, B39, B44, B46, B60, B62, Q54, Q59
Structure	Elevated
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	3 (1 not for passenger service)
Other information
Opened	June 25, 1888 (June 25, 1888)
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Opposite- direction transfer	No
Traffic
2023	2,864,396  12.8%
Rank	114 out of 423
Location
Street map
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 weekends only Stops weekdays during the day Stops weekends during the day Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times except weekdays in the peak direction Stops all times except nights and 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)

Marcy Avenue is a station on the BMT Jamaica Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Marcy Avenue and Broadway in Brooklyn, it is served by the J train at all times, the M train on weekdays, and the Z train during rush hours in the peak direction.

History

Marcy Avenue opened on 25 June 1888 a part of the Broadway Elevated, one of the first elevated lines in New York City. Trains traveled westbound to the Broadway Ferry terminal on the East River in Brooklyn and eastbound services ran to Canarsie (this routing is no longer used due to the later building of the Canarsie Line) and a connection over the Williamsburg Bridge to Delancey Street/Essex Street in Manhattan opened in 1908. In 1913, trains were extended further down the newly opened Nassau Street Line to Chambers Street. A year later, a connection was built to allow Myrtle Avenue to run on the Broadway Elevated.

The Dual Contracts expansion projects radically changed operations at Marcy Avenue. A third track was added, allowing trains to run express, although the track remains as a stub-end at Marcy Avenue for storage and turn-arounds. The Contracts also provided for the merger of the Jamaica Line from Broadway Junction to 168th Street with the Broadway Elevated, in turn making the Broadway Elevated part of the Jamaica Line and giving trains three eastern terminals.

The BMT gave its train routes numbers in 1924 and denoted Myrtle Avenue trains as "10," Canarsie trains as "14," and Jamaica trains as "15," all of which stopped at Marcy Avenue at all times. Four years later, the 14th Street–Eastern District Line merged with the Canarsie Line and the connection between the latter and the Jamaica Line was discontinued, cutting the 14 back to Eastern Parkway in the process. After the completion of the Nassau Street Line, the 15 was extended to Broad Street and the 14 ended at Canal Street. When the BMT lines were renamed alphabetically in the 1960s, the 10 became the M, the 14 became the KK, and the 15 became the J (express) and JJ (local).

Service remained constant until the Chrystie Street Connection opened on 26 November 1967, causing a number of service changes and additions. The JJ absorbed the KK and ran to both Canal Street and Broad Street and then further extended to Atlantic Avenue – Pacific Street. The J was then extended down to the Brighton Line via the Montague Street Tunnel and merged with the QT to form the QJ to Brighton Beach. The KK was re-introduced in 1968 to travel up the IND Sixth Avenue Line to 57th Street, replacing JJ service. Most of these services were eliminated in the 1970s because of financial issues; the first major cutback occurred when the QJ was reduced to Broad Street and relabeled as the J. The KK was renamed the K and stopped running entirely in 1976. The M was truncated to Chambers Street. The Z was established in 1988 for rush hour trains in a skip-stop pattern along with the J, a pattern that does not affect Marcy Avenue.

When the Williamsburg Bridge was closed for reconstruction in 1999, a temporary platform was placed over the middle track as this was the terminal for M trains during that time.

Station layout

Street level

Side platform, Doors will open on the right
Westbound local	← Template:NYCS-bull-small toward Broad Street or Chambers Street (Essex Street) ← Template:NYCS-bull-small toward Broad Street (Essex Street) ← Template:NYCS-bull-small toward Forest Hills – 71st Avenue (Essex Street)
Stub-end track	→No passenger service
Eastbound local	→ Template:NYCS-bull-small Template:NYCS-bull-small toward Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer (Myrtle Avenue rush hours or Hewes Street other times) → Template:NYCS-bull-small toward Metropolitan Avenue (Hewes Street)
Side platform, Doors will open on the right

This station has two side platforms and three tracks and is the westernmost station on the Jamaica Line. The center track dead ends at the west end at a bumper block and is unusable for service. Both platforms have beige windscreens and red canopies with green frames that run along the entire length except for a section at the southeast (railroad south), where they have waist-high black steel fences.

All four fare control areas of the station are on platform level. As a result, there is no free transfer between directions. The primary ones, are elevated station houses adjacent to the platforms. Each station house has doors leading to the stairs and platform, turnstile bank, token booth, and two stairs and one ADA-accessible elevator to the street. The stairs from the Manhattan-bound station house go down to either northern corners of Marcy Avenue and Broadway while the stairs from the Queens-bound station house go down to either southern corners.

Both platforms have a HEET turnstile entrance/exit at their extreme west end that was added during a 1990s renovation. Each leads to a canopied staircase that goes down to either side of Broadway near Havemeyer Street.

The 2005 artwork here is called A Space Odyssey by Ellsworth Ausby. It consists of stained glass windows depicting space travel on the platform windscreens.

Just west of this station, there is a short section of trackway continuing straight which once led to the Broadway Ferry Spur. As now configured, westbound trains run over the Williamsburg Bridge, connecting to the BMT Nassau Street Line in Manhattan. To the east, there are switches that are used by the J and Z trains when they run express to Myrtle Avenue weekdays in the peak direction.

In popular culture

The home of the character Dave Stutler in the 2010 film The Sorcerer's Apprentice is located near this station.

The fictional neighborhood of "Little Wadiya", from the 2012 film The Dictator, is located near to this station. The choice may be related to the presence of the Hasidic Jewish Community in Williamsburg.

Flight of the Conchords are seen emerging from Marcy Avenue station singing the song Inner City Pressure during episode 2 of series 1 of the show.

Gallery

• 
  Williamsburg Bridge Bus Terminal
• 
  Remains of the Broadway Ferry spur

External links

Media related to Marcy Avenue (BMT Jamaica Line) at Wikimedia Commons

• nycsubway.org – BMT Jamaica Line: Marcy Avenue
• Station Reporter — J Train
• Station Reporter — M Train
• The Subway Nut — Marcy Avenue Pictures
• The Official Subway and Rail Art Guide
• MTA's Arts For Transit — Marcy Avenue (BMT Jamaica Line)
• Marcy Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Havemeyer Street entrance from Google Maps Street View