New York City Subway nomenclature is the terminology used in the New York City Subway system. The modern system was constructed and operated by multiple companies, which were unified into a single system in 1940. The process of integrating multiple systems, as well as over a century of service changes, have led to a complexity of conventions around station naming, directionality and the routes themselves. In particular, the New York City Subway distinguishes between lines, or individual sections of subway, and services, or train routes. Services are represented visually by grouped, color coded service bullets, which have changed significantly over time.
Current usage
Each section of the subway has three identifying characteristics, line, service and color.
Subway lines Sections of the physical infrastructure of the subway system are called lines and are identified by their name and frequently their original operating company or division: Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), Independent Subway System (IND). For example, the line under Eighth Avenue is called the IND Eighth Avenue Line. With few exceptions, these names have remained relatively constant throughout the history of the subway.
Public usage of the line names varies widely, although the MTA's public usage of trunk names has increased since 2012, especially on Fastrack signs. Internally, the MTA also uses the names, both for legal reasons and to describe lines, services and locations without ambiguity. Although the three major subway systems are now unified, the terms BMT, IRT and IND are still used in line, structure and building descriptions and capital contract specifications. However, the names of the former companies are no longer used by much of the general public.
Service designations Each operating service or route is assigned a letter or number. This is a path that the train service uses along the various lines. These are the most familiar names among the public, but may change due to construction or reroutes. Former IRT services (now known as A Division) are assigned numbers, and former BMT and IND services (now known as B Division) are assigned letters.
Prior to consolidation under city ownership in 1940, the BMT routes were also assigned numbers. As track connections were built between IND and BMT lines to create a unified division, the BMT routes were gradually assigned letters for consistency with the IND naming scheme. IRT trains and tunnels are narrower, however, so the two divisions do not mix in revenue service.
Colors and service bullets Each service is also assigned a color. Since 1979, each service's color corresponds to the line that service primarily uses below 60th Street in Manhattan. In the case of the IND Crosstown Line (which never enters Manhattan), the color is . This is defined as the trunk line. All shuttle services are . The list of trunk lines and colors is shown in the following table.
Diamond services
Despite its efforts toward single identifiers for each service, the MTA uses diamond bullets to distinguish rush-hour express service from regular service, which is represented with circular bullets. Since a route letter or number is ordinarily presented inside a circle, variants of the same service are shown as the same letter or number inside a diamond shape.
In use 6 regular service operates local at all times; weekday peak-direction <6> diamond service runs express in the Bronx (with local service in the same direction cut back to Parkchester). 7 regular service operates local at all times; weekday rush-hour peak-direction <7> diamond service runs express in Queens. F regular service operates at all times; weekday rush-hour peak-direction <F> diamond service runs express in Brooklyn.
Former use Until May 2005, rush hour 5 service to Nereid Avenue–238th Street in the Bronx was marked with a diamond with regular "circle" service to Eastchester–Dyre Avenue. Both services were express services in the Bronx between East 180th Street and Third Avenue–149th Street during rush hours in peak direction.
Diamond service operated on the BMT Brighton Line while the north side of the Manhattan Bridge was closed for repairs from 2001 to 2004. Full-time local service was designated with a circle Q while weekday-only express service was designated with a diamond <Q>.New York City Transit Authority, , February 2004 Other services have also used the diamond before and during the closure from 1986 to 2004; at least one (a brown <R>) dated from a BMT special service using the same number (BMT 2) as the main service that became the R from 1986 to 1988.
In addition to the <5>, <6>, and <7>, official maps and schedules used to show several other rush-hour only services with a diamond, including the <4> bypassing 138th Street, <A> to Rockaway Park,New York City Transit Authority, , effective fall 2003 <B> and <C> to Bedford Park Boulevard,New York City Transit Authority, , effective April 2003 <D> express on the IND Concourse Line, and the <M> to Bay Parkway.New York City Transit Authority, , effective April 2003 In May 2004, the map was changed to show only the diamond <6> and <7>.New York City Transit Authority, , May 2004 The diamond symbol usage has thus been redefined to indicate a variant rush-hour express service running simultaneously with a local service in the same direction.
Special services
Special is a signifier for a train that is running along a nonstandard route. It is sometimes used for special holiday trains, baseball game service, or for emergency or custom routes. Most trains have a "Special" option on the rollsigns or LCD/LED displays.
Station names
Stations usually bear the street names of streets the line crosses, but may also be named after neighborhoods or prominent locations (e.g., "Brighton Beach" for Brighton Beach; "Cypress Hills" for Cypress Hills, Brooklyn) or combinations of these (e.g., "Times Square–42nd Street" for Times Square and 42nd Street; "Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard" for Astoria and Ditmars Boulevard), especially at line terminals. Others are named after major destinations, either along with the street names (e.g., "68th Street–Hunter College" for Hunter College, "81st Street–Museum of Natural History" for American Museum of Natural History) or in some cases without (e.g., "Pelham Bay Park" for Pelham Bay Park, "Borough Hall" for Brooklyn Borough Hall). When a station is served by trains of multiple trunk lines, the names used on each line may be hyphenated to form a station name that refers to an intersection (e.g., Fourth Avenue–Ninth Street; Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues). Of the system's stations, more than 300 are named after streets or street intersections alone, while the remainder are identified by different combinations of streets, neighborhoods and landmarks.
Many stations share names, so to uniquely identify a station, the line name or cross street must be specified: for example, there are three stations named Kings Highway in Brooklyn. Usually, identifying the service is also sufficient (e.g., "Kings Highway on the B and Q" to denote the station at East 16th Street), but as services are transient, this is not a permanent label.
The MTA has looked at certain station names as a source of revenue. In June 2009, the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street station in Brooklyn was renamed Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center following a deal with Forest City Ratner who pay $200,000 per year for the rights to the name. On the other hand, Willets Point–Shea Stadium was renamed Mets–Willets Point because the MTA could not reach a deal with the Mets organization. Had the naming rights deal been achieved, the station would have been known as Willets Point–Citi Field.
Describing directions
Public information On the BMT system, most in-station signage specified to city and from city. Currently, signs typically read to Manhattan, if the train is heading toward Manhattan, and to destination (e.g. to Coney Island or to Canarsie), if the train is heading toward an outer-borough destination. If the train is headed to a different borough, it may also be described as borough-bound (e.g. Manhattan-bound or Brooklyn-bound). If its terminus is in the same borough, it will be described as terminus-bound, for example, Eighth Avenue-bound or Rockaway Parkway-bound. In Manhattan or the Bronx, directions may be described as uptown and downtown, roughly corresponding to compass north and south. If the final destination is more than one borough away, signs will generally display the name of the next one or two boroughs that the route will pass through. Trains would display to Uptown and Borough if the train is heading uptown and into another borough, or to Downtown and Borough if the train is heading downtown and into another borough.
Internal usage In the United States, most railroads have only two rail directions. In this vein, all New York City subway lines are deemed to run north–south. In many cases, this is close to the related compass direction, but this is not always possible. Any line that enters Manhattan from the Bronx or Queens heads south into Manhattan; any line entering Manhattan from Brooklyn goes north into Manhattan, with the BMT Nassau Street Line and BMT Canarsie Lines being the only exception, as the Nassau Street Line heads further south into Manhattan's Financial District after entering Manhattan over the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Canarsie Line goes neither north nor south. Directions of other lines are determined by following the services that run over them; except for the BMT Eastern Division services (over the Williamsburg Bridge), which change direction at Chambers Street, every service has one north end and one south end. On the 42nd Street Shuttle, railroad north is compass west, due to the line's former status as part of the main line.
History This nomenclature has been complicated by the differing systems and cultures of the former private companies that operated parts of the system, by the need for non-ambiguous names in a city where there are stations with the same name on different lines in different locations and even different boroughs, and by changing perceptions of the best way to communicate information to a diverse public.
Up until 1940, there were three major operators of New York subway and elevated lines, the privately owned Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), the privately owned Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the municipally owned Independent Subway System (ISS or ICOS before 1940, now IND).
Service labels have always been assigned based on their outer-borough line (Brooklyn on the BMT, Bronx on the IRT and IND) and then by the Manhattan trunk if necessary to distinguish multiple services on the same line.
BMT + BMT numbers, 1924–1967 Pre-1967 service designation 1967 service designation Line Name Current service designation Division 1 Q QB QT D QB QJ Brighton Beach Line Southern Division (subway) 2 N RR T TT B N RJ RR Fourth Avenue (Brooklyn) Line 3 T TT B West End Line 4 N N NX Sea Beach Line 5 D Culver Shuttle F SS Culver Line Southern Division (elevated) 6 Fifth Avenue–Bay Ridge Line 7 Franklin Shuttle SS Brighton–Franklin Line 8 QB QT T RR Astoria Line Queens Division (elevated) 9 Flushing Line 10 Myrtle Avenue–Chambers Street Line Eastern Division (elevated) 11 MJ Myrtle Avenue Line 12 Lexington Avenue Line 13 Fulton Street Line 14 JJ KK M QJ RJ Broadway (Brooklyn) Line 15 JJ KK QJ RJ Jamaica Line 16 LL 14th Street–Canarsie Line Eastern Division (subway)