F (New York City Subway service)

Sixth Avenue Local
A train made of R160s in F service arriving at Avenue P, bound for Manhattan and Queens.
A train made of R46 cars in F service at Avenue P, bound for Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue.
Northern end	Jamaica–179th Street
Southern end	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue or Kings Highway
Stations	45
Rolling stock	56 R46s (7 trains) 370 R160A/R160Bs (37 trains)
Depot	Jamaica Yard
Started service	December 15, 1940 (1940-12-15)

The F Sixth Avenue Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route bullet is colored bright orange since it uses the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan.^[1] The F operates at all times between 179th Street in Jamaica, Queens and Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn via Queens Boulevard in Queens, 63rd Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and Culver in Brooklyn, serving all stops except for an express section in Queens between Forest Hills–71st Avenue and 21st Street–Queensbridge. Some rush hour trains short turn at Kings Highway due to capacity issues at Stillwell Avenue.

History

Sixth Avenue Subway Will Be Opened to the Public at 12-01 A.M. Sunday, Dec. 15, 1940

F service officially began on December 15, 1940 operating between Parsons Boulevard and Church Avenue via the Queens Boulevard, Sixth Avenue, and Culver Lines. It ran express in Queens and local in Manhattan and Brooklyn.^[2]

During World War II, by January 10, 1944, trains were extended to 169th Street during evenings, late nights, and Sunday mornings. Temporarily in 1948, as shown in a map from that year, the D and F service switched, with the F going to Second Avenue, but this was afterwards changed back.^[3] On December 11, 1950, trains were extended to the newly opened 179th Street on evenings, nights, and Sunday mornings.^[4] On May 13, 1951, all trains outside of rush hour were extended to 179th Street using the local tracks beyond Parsons Boulevard. On October 8, 1951, trains were extended to 179th Street at all times.^[5] During rush hours F trains skipped 169th Street running via the express tracks. At other times, the F stopped at 169th Street.^[6]

In 1953, the platforms were lengthened to 660 feet at 75th Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard so that F trains could run eleven car trains. The F began running eleven car trains during rush hours on September 8, 1953. The extra train car increased the total carrying capacity by 4,000 passengers.^[7]

On October 30, 1954, the connection between the IND Culver Line and BMT Culver Line opened, with the IND taking over the elevated section. All F service began terminating at Broadway–Lafayette Street to allow D service to enter Brooklyn via the Rutgers Street Tunnel. In addition, all except weekday daytime trains were rerouted via the local tracks between Continental Avenue and Parsons Boulevard.^[8] On April 29, 1956, trains were extended to Second Avenue.

Beginning on October 6, 1957, trains terminated at 34th Street–Herald Square evenings, nights and weekends. On November 10, 1958, F service was cut back from Second Avenue and started terminating at Broadway–Lafayette Street weekdays. Then, beginning on July 11, 1967, trains no longer ran express between 179th Street and 71st–Continental Avenues weekday midday, and were extended weekdays daytime from Broadway-Lafayette Street back to Second Avenue. When, on November 26, 1967, the Chrystie Street Connection was completed, D service was rerouted via this connection, over the north side of the Manhattan Bridge, and via the BMT Brighton Line in Brooklyn. F service replaced it on the IND Culver Line.^[9]

Beginning on August 19, 1968, rush hour express service between Jay Street–Borough Hall and Kings Highway was added, in both directions between Jay Street-Borough Hall and Church Avenue, and in rush hour peak direction only by alternate trains between Church Avenue and Kings Highway. Beginning on June 16, 1969 express service was modified with Kings Highway trains operating as locals along the entire route Bergen Street to Kings Highway. Express service was further modified December 31, 1972 when all trains began making local stops between Bergen Street and Church Avenue in the rush direction because of complaints. At the same time, all trains were rerouted via the express tracks between Continental Avenue and Parsons Boulevard in Queens. Brooklyn express service was again revised January 19, 1976 when Kings Highway trains were made express Bergen Street to Church Avenue rush hours in the non-rush direction. On August 30, 1976 express service between Bergen Street and Church Avenue was completely discontinued, with all trains making all stops. Rush direction alternate-train express service between Ditmas Avenue and Kings Highway was retained. This was due to budget cuts and complaints about reduced Manhattan service by riders at local stations.

New York City Transit Authority Service Adjustment Poster 1977

Starting on August 27, 1977, F was made a local in Queens between Continental Avenue and Queens Plaza, late nights, replacing the GG service.^[10]

On May 24, 1987, N and R services swapped terminals in Queens.^[11] As part of the reroute plan, F service terminated at 57th Street / Sixth Avenue during late nights (extended to 21st Street-Queensbridge when the IND 63rd Street Line opened on October 29, 1989). On December 11, 1988, as part of the Archer Avenue Subway service changes, F trains began skipping 169th Street during rush hours because R trains were extended to 179th Street to run local.^[12][13] On September 30, 1990, R service was cut back from Continental Avenue to 179th Street at all times except rush hours. As a result, F trains began running local east of 71st Avenue during middays, evenings, and weekends.^[14] On October 25, 1992, R rush hour service was cut back from 179th Street to Continental Avenue, and F was made local 179th Street to Continental Avenue during rush hours as well. On August 31, 1997, late night F service was again rerouted to 179th Street as a local with service on the 63rd Street Line being replaced by a Q shuttle.

In December 2000, the F service began to be rerouted via the new 63rd Street connector during nights and weekends.^[15] On December 16, 2001, the 63rd Street Connector officially opened, connecting the IND 63rd Street Line with the IND Queens Boulevard Line. In a controversial move, the local V service replaced the express F service in the heavily trafficked 53rd Street Tunnel between Manhattan and Queens, while F service was rerouted to the 63rd Street Tunnel and ran express in Queens between 71st Avenue and 21st Street–Queensbridge at all times.^[16][17]

On September 8, 2002, Stillwell Avenue was closed for reconstruction. F service was cut back to Avenue X, and service to Stillwell Avenue was replaced by a shuttle bus.^[18] F service returned to Stillwell Avenue on May 23, 2004, upon completion of the construction work.

Proposed Brooklyn express service

There has been community support for resuming express service along the northern portion of the Culver Line from Jay Street–MetroTech to Church Avenue. including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Daniel Squadron.^[19][20][21] The MTA announced that after the elevated Culver Viaduct underwent extensive renovations from 2009 to 2012, "There will be no impediment to implementing the F express."^[22]

However, the F express service along the Culver Line was under consideration for four years due to controversy from residents living along the line, who feared that they would no longer have a one-seat ride into Manhattan. Although the service was not implemented, some politicians drafted a letter in 2014 that petitioned for the express service.^[23] In late October 2015, city officials started considering the implementation of F express service.^[24] Some rush-hour peak-direction F trains have been skipping local stops between Jay Street and Fourth Avenue since at least 2015, and the MTA is planning to use expanded rush-hour express service (Jay Street to Church Avenue) in both directions in the summers of 2016 and 2017.^[25] In May 2016, the MTA announced that half of all rush-hour F trains may start running express in fall 2017; however, the train frequency on the rest of the F's route would remain the same.^[26]

Route

Service pattern

The F uses the following lines with the same service pattern at all times.

Stations

For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops late nights only
	Stops late nights and weekends only
	Stops weekdays only
	Station closed
	Stops rush hours/weekdays in the peak direction only
Time period details

	Stations		Subway transfers	Connections
Queens
Queens Boulevard Line
	Jamaica–179th Street		E	Q3 bus to JFK Int'l Airport
	169th Street
	Parsons Boulevard		E
	Sutphin Boulevard			Q44 Select Bus Service
	Briarwood		E	Q44 Select Bus Service
	Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike		E	Q10 bus to JFK Int'l Airport
	75th Avenue		E
	Forest Hills–71st Avenue		E  M  R	LIRR Main Line at Forest Hills
	Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue		E  M  R  7  (IRT Flushing Line)	Q47 bus to LaGuardia Marine Air Terminal Q70 Select Bus Service bus to LaGuardia Airport
63rd Street Line
	21st Street–Queensbridge
Manhattan
	Roosevelt Island			Roosevelt Island Tramway
	Lexington Avenue–63rd Street		Out-of-system transfers with MetroCard: 4  5  6  <6> (IRT Lexington Avenue Line at 59th Street) N  R  W  (BMT Broadway Line at Lexington Avenue/59th Street)
Sixth Avenue Line
	57th Street
	47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center		B  D  M
	42nd Street–Bryant Park		B  D  M  7  <7> (IRT Flushing Line at Fifth Avenue)
	34th Street–Herald Square		B  D  M  N  Q  R  W  (BMT Broadway Line)	M34 / M34A Select Bus Service PATH at 33rd Street
	23rd Street		M	M23 Select Bus Service PATH at 23rd Street
	14th Street		M  1  2  3  (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line at 14th Street) L  (BMT Canarsie Line at Sixth Avenue)	PATH at 14th Street
	West Fourth Street–Washington Square		B  D  M  A  C  E  (IND Eighth Avenue Line)	PATH at 9th Street
	Broadway–Lafayette Street		B  D  M  4  6  <6> (IRT Lexington Avenue Line at Bleecker Street)
Houston Street Branch
	Second Avenue			M15 Select Bus Service
	Delancey Street		J  M  Z  (BMT Nassau Street Line at Essex Street)
	East Broadway
Brooklyn
	York Street
Culver Line
	Jay Street–MetroTech		A  C  N  R  (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
	Bergen Street		G
	Carroll Street		G
	Smith–Ninth Streets		G
	Fourth Avenue		G  D  N  R  (BMT Fourth Avenue Line at Ninth Street)
	Seventh Avenue		G
	15th Street–Prospect Park		G
	Fort Hamilton Parkway		G
	Church Avenue		G
	Ditmas Avenue
	18th Avenue
	Avenue I			Coney Island-bound trains do not stop here for renovations until Early 2017.
	Bay Parkway			Coney Island-bound trains do not stop here for renovations until Early 2017.
	Avenue N			Coney Island-bound trains do not stop here for renovations until Early 2017.
	Avenue P			Coney Island-bound trains do not stop here for renovations until Early 2017.
	Kings Highway
	Avenue U			Coney Island-bound trains do not stop here for renovations until Early 2017.
	Avenue X			Coney Island-bound trains do not stop here for renovations until Early 2017.
	Neptune Avenue
	West Eighth Street–New York Aquarium		Q  (BMT Brighton Line)
	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue		D  (BMT West End Line) N  (BMT Sea Beach Line) Q  (BMT Brighton Line)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to F (New York City Subway service).

• MTA NYC Transit – F Sixth Avenue Local
• "F Subway Timetable, Effective November 7, 2016" (PDF). New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved November 7, 2016. 
• "Review of F Line Operations, Ridership, and Infrastructure" (PDF). nysenate.gov. MTA New York City Transit Authority. October 7, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-31. Retrieved 28 July 2015. 

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