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List of New York City Subway services

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List of New York City Subway services

As of November 2016, the New York City Subway system has 25 lettered or numbered route designations.

Contents

  • The 1, 6, 7, C, G, L, M, R, and W trains are fully local, making all stops.
  • The 2, 3, 4, 5, <6>, <7>, A, B, D, E, F, N and Q trains have portions of express and local service.
  • The J train normally operates local, but during rush hours it is joined by the Z train in the peak direction. Both run local, express or skip-stop on different parts of their route.
  • The letter S is used for three shuttle services: the Rockaway Park Shuttle, Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and 42nd Street Shuttle.

    • Due to the subway operating 24 hours a day, there are five different service patterns. There are rush-hour, midday, evening, weekend and late night service patterns. Each service has a table in its article to show what tracks are used and when.

    This table lists all the current services, along with their lines and terminals and a brief description; see Unused New York City Subway service labels for unused and defunct services.

    Time periods

    The New York City Subway is one of the few subways worldwide operating 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The schedule is divided into different periods of time, with each containing different operation patterns and train intervals.

    The MTA defines time periods as follows; these are used in articles (sometimes abbreviated by numbers in superscript or the symbol indicated):

  • (1) rush hours – 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday–Friday
  • (1a) rush hours in the peak direction (toward Manhattan in the morning, away from Manhattan in the afternoon)
  • (2) middays – 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday–Friday
  • (2a) middays in the peak direction
  • (2b) middays in the non-peak direction
  • (3) evenings – 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., Monday–Friday
  • (3a) early evenings – 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
  • (3b) evenings in the peak direction
  • (3c) early evenings in the peak direction – 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
  • (4) weekends – 6:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., Saturday and Sunday
  • (5) late nights – 12:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., every day
  • (5a) weekday late nights (i.e., Tuesday–Saturday mornings)
  • (5b) weekend late nights (i.e., Sunday and Monday mornings)
  • (5c) southbound only
  • (5d) northbound only

    • Other symbols are derivatives and are defined based on the rules above:

  • all times – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • all times except rush hours in the peak direction
  • all times except weekdays in the peak direction
  • daily – criteria (1), (2), (3), and (4) above (all times except late nights)
  • daily except rush hours in the peak direction
  • nights and weekdays – criteria (1), (2), (3), and (5) above
  • nights and weekends – criteria (4) and (5) above
  • weekdays – criteria (1), (2), and (3) above

    • Service listing

    Lines with colors next to them are the primary trunk line of the corresponding service; they determine the color of the service bullets and diamonds, except shuttles which are dark gray.

    Service variants

  • The 6 service has a midday (2a) and rush hour (1a) diamond Bronx express service labeled <6>, in addition to 6 local service.
  • The 7 service has a rush hour (1a), and evening (3c) diamond Queens express service labeled <7>, in addition to 7 local service.

    • A number of services operate shorter routes during lower ridership hours, but these are neither signed differently nor counted as separate services. Special services caused by General Orders or construction, usually during off-peak hours, are also not counted.

    Variants unaccounted for by formal designations

    Because of inconsistencies in usage there are, in practice, more distinctly identifiable services operating simultaneously than are represented by the color/letter/number designations:

  • The 2 service has a rush-hour variant that operates to a different southern terminal: New Lots Avenue.
  • The 5 service has rush-hour variants that operate to different terminals: Nereid Avenue, New Lots Avenue and Utica Avenue.
  • The A service has three physically separate southern terminals: Far Rockaway, Lefferts Boulevard and Rockaway Park.
  • Lefferts Boulevard is served late nights by a shuttle.
  • Rockaway Park is served only in the peak direction during rush hours (and by the Rockaway Park Shuttle at all times).
  • The E service has a rush-hour variant that operates to a different northern terminal: 179th Street.
  • The J service has rush-hour variants that operate to/from a different terminal in either direction: Broadway Junction.
  • The L service has an AM rush-hour southbound short turn terminal at Myrtle Avenue.
  • The N service has a rush-hour variant that operates to a different northern terminal: 96th Street (2nd Avenue).
  • Select W trains are extended to 86th Street during rush hours in the peak direction.

    • Train intervals

    The schedule offers trains every 3 to 5 minutes on the most used sections during rush hours. During other traffic periods, intervals range usually from 4 to 12 minutes or up to 20 minutes on outer sections. During late nights, only selected express services are operated and all late night services usually run every 20 minutes.

    Trains per hour

    This is a list of average train frequencies during different times of the day, measured in trains per hour (tph). This chart shows frequencies give or take approximately 2 tph.

    History

    See New York City Subway nomenclature for a complete explanation; this is just a table of when each service has existed (and been signed for the public). Shuttles were SS until 1985, when they became S (which had been used for specials). See here for the colors used for shuttles in 1967; in 1968 all six became green, and in 1979 all shuttles became dark gray.

    References

    List of New York City Subway services Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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