Marcy Avenue (BMT Jamaica Line)

Marcy Avenue
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Manhattan-bound platform
Station statistics
Address	Marcy Avenue & Broadway Brooklyn, NY 11211
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Williamsburg
Coordinates	40°42′30″N 73°57′29″W / 40.708361°N 73.957944°WCoordinates: 40°42′30″N 73°57′29″W / 40.708361°N 73.957944°W
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Jamaica Line
Services	J  (all times)       M  (all times except late nights)       Z  (rush hours, peak direction)
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: B24, B32, B39, B44, B44 SBS, B46, B60, B62, Q54, Q59 (at Williamsburg Bridge Plaza Bus Terminal)
Structure	Elevated
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	3 (1 not for passenger service)
Other information
Opened	June 25, 1888[1]
Accessible
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	4,204,877[2]  6.4%
Rank	117 out of 422
Station succession
Preceding station   New York City Subway   Following station Driggs Avenue toward Broadway Ferry BMT Jamaica Line (demolished) Hewes Street toward Parsons/Archer or Metropolitan Avenue Essex Street toward Broad Street BMT Jamaica Line (local) J  M  BMT Jamaica Line (express) J  Z  Myrtle Avenue toward Parsons/Archer Broadway – Lafayette Street toward Broad Street ( local) Flushing Avenue toward Parsons/Archer or Metropolitan Avenue Fulton Street toward Broad Street ( local)
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Location

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 at all times except late nights, and the Z train during rush hours in the peak direction.

History

Remains of the Broadway Ferry spur

Marcy Avenue opened on June 25, 1888 as 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.^[3] 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 trains 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.

Station layout

P Platforms	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Westbound[4]	← toward Broad Street (Essex Street) ← toward Forest Hills – 71st Avenue weekdays, Essex Street weekends (Essex Street) ← toward Broad Street AM rush hours (Essex Street)
	Stub-end center track	→ No passenger service
	Eastbound[4]	→ toward Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer (Myrtle Avenue PM rush hours, Hewes Street other times) → → toward Middle Village – Metropolitan Avenue except late nights (Hewes Street) → → toward Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer PM rush hours (Myrtle Avenue) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right
G	Street Level	Exit / Entrance (Elevator for outbound service at SW corner of Marcy Avenue and Broadway; elevator for inbound service at NW corner)

View from the eastbound platform, looking west

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

SW Corner entrance

The home of the character Dave Stutler in the 2010 film The Sorcerer's Apprentice is located near this station. Stutler is also attacked by a wolf in 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^[5] 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.

Rapper Jay-Z attributes his moniker partially to the J/Z, which stop here.^[6]

References

1. "The Broadway Line Opened". Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY). June 25, 1888. p. 6.
2. "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
3. 1912 BMT system map NYCSubway Retrieved 2009-08-10
4. This is a wrong-way concurrency in railroad direction.
5. Genna Rivieccio aka Smoking Barrel (18 May 2012). "The Dictator: Less of a Dick Than You Might Think". Behind the Hype. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
6. Birchmeier, Jason. Jay-Z Biography. Allmusic. Retrieved August 24, 2007.

External links

Underneath the station

• 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
• view from the station from Google Maps Street View