Grand Street Line (Brooklyn)

For additional information on the current bus service, see List of bus routes in Queens.
Q59
Grand Street Line
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Overview
System MTA Regional Bus Operations
Operator New York City Transit Authority
Garage Grand Avenue Depot
Route
Locale Queens; Brooklyn
Start Williamsburg, Brooklyn – Williamsburg Bridge Plaza Bus Terminal
Via Grand Street and Grand Avenue[1]
End Rego Park, Queens – 63rd Drive & Queens Boulevard (Rego Center)
Length 6.47 miles (10.41 km) (streetcar line)[2]
Service
Operates 24 hours
Daily ridership 2,226,212 (2014)[3]
Fare $2.75 (MetroCard or coins)
Cash Coins only (exact change required)
Transfers Yes
Timetable Q59
← Q58 Q60 →

The Grand Street Line is a public transit line in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States, running mostly along the continuous Grand Street and Grand Avenue between Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Maspeth, Queens. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the Q59 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority between Williamsburg and Rego Park, Queens

History

The Grand Street and Newtown Rail Road began building the line in September 1860,[4] and opened the first section, from the Grand Street Ferry on the Williamsburg waterfront to Bushwick Avenue, on October 15, 1860,[5] with a formal opening on October 30. In addition to the Grand Street Ferry, cars soon also served the Broadway Ferry via the track of the Brooklyn City Rail Road's Greenpoint Line on Kent Avenue.[6] By 1865, the line had been extended from Grand Street north along Bushwick Avenue, Humboldt Street, and Meeker Avenue to Penny Bridge.[7] The tracks in Bushwick Avenue were removed after trains started using Humboldt Street instead between Grand Street and Maspeth Avenue on July 19, 1870.[8]

The main line was extended east from Grand and Humboldt Streets over the new extension of Grand Street, opening to the city line (Newtown Creek) on June 9, 1875[9] and to Newtown on August 1, 1876.[10][11] The old line to Penny Bridge became the Meeker Avenue Line.

When the Maspeth Depot opened in 1885, the service was truncated to Maspeth; service from Maspeth to Elmhurst became a shuttle. (Later it became part of the Flushing-Ridgewood Line). The Brooklyn City Rail Road leased the Grand Street and Newtown on May 1, 1890.[12][13] Buses were substituted for streetcars on December 11, 1949. At some point, the bus route was extended back east to Elmhurst and southeast on Queens Boulevard to Rego Park.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Q59 bus schedule MTA Regional Bus Operations.
  2. ↑ "Public Notices". Newspapers.com. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 19, 1949. p. 29. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "Facts and Figures". mta.info. 2011-08-28. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  4. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Began at Last, September 4, 1860, page 3
  5. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Completion of the Grand Street Rail Road, October 16, 1860, page 3
  6. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Grand Street Railroad, October 31, 1860, page 3
  7. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Particulars About Our City Rail Roads, August 10, 1865, page 2
  8. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Change in the Grand Street Railroad Route, July 19, 1870, page 2
  9. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 9, 1875, page 4
  10. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Grand Street Railroad, August 1, 1876, page 4
  11. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Grand Street Railroad, August 2, 1876, page 4
  12. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Ratified the Lease, April 28, 1890, page 6
  13. ↑ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Takes Possession of the New Lines, May 1, 1890, page 6

External links

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