Talk:New York City Subway stations/sandbox

467 of the 472 stations in the system are served 24 hours a day.^{[note 1]} Underground stations in the New York City Subway are typically accessed by staircases going down from street level. Many of these staircases are painted in a common shade of green, with slight or significant variations in design.^[6] Other stations have unique entrances reflective of their location or date of construction. Several station entrance stairs, for example, are integrated into adjacent buildings.^[6] Nearly all station entrances feature color-coded globe or square lamps signifying their status as an entrance (see below).^[7]

Entrances

Turnstiles and entrance gates

The New York City Subway primarily employs two types of

At most of the system's entrances and exits, there is a lamppost or two bearing a colored spherical or cube-shaped lamp. These lights roughly indicate the station's availability (i.e. how often it is accessible): green means a full-time entrance and booth, red means either a part-time booth or no booth, hence either exit-only or entrance with MetroCard. Older lamps are completely colored green or red, while newer ones, called "half-moons", have only the top half colored, while the bottom half is milky white; this is to provide more light, and the half-colored globes have the same meanings as the globes with full colors.[7] There are also some square lamps.

The meaning of the lights is poorly understood by passengers, and was originally more complicated. Green, yellow, and red lights were introduced in the early 1980s to indicate the entrance's availability, mostly to prevent muggings by warning riders away from entrances that were closed at night. Originally, green signified an entrance located at a full-time station booth, which was open

For various reasons, including maintenance costs, decreases in ridership, along with crime and safety issues, many stations have fare control areas, mezzanine areas and entrances that have been closed.[25]^[26][27] Many mezzanines that previously stretched the entire length of a station have been split or partitioned by fencing or permanent walls. These closed areas have been abandoned or converted into space for Transit Operations or the New York City Police Department.^[9][18]

Facilities and amenities

Air conditioning

In August 2006, the MTA announced that all future subway stations, which include

Many stations are decorated with intricate ceramic tile work, some of it dating back to 1904 when the subway first opened. The

The

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Accessibility

Since the majority of the system was built before 1990, the year the

Since 1987, MTA has sponsored the "Music Under New York" (MUNY) program^[38] in which street musicians enter a competitive contest to be assigned to the preferred high traffic locations. Each year, applications are reviewed and approximately 70 eligible performers are selected and contacted to participate in live auditions held for one day.^{[39][40][41][42]}

At present, more than 100 soloists and groups participate in MUNY providing over 150 weekly performances at 25 locations throughout the transit system, for example

The New York City Transit (NYCT) is a subdivision of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that operates the city's subways and buses. The NYCT authorizes these types of free expression in subway stations: "Public speaking; distribution of written materials; solicitation for charitable, religious or political causes; and artist performances, including the acceptance of donations."

Performers must not be within 25 feet (7.6 m) of a token booth or 50 feet (15 m) from an MTA office/tower, blocking access to an escalator, stairwell, or elevator, interfering with transit services or passenger movement; or in an area where construction is occurring. In addition, performance is prohibited during public service announcements and may be no louder than 85 dBA at 5 feet (1.5 m) away or 70 dBa at 2 feet (0.61 m) from a token booth. Performances are prohibited in subway cars.^[43]

Restrooms

Restrooms are rare in the subway system as only 129 open restrooms are in 77 of the system's 472 stations.

According to the MTA, the New York City Subway is home to 345 retail spaces, making over US$70 million in rent and licensing fees in 2009 for the authority. It is continuing to make efforts in attracting more diverse retailers and vendors to set up shop in the subway system.[50]^[51]

Connections

Rapid transit and rail connections are available at designated stations to

Station platforms and configurations

NYCS station configurations
Legend
Station with 2 tracks and 2 side platforms
Station with 2 tracks and one island platform
Local station with 3 tracks
Local Express Local
Express station with 3 tracks
Local Express Local
Local station with 4 tracks
Local Express Express Local
Express station with 4 tracks (typical configuration)
Local Express Express Local
Express station with 4 tracks ( Atlantic Av–Barclays Ctr )
Local Express Express Local
DeKalb Avenue station (only weekday services shown)

Out of the system's 472 stations, 280 are underground,

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  Typical underground station
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  Typical elevated station
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  Typical entrance to an underground station
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  Typical entrance to an elevated station
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  Typical underground station mezzanine
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  Typical elevated station mezzanine

A typical subway station has waiting platforms ranging from 480 to 600 feet (150 to 180 m) long, though some IND platforms may be as long as 660 to 745 feet (201 to 227 m) long.

• On a 2-track line, a station may have one center island platform used for trains in both directions, or 2 side platforms, one for a train in each direction.
• For a 3-track or 4-track line, local stops will have side platforms and the middle one or two tracks will not stop at the station.
• For most 3- or 4-track express stops, there will be two island platforms, one for the local and express in one direction, and another for the local and express in the other direction. Each island platform provides a cross-platform interchange between the local and express services.

In a few cases, a 4-track station has an island platform for the center express tracks and two side platforms for the outside local tracks. This occurs only at three stations near major railway stations where the next station along the line is also an express station with the more common platform configuration. The purpose of splitting the platforms is to limit overcrowding by preventing cross-platform interchanges between local and express services. This occurs at

There is one notable 6-track local station,

trains) stop across the platform from the respective outer track.

Stations with two levels

West Eighth Street–New York Aquarium

station

Some stations have two levels. The levels separate the platforms of different services and/or directions. For example:

• the local trains on one level and the express trains on another level
• trains of two different lines on two different levels
• trains of two different directions on two different levels, with a cross-platform interchange on each level
• trains of different services on two different levels that are on the same line

Two lines on different levels ( 145th Street ; only rush hour services shown)
B2 B3

Different services on different levels ( 50th Street )
B1 B2

Express and local trains on different levels ( 86th Street )
B1 B2 L L E E

Different directions on different levels ( 125th Street )
B2 B3 L E E L

Complete lists of stations

The complete list of stations is split by

The New York City Subway has several types of

• New York City Subway stations
• List of New York City Subway stations
• List of New York City Subway transfer stations
• List of New York City Subway terminals
• List of closed New York City Subway stations
• List of Staten Island Railway stations
• Accessibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority