No. 3 Train From Times Square to New Lots Ave.

[Trainspotter]

No. 3 Train From Times Square to New Lots Ave.

By BILLIE COHEN

NEW YORK TIMES

Published: January 8, 2008

 

[float=right]

Billie Cohen[/float]The No. 3 train could not care less about Manhattan. It speeds through a few express stops shuttling suits to Penn Station and the Port Authority, but in reality, this is a borough train. Those few riders who hop on and off in Midtown don’t specifically need the No. 3. They could just as easily catch the No. 1 or the No. 2. But once it races through Manhattan and under the East River, most riders are on it for the long haul. These commuters are going to a far corner of Kings County. And for the most part, they are African-American.

 

I boarded the train at Times Square at 5:45pm, and it was surprisingly not packed. In contrast, the uptown trains I saw across the platform, a couple of stops later at 14th Street, were cattle-car crowded, with conductors announcing delays and asking riders to wait for the next arrival.

 

Park Place and Wall Street are the last stops in Manhattan, and though a few stock-market-looking types boarded with the rest of the working-class riders, they were gone by Borough Hall and Bergen Street. And Atlantic Avenue saw another small burst of people join the trek. In my car, people looked tired, and about a third were soon slumped over on their bags or leaning against poles trying to catch an uncomfortable nap.

 

By Franklin Avenue, where a flurry of passengers scattered to transfer to the Nos. 2, 4, and 5 trains, mine was the only white face left onboard. I struck up a conversation with a middle-aged woman named Barbara and asked her about it. “Yes, it’s mostly African-Americans,” she said of the usual commuting crowd. “But you see a few more white faces in the morning now, getting on at New Lots or Pennsylvania.”

 

Barbara, who didn’t want to give her last name (this was a common reaction throughout the ride; people were polite but private, more so than any other commute I’ve done so far), has been traveling this route for 15 years. She works at the Board of Education and lives by the New Lots terminus. She rides the No. 3 and the No. 4 every day, switching between them at Utica Avenue. But the No. 4 is a source of aggravation for her. “It just sits there with the doors closed and they don’t let anyone get on,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

 

The No. 3, by comparison, was a ride in the clouds. The express is as much of an uninterrupted joy as a loudly screeching subway ride can be. Regulars noted that you can usually find a seat after the train is out of Manhattan, and that it is rarely delayed, although the Straphangers’ Campaign, a riders’ advocacy group, marked the line as below average.

 

Many of the eastern-end stations were built in the early 1900s and are all outdoors and elevated after Utica Avenue. When the train crossed the L line over Junius Street, it felt like we were living back then, watching century-old tracks overlap in the dark. Of course, the L train was a string of shiny, bright and new cars, while the No. 3 felt more dingy and dated, but surely the rest of the new subway cars that debuted in 2000 will show up throughout the system eventually. Right?

 

At a Glance

 

An old line with some stations dating back to the early 1900s, the No. 3 is an express train that’s underground in Manhattan and elevated at the eastern end in Brooklyn. Some Midtown professionals ride it for convenience in the center city, but largely, this line services the working-class African-American communities of eastern Brooklyn.

 

Where It Goes

 

The No. 3 line begins in Harlem at 148th Street, north of the middle of Central Park. It then speeds down through a few express stops on the West Side of Manhattan and leaves the island at Wall Street. From there its route is more local, traveling through Downtown Brooklyn, Crown Heights, Brownsville and ending in East New York at New Lots Avenue.

 

Strategies

 

The front end of the Brooklyn-bound trains tend to be more crowded, and post-6pm is high traffic time. Major exchanges to other lines are at Franklin Avenue, Utica Avenue and Atlantic Avenue.

[error46146]

No. 3 Train From Times Square to New Lots Ave.

By BILLIE COHEN

NEW YORK TIMES

Published: January 8, 2008

 

[float=right]

Billie Cohen[/float]The No. 3 train could not care less about Manhattan. It speeds through a few express stops shuttling suits to Penn Station and the Port Authority, but in reality, this is a borough train. Those few riders who hop on and off in Midtown don’t specifically need the No. 3. They could just as easily catch the No. 1 or the No. 2. But once it races through Manhattan and under the East River, most riders are on it for the long haul. These commuters are going to a far corner of Kings County. And for the most part, they are African-American.

 

I boarded the train at Times Square at 5:45pm, and it was surprisingly not packed. In contrast, the uptown trains I saw across the platform, a couple of stops later at 14th Street, were cattle-car crowded, with conductors announcing delays and asking riders to wait for the next arrival.

 

Park Place and Wall Street are the last stops in Manhattan, and though a few stock-market-looking types boarded with the rest of the working-class riders, they were gone by Borough Hall and Bergen Street. And Atlantic Avenue saw another small burst of people join the trek. In my car, people looked tired, and about a third were soon slumped over on their bags or leaning against poles trying to catch an uncomfortable nap.

 

By Franklin Avenue, where a flurry of passengers scattered to transfer to the Nos. 2, 4, and 5 trains, mine was the only white face left onboard. I struck up a conversation with a middle-aged woman named Barbara and asked her about it. “Yes, it’s mostly African-Americans,” she said of the usual commuting crowd. “But you see a few more white faces in the morning now, getting on at New Lots or Pennsylvania.”

 

Barbara, who didn’t want to give her last name (this was a common reaction throughout the ride; people were polite but private, more so than any other commute I’ve done so far), has been traveling this route for 15 years. She works at the Board of Education and lives by the New Lots terminus. She rides the No. 3 and the No. 4 every day, switching between them at Utica Avenue. But the No. 4 is a source of aggravation for her. “It just sits there with the doors closed and they don’t let anyone get on,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

 

The No. 3, by comparison, was a ride in the clouds. The express is as much of an uninterrupted joy as a loudly screeching subway ride can be. Regulars noted that you can usually find a seat after the train is out of Manhattan, and that it is rarely delayed, although the Straphangers’ Campaign, a riders’ advocacy group, marked the line as below average.

 

Many of the eastern-end stations were built in the early 1900s and are all outdoors and elevated after Utica Avenue. When the train crossed the L line over Junius Street, it felt like we were living back then, watching century-old tracks overlap in the dark. Of course, the L train was a string of shiny, bright and new cars, while the No. 3 felt more dingy and dated, but surely the rest of the new subway cars that debuted in 2000 will show up throughout the system eventually. Right?

 

At a Glance

 

An old line with some stations dating back to the early 1900s, the No. 3 is an express train that’s underground in Manhattan and elevated at the eastern end in Brooklyn. Some Midtown professionals ride it for convenience in the center city, but largely, this line services the working-class African-American communities of eastern Brooklyn.

 

Where It Goes

 

The No. 3 line begins in Harlem at 148th Street, north of the middle of Central Park. It then speeds down through a few express stops on the West Side of Manhattan and leaves the island at Wall Street. From there its route is more local, traveling through Downtown Brooklyn, Crown Heights, Brownsville and ending in East New York at New Lots Avenue.

 

Strategies

 

The front end of the Brooklyn-bound trains tend to be more crowded, and post-6pm is high traffic time. Major exchanges to other lines are at Franklin Avenue, Utica Avenue and Atlantic Avenue.

so the point of this article is...

[Harry]

What is your point in quoting an article?

[error46146]

What is your point in quoting an article?

i did that by accident, and when i tried to edit it out the edit button was gone!

[DOB2RTO]

so the point of this article is...

 

 

What is your point in quoting an article?

 

 

 

That the #3 train is to "spooky" for some to ride.

 

*Spooky doesn't mean scared in my comment*

[Pablo M 201]

so the point of this article is...

Promote the train and just to fill the paper with a story. Guess they were bored and just threw that in.

[Queens Surface]

The train is finally crowded after all these years, interesting.

[BMT4Life]

so the point of this article is...

 

It's sounds like an editorial. Maybe even an op-ed piece. It probably wasn't meant to teach anything but just to tell a story.

[PATCOman]

Sometimes when I take the 3 up to 135 Street, it is crowded up to 96 Street, then its pretty empty. It pretty much supplements the 2. In fact some 2, 4, and 5 trains go to New Lots so they see some new trains. The elevated structure was built in the 1920s.

[sebbieprops]

The just seems like a supplement to the . I very rarely ride it, since every time I'm on the west side, I'm going either to or from the Bronx, and the doesn't go there.