The 18th Street Stop

[Urbanfortitude]

I was thinking about this as I past through on the . How useful to anyone here is the 18th St stop? Do you think it serves its purpose or is it one stop too many? I'm kinda 50/50 on this. At times it seems like its one extra stop that doesn't need to be there and other times it feels good to have it. But I thought I'd get a discussion (big or small) on this real quick.

 

Edit: uhm and i just realized this is in teh wrong forum can uh...someone kinda shift this over to the IRT forum plz ;;

[yearsnowlost]

I was thinking about this as I past through on the . How useful to anyone here is the 18th St stop? Do you think it serves its purpose or is it one stop too many? I'm kinda 50/50 on this. At times it seems like its one extra stop that doesn't need to be there and other times it feels good to have it. But I thought I'd get a discussion (big or small) on this real quick.

 

Yeah, I think it's an interesting situation. With 18th Street (and Worth St, 91st, etc.) on the Lex, it was abandoned in a time where it wasn't as unusual to close a station, and its absence was something that people became used to, especially with the extending of platforms at Union Square and 23rd Street.

 

There are many different arguments one could make for the abandoning of 18th Street on the Seventh Avenue, i.e. that the MTA would save money (not having to pay token booth clerks, electricity, etc.). However, it is likely that the people that live in the neighborhood would resist the abandoning of the station, were it to be a serious consideration (which it most likely never would be). From what I can see, there is a high school right there, and it would be a useful thing to keep a station there to serve those students, not to mention the workers and residents over there.

 

It's a moot point anyway, because it's really doubtful that the head honchos at the MTA would want an area (or the population of commuters that use the station) angry at them, especially considering the financial straits they are in and their reputation as of late. I think that it would not be a good idea (at least speaking from a PR perspective) for the MTA to physically abandon a station when a lot of people think that they are abandoning the "rights" of the riders.

 

Just my two cents.

[duelingdragons]

I'm sure if the station wasn't producing enough $, they would have shut it down a long time ago.

 

It does seem silly.. you can look up the platform @ 14th and see the 18th St. Station quite clearly.

 

But hey.. as long as they're making $$$, game on.

[R62A 1991]

I'm a little indifferent on this, but my thinking is that the reason why this 18th St station is still open is because the north-most exit at 14th St/7th Av is 14th St, while the north-most at 14th St/Union Sq is at 16th St I believe. I also do believe that they close down the booth during the weekends on at least one side of the platform anyway.

[WestSideJeff]

The 18th Street station does have its reasons for existence. I could be wrong, but I believe part of the reason its sister station on the was shuttered was because the Union Square platforms were extended north.

On the other hand, the plats at 14th/7th run from 12th to 14th (had they been extended north rather than south, there would've been much more reason to get rid of 18th St). IMHO, I'm a bit partial to the station - I used to work on 17th Street between 7th and 8th, and oftentimes, it was much easier to get to work from 18th Street rather than 14th.