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M (New York City Subway service)

The M Nassau Street Local is a rapid transit service of the B Division of the New York City Subway. It is colored brown on route signs, station signs, and the official subway map, since it runs on the BMT Nassau Street Line in Manhattan.

The M operates weekdays between Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village, Queens, and Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan. During rush hours, the M is extended to Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, making it the only line that runs through the same borough two different times in one trip. During evenings, nights, and weekends, the M is curtailed, operating from Metropolitan Avenue to Myrtle Avenue/Broadway in Brooklyn. The M operates as a local service for its entire route.

The M fleet consists of R160A-1 and R42 cars.

The following lines are used by the M:

History

Until 1914, the only service on the Myrtle Avenue Line (east of Grand Avenue) was a local service between Park Row (via the Brooklyn Bridge) and Middle Village (numbered 11 in 1924). A two-track ramp connecting the Myrtle Avenue Line with the Broadway (Brooklyn) Line at Broadway–Myrtle Avenue was opened on July 29, 1914, allowing for a second service, the daytime Myrtle Avenue–Chambers Street Line. These trains ran over the Williamsburg Bridge to Chambers Street station in Lower Manhattan, and ran over the express tracks on Broadway (Brooklyn) during weekday and Saturday rush hours. The number 10 was assigned to the service in 1924.

Sunday service was removed in June 1933, all Saturday trains began running local on June 28, 1952, and on June 28, 1958 all Saturday and midday service was cut, leaving only weekday rush hour service, express in the peak direction (skipping stops between Marcy Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, like the J/Z does now). M was assigned to the service in the early 1960s, with a single letter because it was an express service. Since the new cars using letter designations were not yet running on the Myrtle–Chambers service, it remained signed as 10; while the "M Nassau St" rollsigns were used for rush hour Nassau Street specials on the Brighton and Fourth Avenue Lines (QJ and RJ after 1967). M signs were used on Myrtle–Chambers trains once the Chrystie Street Connection opened in late 1967.

The second half of the Chrystie Street Connection opened on July 1, 1968, and the JJ, which had run along Nassau Street to Broad Street, was relocated through the new connection to the IND Sixth Avenue Line. To replace this service to Broad Street, the M was extended two stations, from Chambers Street to Broad Street. The west half of the Myrtle Avenue Line was closed on October 3, 1969, ending MJ service. To make up for the loss, the M was expanded to run middays, and a new SS shuttle ran between Broadway–Myrtle Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue at other times.

Effective January 2, 1973, the daytime QJ was truncated to Broad Street as the J, and the M was extended beyond Broad Street during the day along the QJ's former route to Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue, via the Montague Street Tunnel and BMT Brighton Line local tracks. By this time, the off-hour SS shuttle had been renamed as part of the M. The local K was eliminated on August 27, 1976, and the M became a fully local service to provide adequate service in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Reconstruction of the Brighton Line began on April 26, 1986, and the daytime M was shifted to the BMT Fourth Avenue Line (express) south of DeKalb Avenue. In 1987 the route was changed to split from Fourth Avenue at 36th Street, running along the BMT West End Line to Ninth Avenue during middays and beyond to Bay Parkway during rush hours. This Bay Parkway service duplicated a pattern that had last been operated as the TT until late 1967. M service along Fourth Avenue was switched to the local tracks in 1994, switching with the N, which had run local since the M was moved in 1987. The midday M was truncated to Chambers Street in April 1995, giving the M its current form.

Reconstruction of the Williamsburg Bridge subway tracks in 1999 split M service in two. One service ran all times between Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue and Marcy Avenues. The other ran rush hours only between Bay Parkway and Chambers Street. A shuttle provided service on the BMT Nassau Street Line.

From July 22, 2001 to February 22, 2004, work on the Manhattan Bridge subway tracks resulted in a midday extension back to Ninth Avenue, as well as an extension of the times that the rush hour service was provided, This change preserved service between the West End Line and Chinatown for passengers that would have taken the B to Grand Street.

The September 11, 2001 attacks caused a temporary reduction of the M to a full-time shuttle. It was extended full-time over the BMT Sea Beach Line to Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue, replacing the N, from September 17 until October 28.

MJ service

Between 1931 and 1937 11 trains stopped running over the Brooklyn Bridge, instead ending at Sands Street on the Brooklyn side. On March 5, 1944, the Myrtle Avenue Line was closed west of Bridge–Jay Streets, and all 11 trains were truncated there (with a free transfer to the IND lines at Jay Street–Borough Hall).

In 1967, when the Chrystie Street Connection opened, the label MJ was assigned to the 11 service. MJ was only marked on maps and station signs; the cars along that route never had signed designations. With the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection on November 26, 1967, the new letters officially redesignated the 10 and 11 services on maps and signs.

The west half of the Myrtle Avenue Line was closed on October 3, 1969, ending MJ service.

Stations

For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.

References

• Line By Line History
• NYCsubway.org - Historical Maps
• BMT-Lines.com - Service/Maps

External links

• MTA NYC Transit - M Nassau Street Local
• MTA NYC Transit - M schedulePDF (239 KB)