14th Street – Eighth Avenue (New York City Subway)

14th Street – Eighth Avenue
New York City Subway rapid transit station complex
300px Street entrance
Station statistics
Address	Eighth Avenue & West 14th Street New York, NY 10011
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	West Village, Chelsea
Coordinates
Division	B (BMT/IND)
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line       BMT Canarsie Line
Services	A  (all times)       C  (all except late nights)       E  (all times)       L  (all times)
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: M12, M14A, M14D, M20
Structure	Underground
Levels	2
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932  (1932-09-10)
Accessible
Wireless service
Traffic
Passengers (2014)	14,340,856 (station complex)  3.1%
Rank	19 out of 421
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times

14th Street – Eighth Avenue is an underground New York City Subway station complex shared by the IND Eighth Avenue Line and the BMT Canarsie Line. It is located at Eighth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan, and served by the:

• A, E, and L trains at all times
• C train at all times except late nights

Entrances are located at the corners of Eighth Avenue and 14th, 15th, and 16th Streets. The whole complex is ADA-compliant, with the accessible station entrance at 14th Street. This complex was renovated at the beginning of the 21st century.

This station had two artworks installed here. The first one was in 1989 by Ross Lewis named Parallel Motion. It shows images of moving bodies in the mezzanine drawn by brushstrokes using Chinese calligraphy. It was removed in 1995 and is now at the lobby of Public School 89 in Battery Park City. The second art installation by Tom Otterness, called Life Underground, was installed in 2001. It features whimsical bronze sculptures, including a sewer alligator, scattered about the station.

There are a number of MTA New York City Transit Authority training facilities located in the Mezzanine.

IND Eighth Avenue Line platforms

14th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station
300px
Station statistics
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	A  (all times)       C  (all except late nights)       E  (all times)
Platforms	2 island platforms cross-platform interchange
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932  (1932-09-10)
Accessible
Station succession
Next north	23rd Street (local): A  C  E  34th Street – Penn Station (express): A
Next south	West Fourth Street – Washington Square: A  C  E
Next north	34th Street – Penn Station: A  C  E
Next south	West Fourth Street – Washington Square: A  C  E
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times Stops late nights only

14th Street is an express station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line that has four tracks and two island platforms. Opened on September 10, 1932, this is the southernmost Eighth Avenue Line station that is actually under Eighth Avenue itself. South of here, the line curves east to Sixth Avenue via Greenwich Avenue.

During daytime hours, C and E trains stop on the outer local tracks while A trains stop on the center express tracks. During late night hours, all service is on the local tracks. Both outer track walls have a medium Yellow-Orange trim line with a Terra Cotta Brown border and "14th" written in black on the white tiles below. Both platforms have yellow i-beam columns running along their centers. The original 1931 trim line was a deep yellow-orange set in a course three tiles high with no border. There are many staircases and one elevator from each side going up to the full-length mezzanine above, which has same style trim line, name tablets, and columns.

This station has three entrances. The northernmost one has an unstaffed bank of turnstiles, two staircases going up to the northwest corner of 16th Street and Eighth Avenue, and one going up to each eastern side of the intersection. A passageway leads to the front entrance of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey building at the southwest corner. A sign on the sidewalk outside the building indicates an entrance to the station is available inside. On either side the center of the mezzanine, a set of full height turnstiles leads to a staircase going up to either northern corners of 15th Street and Eighth Avenue.

The full-time fare control area is at the south end of the mezzanine. On the east side is the transfer passageway to the BMT Canarsie Line platform containing a ramp, staircase, and elevator. A set of full height turnstiles leads to a staircase going up to the northeast corner of 14th Street and 8th Avenue. The full-time turnstile bank has a token booth, two staircases to either southern corners of the aforementioned intersection, and one staircase and elevator going up to the northwest corner. This area has a signal training school for New York City Transit employees.

BMT Canarsie Line platform

For other uses, see Eighth Avenue (disambiguation).

Eighth Avenue
New York City Subway rapid transit station
300px
Station statistics
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Canarsie Line
Services	L  (all times)
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	May 30, 1931  (1931-05-30)
Accessible
Station succession
Next north	(Terminal): L
Next south	Sixth Avenue: L
Next north	none: L
Next south	Union Square: L
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times

Eighth Avenue on the BMT Canarsie Line has two tracks and one island platform. It is the western (railroad north) terminal of the BMT Canarsie Line. The station is served by the L train at all times.

Eighth Avenue station opened on 30 May 1931 and was the last station to open on the Canarsie Line, built as an extension from the main line that opened seven years earlier westward to Sixth Avenue, the previous terminal.

Eighth Avenue uses a single island platform with two tracks which are designated officially as Q1 and Q2; however, these chaining numbers are only used by train crew and MTA personnel as their main purpose is distance-marking. Originally, they were named QW1 and QW2 since Eighth Avenue was a western extension of the Canarsie Line, but the line has been re-chained simply as Q. Eighth Avenue is the zero-point of the Canarsie Line's chaining, that is, it is the starting point of all distances on the line. The tracks end at bumper blocks just past the west end of the platform.

The station was originally decorated in a more IND style than the rest of the Canarsie Line, which was built by the BMT. The original tile band was two-tone ultramarine blue with "8th Av" captions. However, a 1999 renovation subsequently removed the IND style and replaced it with the BMT quilt-like tile pattern that exists on all other subway stations on the BMT Canarsie Line. The current tile color scheme is white with red stripes and historically-correct mosaics predominantly beige and tan, with an oddly "regular" pattern of red, yellow, green and off-white in the center. To signify the station's location, there are small "8" decorations set in teal-green hexagons, as found in other stations on the line.

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/ Entrance
B1	Upper Mezzanine	Fare control, station agents (Elevator at NW corner of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue)
B2	Northbound local	← toward 168th Street ( toward 207th Street late nights) (23rd Street) ← toward Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer (23rd Street)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Northbound express	← toward 207th Street (34th Street – Penn Station)
	Southbound express	→ toward Lefferts Boulevard or Far Rockaway all except nights, or Rockaway Park PM rush hours (West Fourth Street – Washington Square) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Southbound local	→ toward Euclid Avenue ( toward Far Rockaway late nights) (West Fourth Street – Washington Square) → → toward World Trade Center (West Fourth Street – Washington Square)
B3	Lower Mezzanine	Ramp from upper mezzanine to platforms
B4	Track 2	→ toward Canarsie – Rockaway Parkway (Sixth Avenue) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Track 1	→ toward Canarsie – Rockaway Parkway (Sixth Avenue) →

Nearby points of interest

• Abingdon Square
• Chelsea art galleries west of 10th Avenue
• Chelsea Piers Sports Complex
• The High Line
• Hudson River Park
• IAC Building
• Jackson Square Park
• Meatpacking District
• Saint Vincent's Hospital – fence nearby is covered with ceramic tiles in tribute to WTC
• Westbeth Artists Community
• West Village
• Whitney Museum of American Art

External links

External video
"Life Underground" by Tom Otterness, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; January 13, 2010; 2:34 YouTube video clip

• nycsubway.org—BMT Canarsie Line: 8th Avenue
• nycsubway.org—IND 8th Avenue: 14th Street
• MTA's Arts For Transit — 14th Street – 8th Avenue
• 14th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 15th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 16th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• BMT Canarsie Line platform seen from a train from Google Maps Street View
• BMT Canarsie Line platform from Google Maps Street View
• IND Eighth Avenue Line platforms from Google Maps Street View