Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets (New York City Subway)

Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Queens-bound platform
Station statistics
Address	Hoyt Street & Schermerhorn Street Brooklyn, NY 11201
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Downtown Brooklyn
Coordinates
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Crosstown Line IND Fulton Street Line
Services	A  (all times)       C  (all except late nights)       G  (all times)
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: B41, B45, B67 MTA Bus: B103
Structure	Underground
Platforms	4 island platforms (2 in passenger service) cross-platform interchange
Tracks	6 (4 in passenger service)
Other information
Opened	April 9, 1936 (1936-04-09)
Accessibility	Cross-platform wheelchair transfer available
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	3,038,302  2.6%
Rank	171
Station succession
Next north	Jay Street – MetroTech (Fulton express): A  C  Court Street (Fulton local): no regular service Fulton Street (Crosstown): G
Next south	Lafayette Avenue (Fulton local): A  C  Nostrand Avenue (Fulton express): A  Bergen Street (Culver): G
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times Stops late nights only
Location

Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets is an express station of the New York City Subway, serving the IND Crosstown Line and the IND Fulton Street Line. Located at the intersection of Hoyt Street and Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn, it is served by the:

• A and G trains at all times
• C train at all times except late nights

History

Each of the two abandoned platforms at the station is adjacent to one of the open platforms.

Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets opened as part of the Fulton Street Line on April 9, 1936, serving both Fulton local and express trains. This station began serving Crosstown Line trains on July 1, 1937, when the Crosstown Line was extended from Nassau Avenue. From this station, northbound local trains were planned to continue to Court Street and terminate there. Express trains would turn north under Jay Street and continue to Manhattan via the Cranberry Street Tunnel. However, initial Fulton Street service ran entirely local since at the time, the line only ran to Rockaway Avenue. Without express service, local trains provided service to Manhattan via the express tracks at this station while the HH shuttle was instituted to serve Court Street and the local tracks/platforms.

Due to low ridership, Court Street was closed and the shuttle was discontinued in 1946. All Fulton Street service was routed via the express tracks at this station to Jay Street – Borough Hall. This eliminated any use for the local tracks and they have been out of service since. The outer platforms were also closed until 1959, when the Aqueduct Racetrack special service began. Service ran from the lower level of 42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal to Aqueduct Racetrack via the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Fulton Street Line, and IND Rockaway Line. Like the lower level at 42nd Street, the outer platforms at this station provided a convenient place to segregate passengers who had paid the extra fare required to board the special trains. Consequently, Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets was the only stop between 42nd Street and the racetrack.

Since the elimination of the Aqueduct service in 1981, the outer platforms have remained out of revenue service. The abandoned parts of the station are used occasionally for film shoots—for example, The Warriors and The Taking of Pelham 123—and other special functions, such as a public display of the R160Bs on November 29, 2005.

Following the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, New York City Councilwoman Letitia James advocated renaming the station in Jackson's honor and hanging a plaque at the station to commemorate the filming of the video for "Bad" there, but met with resistance from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz explained that the agency prohibits plaques at stations and is currently developing guidelines for station naming-rights deals in order to raise money, while other sources assert that naming stations after individuals would confuse riders.

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance
M	Mezzanine	Fare control, station agent
P Platform level	Northbound Fulton local	← No regular service (No service: Court Street/New York Transit Museum)
	Island platform, not in service
	Northbound Fulton express	← toward Inwood – 207th Street (Jay Street – MetroTech) ← toward 168th Street (Jay Street – MetroTech)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Southbound Crosstown	← toward Church Avenue (Bergen Street)
	Northbound Crosstown	→ toward Court Square (Fulton Street) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Southbound Fulton express	→ toward Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue, Ozone Park – Lefferts Boulevard, or Rockaway Park – Beach 116th Street (Nostrand Avenue except late nights, Lafayette Avenue late nights) → → toward Euclid Avenue (Lafayette Avenue) →
	Island platform, not in service
	Southbound Fulton local	→ No regular service (No service: Lafayette Avenue)

This wide station has six tracks and four island platforms. The centermost pair of tracks belongs to the Crosstown Line (G). To the east (railroad north), they run under Lafayette Avenue while to the west (railroad south), they turn south and merge with the IND Sixth Avenue Line to form the IND Culver Line under Smith Street. The next pair of tracks from the center are the express tracks of the Fulton Street Line (A and C). Trains using these tracks open their doors to the center island platforms, not the outer ones. To the east, the C diverges to the local tracks and all four tracks continue under Fulton Street. To the west, the express tracks curve north under Jay Street and continue as the IND Eighth Avenue Line.

The outermost pair of tracks—the Fulton Street local tracks—and the outer two island platforms are no longer used in revenue service. To the west, the tracks continue under Schermerhorn Street to the decommissioned Court Street station, currently the site of the New York Transit Museum, in Brooklyn Heights. Though it may be difficult to see in some of the unlighted portions of the station, a tile band is present on the trackside walls - similar in color to the Crosstown Line stations up to Flushing Avenue - Lime (Nile) Green with a medium Kelly Green border, set in a three-high course consistent with many IND express stations. Captions reading "HOYT" are present in white lettering on a black background, with no mention of "Schermerhorn". On the Brooklyn-bound side, some of these captions have been stickered-over with different station names as required for film and TV shoots.

Due to its width, the southern half of the station had to be built under private property on the south side of Schermerhorn Street. The station's mezzanine, located over the northern half of the station and under Schermerhorn Street, contains a New York City Transit Police substation and several New York City Transit Authority offices. There are two staircases to each active platform, a turnstile bank, a token booth, and two staircases to the streets. One leads to the northeast corner of Schermerhorn and Hoyt Streets, is built within the front entrance of 250 Schermerhorn Street, and connects to fare control via a corridor. The other staircase leads to the northwest corner of Bond and Schermerhorn Streets and is built inside a building housing the Goodwill Store and Donation Center.

There are numerous sealed stairways and exits in the mezzanine, including a sealed passageway to Livingston Street/Schermerhorn Street and a direct entrance to the former Loeser's Department Store.

Service patterns

Bergen Street (IND Culver Line)	Jay Street – MetroTech (IND Fulton Street Line)	Court Street (IND Fulton Street Line)
West of the station
IND Crosstown Line       G  (all times)	IND Eighth Avenue Line tunnels       A  (all times)       C  (all except late nights)	IND Fulton Street Line to Court Street no regular service
In the station
innermost tracks       G  (all times)	center tracks       A  (all times)       C  (all except late nights)	outermost tracks no regular service
East of the station
IND Crosstown Line       G  (all times)	IND Fulton Street Line express       A  (all except late nights)	IND Fulton Street Line local       A  (late nights)       C  (all except late nights)
Fulton Street (IND Crosstown Line)	Nostrand Avenue (IND Fulton Street Line)	Lafayette Avenue (IND Fulton Street Line)

In popular culture

One of two station entrances

The Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station was featured in The Wiz (1978) in which the characters find themselves in a strange Emerald city subway with evil monsters such as chomping trashcans and subway columns that move and try to trap the characters. The station's mezzanine was the main setting for the filming of Michael Jackson's music video/short film for his hit 1987 single "Bad", as well as "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody, "Fat". The station was also featured in the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America in which the main character boards an R38 E train. In the same year, it was also featured in the Paul Hogan adventure comedy Crocodile Dundee II. It was used as the subway stop for City Hall in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The opening scene of the Law & Order episode "Subterranean Homeboy Blues" (1990) was filmed in this station, with Cynthia Nixon's character, Laura di Biasi, boarding a train. In 1991, the station was featured in a shootout scene for the Michael J. Fox and James Woods buddy cop movie The Hard Way, showing an A train and a background with the Nostrand Avenue stop. The Warriors (1979) and The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) have also filmed at Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets.

External links

• nycsubway.org—IND Fulton: Hoyt–Schermerhorn Street
• Station Reporter — A Lefferts
• Station Reporter — A Rockaway
• Station Reporter — C Train
• Station Reporter — G Train
• Abandoned Stations: Court St, and Hoyt-Schermerhorns Sts platforms
• The Subway Nut — Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets Pictures
• Hoyt Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Bond Street entrance from Google Maps Street View