C (New York City Subway service)

Original IND service

The AA and CC services were the predecessors to the current C service. A and AA service began on September 10, 1932 with the opening of the IND Eighth Avenue Line. The Independent Subway System (IND) used single letters to refer to express services and double letters for local services. The A ran express and the AA ran local, from 168th Street to Chambers Street/World Trade Center, known at the time as Hudson Terminal. The AA ran at all times, and it was extended to 207th Street during nights and on Sundays when the A did not run. When the Eighth Avenue Line was extended to Jay Street–Borough Hall on February 1, 1933 the AA was extended there, but only during the times when the A didn't run; it continued to terminate at Chambers Street when the A did run.^[5][6]

The C and CC services began operation on July 1, 1933 when the IND Concourse Line opened. The CC provided local service between Bedford Park Boulevard and Hudson Terminal during rush hours, and was extended to 205th Street during non-rush hours. It replaced the AA as Eighth Avenue Local. The C ran express, from 205th Street to Bergen Street in Brooklyn during rush hours.^[5][7][8] Beginning August 19, 1933, C service was cut back from Bergen Street, but started operating during non-rush hours. At the same time, CC service was cut back from 205th Street during non-rush hours.^[7]

On January 1, 1936, C service was extended to Jay Street–Borough Hall.^[7] On April 9, 1937, C service was extended to Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets.^[7] After July 1, 1937, a few C trains continued to run to Bergen Street southbound in the AM rush hour and northbound in the PM rush hour. Also on the same date, weekend C service was discontinued, and CC service was extended to 205th Street to compensate.^[5]

IND Sixth Avenue Line opens

Sixth Avenue Subway Will Be Opened to the Public at 12-01 A.M. Sunday, Dec 15, 1940

On December 15, 1940, the IND Sixth Avenue Line opened. Two new services, the BB (later B) and D, began running. These lines ran on the Eighth Avenue Line in upper Manhattan, switching to the Sixth Avenue Line in Midtown. The BB ran local to 168th Street during rush hours. The D joined the C as the peak direction Concourse Express. CC trains now ran between Hudson Terminal and Bedford Park during rush hours and on Saturdays and during other times, the D made local stops in the Bronx, replacing CC service. On the same date, limited morning rush hour service began between 205th Street, Bronx and Utica Avenue, Brooklyn, making local stops on the IND Fulton Street Line. AA service was reinstated during this time, but only during off-peak hours (non-rush hours, late Saturday afternoons and Sundays) when the BB and CC did not operate.^[7][9] The CC would provide Eighth Avenue Line local service during rush hours, with the AA replacing it during off-peak hours, mostly unchanged until 1988.

Beginning October 10, 1944, C trains no longer ran on Saturdays.^[5] On October 24, 1949, C express service was discontinued. Additional D service was added to offset this loss. The CC, which only ran during rush hours, began terminating at Broadway–Lafayette Street Mondays to Fridays, and on Saturdays CC service continued to operate to Hudson Terminal.^[5][10] On December 29, 1951, Saturday CC service was discontinued.^[5] Weekday CC service returned to its previous terminal at Hudson Terminal on October 30, 1954.^[5][11]

On August 30, 1976, the CC train replaced the E train as the rush-hour local along the IND Fulton Street Line and IND Rockaway Line, running from Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street in Queens through Brooklyn and Manhattan to Bedford Park Boulevard in the Bronx, making it the only service to run through all four boroughs served by the subway.^[12] The Rockaway Park Shuttle HH was renamed CC. This shuttle ran between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park during off-peak hours, except late nights. With this, all daytime service to/from Rockaway Park was named CC. Late nights, the shuttle ran between Euclid Avenue, Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue via Hammels Wye, and was labeled A.^[5][7]

On August 28, 1977, late night AA service was eliminated; the A now runs fully local at night.^[5][6][13]

On May 6, 1985, the IND practice of using double letters to indicate local service was discontinued. The AA was renamed the K and rush hour CC service was renamed C. The off-peak Rockaway Park Shuttle is renamed H.^[5][7][14] This change was not officially reflected in schedules until May 24, 1987.^[6]

Modern service consolidations

On December 10, 1988, the K designation was discontinued; the service was merged into the C, which now runs at all times except late nights. The C ran from Bedford Park Boulevard to Rockaway Park rush hours, 145th Street to Euclid Avenue middays, and from 145th Street to World Trade Center during evenings and weekends. The A now ran express in Brooklyn during middays and the B was extended to 168th Street during middays and early evenings.^[5][7][15]

On October 23, 1992, rush hour C service was cut back from Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street to Euclid Avenue. Now, five A trips in each direction run from Manhattan to Rockaway Park during rush hours, with the Rockaway Park Shuttle (renamed from H to S) operating between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park at all times.^[16]

On May 29, 1994, weekend service between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. was extended to 168th Street to allow A trains to run express.^[17] Beginning April 30, 1995, C service was extended to 168th Street during middays as construction on the Manhattan Bridge cut B service from Manhattan. On November 11, 1995, midday service was cut back to 145th Street after B service to 168th Street was restored. On March 1, 1998, the B and C, which both ran local along Central Park West, switched northern terminals, ending the connection between the C and the Bronx. Instead of alternating between three different terminals depending on the time of day, all C service now terminates at 168th Street.^[7][18]

Starting on May 2, 1999, C trains were extended to Euclid Avenue on evenings and weekends; the C now runs local in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the A express, at all times except late nights.^[5][6]

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, World Trade Center station was temporarily not usable as a terminal for the E. C service was suspended until September 24, 2001. Local service along Central Park West was replaced by the A and D, and the E was extended from Canal Street to Euclid Avenue replacing C service in Brooklyn.^[5]

On January 23, 2005, a fire at the Chambers Street signal room crippled A and C service. C service was suspended until February 2 and was replaced by the A, B, D, E, and V along different parts of its route. Initial assessments suggested that it would take several years to restore normal service, but the damaged equipment was replaced with available spare parts, and normal service resumed on April 21.^[5][19][20]

Controversies

In August 2012, the Straphangers Campaign rated the C train the worst of the city's subway services for the fourth straight year. No other service has ranked worst for more than three years in a row. The group found that the C performed worst in three of the six categories in its annual State of the Subways Report Card: amount of scheduled service, interior cleanliness, and breakdown rate. It also ranked next-to-worst in car announcement quality, after the 7, but performed above average in regularity of service and crowding.^[21][22] The New York Times called the C the "least loved of New York City subway lines", citing its fleet of R32s, which are the oldest cars in the system at 54 years old.^[21] The New York Times has also stated that the C train "rattled and clanked along the deteriorating maze of tracks beneath the city, tin-clad markers of years of neglect."^[23] The R32s have been criticized for breaking down far more often than any fleet in the system, averaging just 33,527 miles between failures. The average subway car can travel 400,000 miles before breaking down.^[24]

Improvements

In 2011, problems with the R32s were at a peak as the fleet's failure rate was rising steadily. In 2012, money was directed to replace the R32 with a new contract called the R179. Bombardier Transportation won the $600 million contract to build 300 new cars.^[23] The R179s were expected to replace the R32s with some being allocated to the C. However, delivery of the R179s was delayed until 2017 and some R32s will remain in service after the order is completed, so stopgap measures had to be implemented.^[25]

Most trains on the C are only 480 feet (146 m) long due to lower ridership levels on this service. For the summers of 2011 and 2012, R46 trains ran on the C while R32s were moved to the A to save their older air conditioning units from having to work underground at all times.^[3] This contrasted to those on the rest of the "B" Division (except for the Eastern Division and G train), which are 600 feet (183 m) long.^[3] Since 2013 due to passenger complaints, many R160A cars have operated on this service, first during the summer months, then permanently. Most of the R32s were transferred to the mostly outdoor J/Z for the same reason. By May 2015, more than half of the C train's fleet utilized R160As.^[3] After several failed proposals to permanently lengthen C trains as ridership increased,^[3] some R46 trains were again assigned to the C in December 2017, displacing some of the route's R32s to the A.^[26]

Service pattern

The following table shows the lines used by the C:^[27]

Stations

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

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops weekdays only
	Station closed
	Stops rush hours only (limited service)
	Stops rush hours/weekdays in the peak direction only
Time period details
	Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act
↑	Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act in the indicated direction only
↓
	Elevator access to mezzanine only

	Stations		Subway transfers	Connections
Manhattan
Eighth Avenue Line
	168th Street		A  1  (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)
	163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue
	155th Street			Bx6 Select Bus Service
	145th Street		A  B  ​D  (IND Concourse Line)
	135th Street		B
	125th Street		A  ​B  ​​D	M60 Select Bus Service to LaGuardia Airport
	116th Street		B
	Cathedral Parkway–110th Street		B
	103rd Street		B
	96th Street		B
	86th Street		B	M86 Select Bus Service Station is closed for renovations as part of the Enhanced Station Initiative until October 2018.
	81st Street–Museum of Natural History		B	M79 Select Bus Service
	72nd Street		B
	59th Street–Columbus Circle		A  ​B  ​​D  1  (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)
	50th Street	↓	E  (IND Queens Boulevard Line)	Station is ADA-accessible in the southbound direction only.
	42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal		A  ​​E  1  ​2  ​3  (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line), 7  <7> ​ (IRT Flushing Line), N  ​Q  ​R  ​W  (BMT Broadway Line), S  (42nd Street Shuttle) at Times Square–42nd Street	Port Authority Bus Terminal M34A Select Bus Service
	34th Street–Penn Station		A  ​​E	M34 / M34A Select Bus Service Amtrak, LIRR, NJ Transit at Pennsylvania Station
	23rd Street		E	M23 Select Bus Service
	14th Street		A  ​​E  L  (BMT Canarsie Line)
	West Fourth Street–Washington Square		A  ​​E  B  ​D  ​F  ​M  (IND Sixth Avenue Line)	PATH at 9th Street
	Spring Street		E
	Canal Street		A  ​​E
	Chambers Street		A  ​​E  2  ​3  (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line at Park Place) N  ​R  ​W  (BMT Broadway Line at Cortlandt Street)	PATH at World Trade Center
	Fulton Street		A  2  ​3  (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) 4  ​5  (IRT Lexington Avenue Line) J  ​Z  (BMT Nassau Street Line)	PATH at World Trade Center
Brooklyn
	High Street		A
Fulton Street Line
	Jay Street–MetroTech		A  F  R  ​W  (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
	Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets		A  G  (IND Crosstown Line)
	Lafayette Avenue
	Clinton–Washington Avenues
	Franklin Avenue		S  (BMT Franklin Avenue Line)
	Nostrand Avenue		A	B44 Select Bus Service, LIRR Atlantic Branch at Nostrand Avenue
	Kingston–Throop Avenues			B15 bus to JFK Airport
	Utica Avenue		A	B46 Select Bus Service
	Ralph Avenue
	Rockaway Avenue
	Broadway Junction		A  J  ​Z  (BMT Jamaica Line) L  (BMT Canarsie Line)
	Liberty Avenue
	Van Siclen Avenue
	Shepherd Avenue
	Euclid Avenue		A