C (New York City Subway service)

Eighth Avenue Local
Northern end	168th Street
Southern end	Euclid Avenue
Stations	40

The C Eighth Avenue Local is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored vivid blue on route signs, station signs, and the official subway map, since it runs on the IND Eighth Avenue Line through Manhattan.

The C service operates at all times except late nights, making all stops between 168th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and Euclid Avenue in City Line, Brooklyn via Central Park West and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan and Fulton Street in Brooklyn. During late night hours, the A train, which runs express along the entire C route during daytime hours, makes all stops. The C train has no elevated stations, running underground for its entire route.

Maintenance and rider issues

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.The New York Times called the C the "least loved of New York City subway lines," citing its fleet of R32s, which, at 47-48 years of age, are the oldest cars in the system. For the summers of 2011 and 2012, R46s ran on this service while the R32s were moved to the A train to save their older air conditioning units from having to work underground at all times.

History

• The C and CC services began operation on July 1, 1933 over the then-new IND Concourse Line. The CC local provided continuous service between Bedford Park Boulevard and Hudson Terminal, while the C ran express, from 205th Street to Bergen Street in Brooklyn.
• Beginning December 15, 1940, the D train entered service with the opening of the IND Sixth Avenue Line. It 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 as well. Other times, the D made local stops in the Bronx.

A Brooklyn-bound C train of R32s awaiting departure at 168th Street

1967–1979 service bullet

1979–1985 service bullet

• Beginning October 10, 1944, C trains no longer ran on Saturdays and limited morning rush hour service began between 205th Street, Bronx and Utica Avenue, Brooklyn, making local stops on the IND Fulton Street Line.
• On October 24, 1949, C service was discontinued and during rush hours, CC trains terminated at Broadway – Lafayette Street. Two years later, CC trains were discontinued on Saturdays and in 1954, it returned to the Hudson Terminal.
• On August 27, 1976, the C train replaced the E train as the local along Fulton Street and to Rockaway Park. It became the only subway train to run through all four boroughs served by the subway. It ran from Bedford Park Boulevard in the Bronx, though Manhattan via Central Park West and Eighth Avenue, into Brooklyn via the Cranberry Street Tunnel, and then on the Fulton Street Line and Jamaica Bay Crossing to Rockaway Park in Queens.
• In May 1985, the IND practice of using double letters to indicate local service was discontinued. The CC service was renamed the C.
• In 1988, the K train was discontinued, and the C train was extended to run at all times except late nights. It ran local to Euclid Avenue midday and rush hours (the A ran express in Brooklyn during this time), and to World Trade Center during evenings and weekends. During rush hours, it ran to Bedford Park Boulevard and other times, to 145th Street.
• On October 23, 1992, rush hour C service was cut back from Rockaway Park – Beach 116th Street to Euclid Avenue.
• Beginning April 1995, C service ran to 168th Street – Washington Heights during midday and weekends. In November of that year, midday service was cut back to 145th Street.
• On March 1, 1998, the B and C trains switched northern terminals, with C terminating at 168th Street whenever it operates.
• Starting in 1999, C trains ran local to Euclid Avenue on the weekends and A trains ran express in Brooklyn at all times except late nights.
• In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, 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.
• On January 23, 2005, a fire at the Chambers Street signal room crippled A and C service. C service was suspended until February 2. 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.

Route

Service pattern

The following table shows the lines used by the C service:

Line	From	To	Tracks
IND Eighth Avenue Line	168th Street	Canal Street	local
	Chambers Street	High Street	all
IND Fulton Street Line	Jay Street – MetroTech	Euclid Avenue	local

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
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
	Stops weekdays in the peak direction only
Time period details

	Stations		Subway transfers	Connections
Manhattan
	168th Street		A  1  (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line)
	163rd Street – Amsterdam Avenue
	155th Street
	145th Street		A  B  D  (IND Concourse Line)
	135th Street		B
	125th Street		A  B  D	M60 bus to LaGuardia Airport
	116th Street		B
	Cathedral Parkway – 110th Street		B
	103rd Street		B
	96th Street		B
	86th Street		B
	81st Street – Museum of Natural History		B
	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  (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
	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  (IND Eighth Avenue Line at World Trade Center) 2  3  (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line at Park Place)	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)
Brooklyn
	High Street		A
	Jay Street – MetroTech		A  F  R  (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	LIRR Atlantic Branch at Nostrand Avenue
	Kingston–Throop Avenues			B15 bus to JFK Airport
	Utica Avenue		A
	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

External links

• MTA NYC Transit – C Eighth Avenue Local
• "C Train Timetable, Effective June 30, 2013". New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2013-07-10.