J/Z (New York City Subway service)

The J Nassau Street Local and Z Nassau Street Express are two rapid transit services in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Their route emblems, or "bullets", are colored . The services use the BMT Nassau Street Line in Lower Manhattan.

The J operates 24 hours daily, while the Z is a variant to the J and operates only in the peak direction during rush hours; both services operate between Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer in Jamaica, Queens, and Broad Street in Lower Manhattan. When the Z operates, the two services form a skip-stop pair between Sutphin Boulevard–JFK and Myrtle Avenue/Broadway and also make express stops between Myrtle and Marcy Avenues in Brooklyn. Midday J service also makes express stops between Myrtle and Marcy Avenues and all stops along the full route other times.

The J/Z's current skip-stop pattern was implemented in 1988. The J/Z is derived from four routes: The JJ/15 between Broad or Chambers Streets in Lower Manhattan and 168th Street in Queens The KK between 57th Street/Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and 168th Street in Queens The QJ between Brighton Beach (Coney Island August 1968–January 1973) in Brooklyn and 168th Street in Queens The 14 between Broad or Chambers Streets in Lower Manhattan and Canarsie–Rockaway Parkway in Brooklyn

History Before the Chrystie Street Connection

The Jamaica Line – then known as the Broadway Elevated – was one of the original elevated lines in Brooklyn, completed in 1893 from Cypress Hills west to Broadway Ferry in Williamsburg. It was then a two-track line, with a single local service between the two ends, and a second east of Gates Avenue, where the Lexington Avenue Elevated merged. This second service later became the 12, and was eliminated on October 13, 1950, with the abandonment of the Lexington Avenue Elevated.

The second major service on the Broadway Elevated ran between Canarsie and Williamsburg via the BMT Canarsie Line, started on July 30, 1906, when the Broadway and Canarsie tracks were connected at East New York. As part of the Dual Contracts, an extension from Cypress Hills east to Jamaica was completed on July 3, 1918, a third track was added west of East New York, and express trains began running on it in 1922.

The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation numbered its services in 1924, and the Canarsie and Jamaica services became 14 and 15. Both ran express during rush hours in the peak direction west of East New York. Express trains would only stop at Myrtle Avenue, Essex Street and Canal Street, before making local stops afterwards. Additional 14 trains, between Eastern Parkway or Atlantic Avenue on the Canarsie Line and Manhattan provided rush-hour local service on Broadway.Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, Map and Guide to BMT Rapid Transit Division, 1924 When the 14th Street–Eastern Line and Canarsie Line were connected on July 14, 1928, the old Canarsie Line service was renamed the Broadway (Brooklyn) Line, providing only weekday local service over the Broadway Elevated west of Eastern Parkway. The Atlantic Avenue trips remained, and rush-hour trains continued to serve Rockaway Parkway (Canarsie), though they did not use the Broadway express tracks.Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, Map and Guide to BMT Rapid Transit Division, 1931 The 14 was later cut back to only rush-hour service.

On the Manhattan end, the first extension was made on September 16, 1908, when the Williamsburg Bridge subway tracks opened. Broadway and Canarsie trains were extended to the new Essex Street terminal, and further to Chambers Street when the line was extended on August 4, 1913. When the BMT Nassau Street Line was completed on May 30, 1931, the 15 was extended to Broad Street, and the 14 was truncated to Canal Street.

Weekday midday 14 Broadway-Brooklyn Local and midday 15 Jamaica Express service was discontinued on June 26, 1952. Some 14 trains began terminating at Crescent Street on the Jamaica Line in 1956.

Manhattan-bound rush hour skip-stop service between Jamaica and East New York was implemented on June 18, 1959, with trains leaving 168th Street on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Express 15 trains served "A" stations, while the morning 14 became the Jamaica Local, running between Jamaica and Canal Street, and stopped at stations marked "B".New York City Transit Authority, Official New York City Subway Map and Station Guide, 1959 Express 15 trains continued to run express between Eastern Parkway and Canal Street, making only stops at Myrtle Avenue, Essex Street, and Canal Street. These stations were as follows: All trains: 168th Street • Sutphin Boulevard • 75th Street–Elderts Lane • Eastern Parkway • Myrtle Avenue • Essex Street • Canal Street "A" stations: 168th Street • Sutphin Boulevard • 121st Street • 111th Street • Woodhaven Boulevard • 85th Street–Forest Parkway • Elderts Lane • Crescent Street • Cleveland Street • Eastern Parkway "B" stations: 168th Street • 160th Street • Sutphin Boulevard • Queens Boulevard • Metropolitan Avenue • 104th Street • Elderts Lane • Cypress Hills • Norwood Avenue • Van Siclen Avenue • Alabama Avenue • Eastern Parkway

Letters were assigned to most BMT services in the early 1960s. The BMT Jamaica services retained their numbers until November 1967. The 15 became the J (express), and the 14 became the JJ.Joseph Cunningham and Leonard DeHart, A History of the New York City Subway System Part 2: Rapid Transit in Brooklyn, 1977

Chrystie Street Connection to 1977

When the Chrystie Street Connection opened on November 26, 1967, many services were changed. The two local services – the #15 (non-rush hour Jamaica local) and #14 (rush hour Broadway-Brooklyn local) – continued as the JJ without any major routing changes. Thus non-rush hour JJ trains ran between Jamaica and Broad Street, while morning rush hour JJ trains ran to Canal Street, and afternoon rush hour JJ trains ran between Canal Street and Atlantic Avenue or Crescent Street. The rush-hour express J was combined with the weekday Brighton Local via tunnel to form the weekday QJ, running between Jamaica and Brighton Beach via the Jamaica Line (express during rush hours in the peak direction), BMT Nassau Street Line, Montague Street Tunnel, and BMT Brighton Line (local). Finally, the was a special peak-direction rush-hour service, running local on the Jamaica Line in the AM, express in the PM, Nassau Street Line, Montague Street Tunnel, and BMT Fourth Avenue Line to 95th Street in Fort Hamilton. This service served two purposes: (1) early AM service from Jamaica prior to the first QJ trains got the equipment to 95th Street in Brooklyn in time for the AM rush, and obviated the need to have early service to Brighton Beach; and (2) in the evening, trains returned from 95th Street in Brooklyn to Jamaica, allowing the QJ to avoid having to run on the Brighton Line in the Manhattan direction post-rush hour.

The next change was made on July 1, 1968, when the Chrystie Street Connection tracks to the Williamsburg Bridge opened. A new service, KK, was instituted that provided skip-stop service from 168th Street/Jamaica along with the QJ in both AM and PM rush hours; because of the limited skip-stop time spans, other terminals for the KK included Rockaway Parkway, Atlantic Avenue, Eastern Parkway and 111th Street. The KK provided service to 57th Street/6th Avenue, as the B served 168th Street-Washington Heights during rush hours; during non-rush hours, the B began serving 57th Street/6th Avenue. The MM (depicted with a dark green bullet on R27 signage) had been proposed as a supplement to the KK as a local to 57th Street–Sixth Avenue, but was kept as the M and extended from Chambers Street to Broad Street. The was eliminated, being cut north of Chambers Street and relabeled as an RR variant, and the off-hour JJ was relabeled QJ. Less than two months later, on August 18, the QJ was extended to Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue,New York City Transit Authority, Rapid Transit Service Changes, 1968 and the D cut back to Brighton Beach during QJ operating hours in order to avoid switching delays at Brighton Beach. On July 14, 1969, afternoon skip-stop service on the KK and QJ was discontinued due to rider complaints.

On January 2, 1973, the QJ, which was the longest route in the transit system, was cut back to Broad Street and redesignated the J; and the was extended to Coney Island in its place. At the same time, the KK was cut back to Eastern Parkway from 168th Street and renamed the K, and both skip-stop patterns were carried out by alternate J trains between 7:25 a.m. and 8:12 a.m.. J trains making A stops trains stopped at 168th Street, Sutphin Boulevard, Metropolitan Avenue, 111th Street, Woodhaven Boulevard, Elderts Lane, Cypress Hills, Norwood Avenue, Van Siclen Avenue, and Eastern Parkway, while trains making B stops stopped at 168th Street, 160th Street, Queens Boulevard, 121st Street, 102nd Street, Forest Parkway, Elderts Lane, Crescent Street, Cleveland Street, and Eastern Parkway. All J trains would run express between Eastern Parkway and Essex Street between 6:00 a.m. and 9:05 a.m. from 168th Street, and from 3:35 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. leaving Essex Street.

The K was discontinued entirely on August 30, 1976, eliminating the J skip-stop and express service east of Myrtle Avenue in the evening rush hour. Skip-stop service was retained toward Manhattan during the morning rush hour. One-way express service remained west of Myrtle Avenue, for the M was switched to the local tracks at that time. On January 24, 1977, as part of a series of NYCTA service cuts to save $13 million, many subway lines began running shorter trains during middays. As part of the change, J trains began running with four cars between 9:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. On May 2, 1977, J trains began running in skip-stop service between Eastern Parkway and Myrtle Avenue. Chauncey Street and Gates Avenue were designated as A stops, while Halsey Street and Kosciusko Street were designated as B stops.

The following table summarizes the changes that were made between 1959 and 1976. Morning rush-hour local Morning rush-hour express Afternoon rush-hour local Afternoon rush-hour express Other local Other express 1959–1967 14/KK 168th Street – Canal Street, "B" stops inbound 15/J 168th Street – Broad Street, "A" stops inbound 14/KK Crescent Street, Atlantic Avenue, or Rockaway Parkway – Canal Street 15/J 168th Street – Broad Street 15/JJ 168th Street – Broad Street 10/M Metropolitan Avenue – Chambers Street, rush hour only (west of Myrtle Avenue) 1967–1968 JJ 168th Street – Canal Street, "B" stops inbound QJ 168th Street – Brighton Beach, "A" stops inbound JJ Crescent Street or Atlantic Avenue – Canal Street QJ 168th Street – Brighton Beach JJ 168th Street – Broad StreetQJ 168th Street – Brighton Beach, middays and early eveningsRJ 168th Street – Bay Ridge, rush hour non-peak direction only M Metropolitan Avenue – Chambers Street, rush hour only (west of Myrtle Avenue) 1968–1974 KK 168th Street – 57th Street, "B" stops inbound QJ 168th Street – Brooklyn, "A" stops inbound KK 168th Street – 57th Street, "B" stops outbound QJ 168th Street – Brooklyn, "A" stops outbound QJ 168th Street – Broad Street or Brooklyn M Metropolitan Avenue – Chambers Street, rush hour and (from 1969) middays and early evenings (west of Myrtle Avenue) 1974–1976 K Eastern Parkway – 57th Street J 168th Street – Broad Street, two inbound patterns, one for "A" stops and one for "B" stops K Eastern Parkway – 57th Street J 168th Street – Broad Street, two outbound patterns, one for "A" stops and one for "B" stops J 168th Street – Broad Street M Metropolitan Avenue – Coney Island, rush hour, middays and early evenings (west of Myrtle Avenue)

1977 to present Archer Avenue Line