Franklin Avenue Shuttle

Franklin Avenue Shuttle
Northern end	Franklin Avenue
Southern end	Prospect Park
Stations	4

The Franklin Avenue Shuttle is a shuttle service of the New York City Subway operating in Brooklyn. The north terminus is Franklin Avenue, and is at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street, with a transfer available to the IND Fulton Street Line. The south terminus is Prospect Park, with a transfer available to the BMT Brighton Line.

The shuttle's fleet consists of four 2-car trains of R68 cars from the Avenue X/Stillwell Avenue Yard, two of which are in service at any given time. As opposed to rest of the R68 fleet, the shuttle's information signs are stickers instead of rollsigns and car 2923 uses three-piece windows. The shuttle also runs One Person Train Operation with the motorman also being the conductor. The motorman will go to the opposite end to make another run at each terminal.

History

The current service is co-extensive with the BMT Franklin Avenue Line. It parallels Franklin Avenue, hence its name. It was originally a part of the mainline of the BMT Brighton Beach Line and opened as part of that steam railroad line in 1878. The mainline was shifted in 1920, and the Franklin line was reduced to a full-time shuttle in the early 1960s. The line was fully two tracks (with only one track used at Prospect Park) before the 1998-1999 rehabilitation with the stations deteriorating and the then closed Dean Street visible. There is a connection with the Brighton Line south of Prospect Park. Trains usually pass each other at Botanic Garden, the only 2-track station on the line.

There are currently four stations on this line. Consumers Park was closed in 1928 and replaced by the current Botanic Garden station five blocks to the north. There is a visible clearing at the former station location. Dean Street was closed in 1995 due to low paid fare entrance and fare beating.

In 1981, the MTA proposed abandoning the severely deteriorated line, but due to community opposition, it was completely rebuilt and renovated in 1998–99. During renovation, a temporary shuttle bus and the B48 bus replaced train service.

Originally, the transfer at Fulton Street was made (in both directions) by retrieving a small cardboard transfer ticket from the token booth or a ticket machine, exiting to the street, and entering the other rail line and depositing the ticket in a box and walking onto the platform. With reconstruction, there is now a staircase and elevator between the elevated Franklin Shuttle and the underground Fulton Street Line completely within the paid fare area.

On November 1, 1918, in the worst rapid transit accident to date, a speeding Brooklyn Rapid Transit train crashed inside a new tunnel leading into the Prospect Park station, killing at least 93. This became known as the Brighton Line Accident or Malbone Street Wreck.

Stations

Franklin Avenue Shuttle train of R68s at Prospect Park

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 late nights only
	Stops weekdays only
Time period details

	Stations		Subway transfers	Connections
Brooklyn
	Franklin Avenue		A  C  (IND Fulton Street Line at Franklin Avenue)
	Park Place
	Botanic Garden		2  3  4  5  (IRT Eastern Parkway Line at Franklin Avenue)
	Prospect Park		B  Q  (BMT Brighton Line)

External links

• MTA NYC Transit – Franklin Avenue Shuttle
• MTA NYC Transit – Franklin Avenue Shuttle's schedulePDF – Effective December 4, 2011
• Illustrated article about the line's 1999 reopening
• Forgotten NY's article about the shuttle
• Station Reporters article about the shuttle
• NYCSubway.org's article about the shuttle