Prince Street  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
View of the Downtown platform
Station statistics
Address	Prince Street & Broadway New York, NY 10012
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	SoHo
Coordinates	40°43′27″N 73°59′52″W / 40.724202°N 73.997812°W / 40.724202; -73.997812
Division	B (BMT)[1]
Line	BMT Broadway Line
Services	N  (weekends and late nights) ​   Q  (late nights only) ​   R  (all except late nights) ​   W  (weekdays only)
Transit	NYCT Bus: M55, X27, X28
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	September 4, 1917; 106 years ago (September 4, 1917)[2]
Opposite- direction transfer	No
Traffic
2022	2,673,575[4]  43.4%
Rank	107 out of 423[4]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Eighth Street–New York University N  ​Q  ​R  ​W  via Lexington Avenue–59th Street Canal Street N  ​R  ​W  via Whitehall Street–South Ferry Canal Street N  ​Q  via bridge
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Eighth Street–New York University to Canal Street to Canal Street and Manhattan Bridge
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops weekdays during the day Stops weekends during the day Stops late nights and weekends Stops late nights only

The Prince Street station is a local station on the BMT Broadway Line of the New York City Subway. Located in SoHo, Manhattan, it is served by the R train at all times except late nights, the W train on weekdays, the N train during late nights and weekends, and the Q train during late nights.

The station opened in 1917, had its platforms extended in the late 1960s, and was renovated in the late 1970s and in 2001.

History

Prince Street opened on September 4, 1917, as part of the first section of the BMT Broadway Line from Canal Street to 14th Street–Union Square.^[2] The station's platforms originally could only fit six 67-foot-long (20 m) cars. In 1926, the New York City Board of Transportation received bids for the lengthening of platforms at nine stations on the Broadway Line, including the Prince Street station, to accommodate eight-car trains. Edwards & Flood submitted a low bid of $101,775 for the project.^[5] The platform-lengthening project was completed in 1927, bringing the length of the platforms to 535 feet (163 m).^[6][7]

The city government took over the BMT's operations on June 1, 1940.^[8][9] In the late 1960s, New York City Transit extended the platforms for 10 car trains, and fixed the station's structure and the overall appearance. The station was overhauled in the late 1970s. The original trim lines were replaced with white cinderblock tiles, except for small recesses in the walls, which contained yellow-painted cinderblock tiles. The staircases were repaired and new platform edges were installed. The yellow cinderblock field contained the station-name signs and black text pointing to the exits. The renovation also replaced incandescent lighting with fluorescent lighting.

In 2001, the station received a major overhaul. It included an upgrade of the station for ADA compliance and restoration of the original late 1910s tiling. New York City Transit repaired the staircases, re-tiled the walls, fitted new tiling on the floors, upgraded the station's lights and the public address system, installing ADA yellow safety threads along the platform edge, new signs, and new trackbeds in both directions.^{[citation needed]}

Station layout

G	Street level	Exit/entrance
P Platform level	Side platform
	Northbound local	← toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue (Eighth Street–New York University) ← toward Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard weekdays (Eighth Street–New York University) ← toward Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard late nights/weekends (Eighth Street–New York University) ← toward 96th Street late nights (Eighth Street–New York University)
	Northbound express	← do not stop here
	Southbound express	→ do not stop here →
	Southbound local	← toward Bay Ridge–95th Street (Canal Street/Tunnel) → ← toward Whitehall Street–South Ferry weekdays (Canal Street/Tunnel) → ← toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue via Sea Beach (Canal Street/Bridge weekends, Tunnel late nights) → ← toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue via Brighton late nights (Canal Street/Bridge)
	Side platform

Mosaic and frieze

This underground station has two side platforms and four tracks, the inner two of which are express tracks that do not serve the station. South of Prince Street, there are diamond crossovers between both directional pairs of local and express tracks.^[10] A punch box is located at the south end of the southbound platform to allow weekend N and late-night Q trains to cross the Manhattan Bridge.^[11]

The 2004 artwork, Carrying On, is by Janet Zweig. It uses water jet-cut steel, marble, and slate to create a mural along the entire length (totaling 1,200 feet) of both platforms. The 194 different frames in this frieze detail contain images of New Yorkers from all walks of life. As the title suggests, almost all of the images involve carrying something.

Exits

Fare control for each platform is at platform level. There is no free transfer between directions. Outside of fare control, the northbound platform has one street stair to either eastern corner of Broadway and Prince Street, while the southbound platform has one street stair to either western corner of that intersection.^[12]