Videos show short path from subway to arena plaza; straightest shots are Q/B and 2/3 northbound

It's undeniable: public transportation is a very good way to get to the Barclays Center arena, and it must be a dream for the arena developers: it will deliver event-goers to the front door.

Below, some videos shot during yesterday morning's soft opening, tracking the rather brief path--at least, without a crowd--from some subway platforms to the surface, and back.

The concourses are wide, and, as Benjamin Kabak points out in Second Avenue Sagas, this will significantly improve pedestrian safety.

There are only two escalators--will they be going in just one direction before events?

Note that there's direct access to the Q/B/2/3/4/5 lines. Those aiming for the D/N/R have to go underground along a platform and then upstairs. Most likely, unless the weather's horrible, they'll take the streets.

Similarly, those heading for the Long Island Rail Road have a more direct route on the street, and would have to pay a fare--or use an unlimited ride MetroCard--to make it through the subway platforms.

Here's coverage in NY1 of the station opening.

How well will it work?

Photo: Benjamin Kabak

Writes Kabak:

The station entrance itself has clearly been built to handle a large influx of crowds. With two escalators, an elevator and five stair cases to go with an ample number of turnstiles, post-game subway riders will find it easy to get from the arena to their trains.
Once inside the station, a wide concourse with two ramps directs riders to the IRT trains. The ramp heading up leads to the Manhattan-bound local (2/3 trains) while an underpass ferries passengers to the express island platform for the 4 and 5 trains or the Brooklyn-bound local tracks. The staircase to the B and Q train platform is right around the corner. In fact, this station could improve the transfer between the IRT and BMT as the walk from the back of the local 2 or 3 platform to the lower level BMT Brighton platform is much shorter. I do worry that with only two small staircases leading down to the rear of the B/Q platform, crowds could build up after events.

(Some lingering questions: why didn't the MTA ever send out an RFP for a project that could make use of those dormant stairs? What about the rest of the promised public benefit: development of the Vanderbilt Yard? And wasn't there supposed to be a tax-producing office building here, with an atrium, the Urban Room, to house the station?)

First video: Q/B

From the Q/B platform upstairs to the arena plaza, with the oculus partly working. This is a straight shot: up and out.



Second video: 2/3 northbound

The walk to the 2/3 northbound platform is even more straightforward: an easy walk up a ramp. The video begins at the arena plaza.




Third video: 4/5 and 2/3 southbound

By contrast, the walk to the 4/5 platform and to the 2/3 southbound platform requires arenagoers to go down before they go up. There's no nearby 4/5 stop, but arenagoers traveling from the north on the 2/3 might wind up going one stop further to Bergen Street, where it's an easy walk upstairs.



Circulation underground

Schematic from Final EIS

Schematic from Final EIS