{"id":44726,"date":"2026-04-08T11:48:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44726"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:48:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:48:33","slug":"fulton-st-subway-maze-has-nyc-riders-lost-fed-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44726","title":{"rendered":"Fulton St subway maze has NYC riders lost, fed up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Lower Manhattan\u2019s Fulton Street subway station is supposed to be a commuter\u2019s dream: a sprawling transit hub linking the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J and Z trains in one central location.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, for many straphangers, it\u2019s a labyrinth.<\/p>\n<p>The station <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/07\/28\/us-news\/fulton-transit-center-ups-security-over-crime-concerns-but-issues-linger-as-mta-legal-battle-rages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stitches together four once-separate systems<\/a> \u2014 the IND 8th Avenue Line, IRT Lexington Avenue Line, BMT Nassau Street Line and IRT Broadway\u2013Seventh Avenue Line \u2014 all funneled through the gleaming Fulton Center hub along Broadway and Nassau Street in FiDi.<\/p>\n<p>On paper, it\u2019s seamless. In practice, it\u2019s more like a choose-your-own-adventure gone wrong, where even seasoned New Yorkers get tripped up.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Lower Manhattan hub connects nine lines \u2014 but riders say finding the Brooklyn-bound J\/Z feels more like a scavenger hunt than a commute. <span class=\"credit\">Paul Martinka<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The most confusing part of this enormous station for city dwellers and tourists alike? Finding the Brooklyn\/Queens-bound J\/Z platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Content creator @worlds.worst.detective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@worlds.worst.detective\/video\/7607576124297678111\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">went viral<\/a> in February when he posted a video of himself offering to help confused riders struggling to find the hated platform.<\/p>\n<p>He wore a sign that read, \u201cLooking for Brooklyn &amp; Queenz JZ? Ask me how to get there,\u201d but the creator found that many locals would rather skip the station entirely or even cancel plans than attempt the wildly confusing transfer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A viral TikTokker confirmed the chaos, showing locals skipping the station \u2014 or even canceling plans \u2014 rather than attempting the transfer. <span class=\"credit\">Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jeffrey Cipriano of Bushwick is one of these people.<\/p>\n<p>Considering only one hard-to-find staircase leads to the Brooklyn\/Queens-bound J\/Z platform, the 34-year-old revealed that he once got lost trying every staircase, practically in tears, before finally locating the platform on his fourth attempt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI avoid the station almost always for this reason \u2014 it\u2019s so confusing and annoying.\u201d The Brooklynite added that he\u2019d pick \u201cwalking 15 minutes over it,\u201d and joked for those brave enough to transfer at Fulton St.: \u201cMy advice is to pray to the train gods that you make the right choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>He\u2019s far from alone in his subway saga.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never been able to find it; it might not even exist,\u201d fellow Brooklyn resident Corena Mixson, 26, agreed.<\/p>\n<p>While once trying to transfer to the Brooklyn-bound J, she told The Post that she \u201cwandered around the station for far too long before giving up\u201d and calling an Uber.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLuckily, I don\u2019t have to travel to that station often. But if I did, I would avoid it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For others, it\u2019s not just one elusive platform \u2014 it\u2019s the entire experience at the station.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many frustrating and confusing parts about navigating Fulton Street station, primarily the four flights of stairs to transfer from the C to the 4 and 5 trains,\u201d New Yorker Morgan McGovern, 26, told The Post. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Blame decades of patchwork expansions and half-finished transit dreams that turned Fulton into a mishmash of subway lines. <span class=\"credit\">Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve gotten lost there many times. I once was so lost that not even locals nearby could give me an answer of how to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Fulton Street station <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/07\/26\/us-news\/controversial-gun-detecting-tech-goes-live-at-nycs-fulton-street-subway-station\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">didn\u2019t become a commuter headache overnight<\/a> as it traces back to 1905, when the original IRT lines first opened \u2014 before decades of add-ons and patchwork expansions turned it<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/03\/12\/us-news\/retail-giant-wants-out-of-mta-transit-center-lease-blames-crime-for-scaring-away-tenants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> into a full-blown maze.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, Gothamites regularly bond over the shared trauma of navigating this head-scratching station. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe J\/Z is like the train to Hogwarts and you need certain magic to make the entrance appear,\u201d one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/AskNYC\/comments\/wojq4r\/does_anyone_else_find_the_signage_at_fulton_st\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">joked<\/a> on Reddit.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Today\u2019s mega-hub, Fulton Center, unified everything in 2014. <span class=\"credit\">Board of Transportation of New York City<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cFulton St station is a Frankenstein combination of multiple lines that were not built with the intention of being connected,\u201d another wrote in the same thread. \u201cIt\u2019s a walk in the park compared to pre-renovation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Transit expert Andrew Lynch, a New York City-based activist and cartographer, argues the chaos isn\u2019t just bad signage \u2014 it\u2019s baked into the system\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWhen Duke Ellington wrote \u2018Take the A Train,\u2019 he wasn\u2019t talking about Brooklyn,\u201d Lynch wrote in a 2023 blog <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanshnookenraggen.com\/_index\/2023\/03\/end-of-the-line-the-unfinished-fulton-st-subway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post<\/a> titled \u201cEnd of the Line: The Unfinished Fulton St Subway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynch noted the line\u2019s evolution into the city\u2019s longest and most complex route.<\/p>\n<p>He explained the Fulton line was originally designed as part of the Independent City-Owned Subway System \u2014 a \u201cmassive passenger sorter\u201d meant to funnel riders from across the city. <\/p>\n<p>But decades of half-finished expansions, shifting priorities and funding shortfalls left it in limbo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sorry state of the A train in Brooklyn wasn\u2019t supposed to be this way,\u201d Lynch wrote, describing the IND Fulton Line as \u201cthe last subway that the city built in the borough of Brooklyn, left unfinished, with dreams of better service long forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And while the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/20\/us-news\/mamdani-shortchanges-mta-in-preliminary-budget-while-pushing-free-buses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MTA, which The Post reached out to for comment, has plans<\/a> to modernize signals and improve service, the fundamental issue remains: the system was never fully completed the way planners envisioned.<\/p>\n<p>So commuters are left doing what New Yorkers do best \u2014 improvising.<\/p>\n<p>For some, that means budgeting extra time. For others, it means avoiding the station entirely.<\/p>\n<p>And for a growing number of frustrated riders, it means making the ultimate New York sacrifice: ditching the subway \u2014 and the plans \u2014 altogether.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/08\/lifestyle\/fulton-st-subway-maze-has-nyc-riders-lost-fed-up\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lower Manhattan\u2019s Fulton Street subway station is supposed to be a commuter\u2019s dream: a sprawling transit hub linking the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}