169th Street

169th Street is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 169th Street and Hillside Avenue in Queens, it is served by the '' train at all times. This is the closest subway station to the 165th Street Bus Terminal after the closure of the nearby 168th Street BMT Station on Jamaica Avenue in 1977.HistoryThis station was the final stop for the Queens Boulevard Line from the station's 1937 opening to 1950, when the line was extended to Jamaica–179th Street. Trains had used both 169th Street and Parsons Boulevard as terminals. As a terminal, the station was considered inefficient due to being a local station.Before the IND Archer Avenue Line opened in 1988, all Queens Boulevard express trains ran to 179th Street, with the E running express along Hillside Avenue (rush hours only) and the F running local. At that time, this station was considered to be the most congested due to the numerous bus lines that either terminated just outside or at the nearby 165th Street Bus Terminal. The station was ill-equipped to handle the high passenger traffic volume transferring between the buses and subway. As a result, bars were installed to each of the seven 179th Street-bound staircases at platform level to "feed" the passengers into the staircase instead of crowding around it.