Franklin Avenue Shuttle

We refer to this as the sh*ttle because it is the worse mode of transportation in NYC. You can guarantee an additional 10 mins. at least to your travel time if you have to take this thing. And during the winter it would behoove you to just find another way to get to your destination. It stops on the tracks for 15 – 20, sometimes 30 minutes to «clear the tracks» even on non-​snow days. I hate this thing! Even though Brooklynites like to pretend Brooklyn’s the eye of NYC, this reminds anyone that forgot that Brooklyn’s just another outer borough.

I love the Franklin Avenue Shuttle! It’s a dinky little train, but it’s the quickest way to get from Bed-​Stuy/​Crown Heights to areas south — Ditmas Park, Midwood, Coney Island. It runs frequently during rush hour, when they operate 2 trains, so it’s never more than 2 stops away. Even during non-​peak times, when there is only one train running, it just goes back and forth along its 4 stops, so it’s never long in coming. I only wish they would extend it out to Lafayette and connect it to the G train too!

Slow as hell on the weekends. One of those things that you thought was a good idea at the time but turned out to be not all that good. I also hate how much of a pain it is to get an A/​C from one direction to the other. You’ll have to be committed to going to Manhattan or further into Brooklyn; no time to rush to the platform where the train is showing up.
One good thing I can say about this one, though is that you will get phone reception in the Franklin Avenue subway station on the A/​C platform.

So far, the Shuttle is pretty good. I have been taking it for years. It arrives on time and it does arrive rather quickly as well, which makes me miss it and have to wait another 10 minutes for the next one to come. Also, the train operator flirts with me quite often but I do appreciate the shuttle. I really do.

My review is on the C line
This is my most useful discovery in Clinton Hill thus far! Now, rides that use to run me anyway between $ 8.00 — $ 12. is a more affordable $ 2.50!!!
The platform seems a bit dismal but I’ve never seen litter here and even though on Unilocal the station ALWAYS says closed, it really never is.
I’m yet to try the actual S shuttle but the C train is my baby. I get to downtown Brooklyn, across the way Brooklyn and the City most times without leaving the C and many times with just one quick change.
The C line is pretty realiable and I’ve never waited more than 5 mins for it. My traveling hours so far have been between 10am-​8pm.
The A train also passes through this station but it seems to be an express line as I’ve never been a witness to it stopping here.
I’m always excited about my departure when I get to this station most likely on business or an adventure and always so happy on my arrival home. Yes, as much time as I spend in Clinton Hill and Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn is really starting to feel like home.
The End.

Thank the gods for the Franklin Avenue Shuttle; there’s almost no other way to get from the 2 train to the A – in Brooklyn, anyway.
Public transportation can be convoluted and nightmarish – and the Franklin Avenue station is no exception – but I agree with a few other reviewers: a little two-​car toy train on a short length of track, and you’re there!
I also didn’t realize this was such an historic line – built in 1899. I’ve taken it usually on weekend evenings and didn’t fear for my life. I love Brooklyn.

The shuttle is a convenient way to get from downtown Brooklyn to points deeper into the borough without outside transferring. It’s a little bit slow but if you must-​do it. The Franklin Ave station has a foul odor in the summer though.

What’s crazy is that I didn’t even know about the Franklin Shuttle until I moved to the Clinton Hill/​Bed-​Stuy area two years ago. This train though small, is so necessary. I’m not going to say that it runs seamlessly and all the time, but it’s always been there when I need it. Sometimes I’ll wait a little longer than I’d like to, but it’s NYC people. I’m pretty sure you live here, because of the subway system.
S is a great way to get to parts of prospect park, and a way to get access to trains you otherwise would not. Coming back from the city late at night, it’s nice to know that I have the shuttle to take me home if I can’t find a direct route or transfer.
Give it a shot if you’re around, but be aware that the platforms are outside (cold during winters).

Without this train, I’d have to either drive to an A/​C train station or I’d have to take a train into the City to transfer. This train saves me the headache. Although, I have to take 3 trains, its usually a 30 minute commute with only 2 – 3 stops on each train, which isn’t bad at all. The Shuttle runs frequently — I’ve never waited for more than 10 minutes regardless of the time of my commute — and it’s almost always has a uniformed Police Officer in the station, so I feel safe.

The Franklin Shuttle has got to be one of the best-​kept secrets of the entire NYC transit system. Unless you’re in a very particular part of Brooklyn and need to get to another very particular part of Brooklyn you may never even realize it exists. However, with it’s tiny 2-​car operation and it’s mostly above ground service, combined with the fact that it goes to the Park, make for a charming little train.
I love the fact that it runs diagonally above some great old housing stock in the Crown Heights/​Bed Stuy vicinity. I also love the fact that this little stub of a subway line was slated for destruction, but the public outcry was enough to reahbilitate it rather than scrap it altogether.
Legend has it that at one time you could continue on the Franklin all the way to Brighton Beach, a trip that now requires a transfer. In addition, the Shuttle used to be home to the least used and most decrepit station in the entire system; the now-​dismantled Dean Street stop.

This train is close to my job and the area is ghetto to say the least. I took the shuttle quite some time ago and it was awful. Even the police presence doesn’t help. I’d say avoid it if you can. Also pay attention to what is happening around you. Check the schedule or you might get a surprise.

Not many people see the value of this train and I admit, I didn’t see it until recently. I live off the G «is for glacial» train and work in Prospect Heights. I also have to work on the south side of prospect park, off the B & Q line. Due to a recent injury that has kept me off my bike, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle makes it easy for me to transfer to a myriad of trains, A, C, 2, 3, 4, 5, B & Q, with relative ease and efficiency. This train is ideal for Brooklyn commuters transferring from one side of Brooklyn to the other.
Just two cars long, two separate trains run in either direction. Intervals are about 10 minutes each way. There are only four stops, so there is little room for delay. Much better than the equivalent bus and it continues to run in the snow (unlike the bus).
Riding the shuttle is also really pleasant, you get some nice elevated views of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Bed Stuy before going underground near Franklin Ave. The trench portion before the park can be really pretty in the fall.
If they could find a way to connect the shuttle with the G, this would easily be the most valuable train in all of Brooklyn.

S as in Sordid and Seedy.
— — — — — — — — — — — — –
11 PM on a Monday night in December. It’s cold and it’s windy. First day of snow of the winter. More like a dusting than a real snow. The wind lifts up tall plumes of white sand. I’m standing by the platform, watching the white plumes whirl by against the yellow lights of the train station.
I feel cold.
A man comes by. He stops in front of me, a couple of feet away. He’s holding a Manila envelope under his arm. He’s smiling. He carefully opens the envelope, and sloooowly takes out a magazine.
He comes closer, and starts flipping the magazine at me. Page after page. It’s a dirty magazine called «Voluptuous». It features women with HUGE boobs. Naked.
All this time the man is mumbling something absolutely unintelligible to me. I try to look straight at the empty tracks, but the man keeps the magazine under my face and flips one page after the other at me.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
Systematically.
Painfully.
«Sorry, man. Not interested», I say a couple of times.
That doesn’t seem to deter him much. He keeps flipping the pages while holding the magazine under my nose. Mumbling and smiling. Smiling and mumbling.
He is definitely happy.
A bit too happy for my own comfort: I don’t understand what he wants from me. Is he just happy to share the magazine with me? Is he trying to sell me the magazine?
Eventually the train comes. We board the same car. By now he has given up on me, but starts flipping the magazine in front of other men on the train. First one, then another one.
Finally, as the train slowly leaves the station, a man seems to pay attention. This guy starts laughing loudly, and the man with the magazine goes to sit besides him. Now the magazine man is grinning in excitement. I still don’t understand what he’s trying to achieve.
«I AM MORE LIKE AN ASS MAN, YOU KNOW?» Says the second man.
«THIS IS MORE LIKE AN APPETIZER FOR ME», Ass-​man goes.
«AN APPETIZER», repeats Ass-​man, while glancing at the magazine.
«YOU KNOW BOOBALICIOUS? BOOBALICIOUS MAGAZINE! THAT’S ANOTHER FINE PUBLICATION», says Ass-​man.
We reach my stop.
Don’t you love the fact that the stops on the S train are so short?
— — — — — — — — –
Only on the S train in Brooklyn.

The train line is DANGEROUS.
AVOID this TRAIN and its STATIONS especially during the HOURS of 2−5PM.
I was on the train with my friends parents from Nigeria, and they said why do people act like this in public?
People DONT act like this back home.
LOLOLOL.

The Franklin Avenue Shuttle is cool. It is short, but a historic route. Opened in 1899! Connects with the Brighton Line at Prospect Park at the southern end and Franklin Avenue on the Fulton Street Line at the northern end. There are only 4 stations. Used to be 6. The 5^th one was called «Consumers Park» which is about ¹⁄₃ of the way between Prospect Park and Botanic Garden when going towards Franklin Avenue. The current Botanic Garden station replaced Consumers Park station in 1924. Consumers Park has no platform, but you can guess where it is because there is a big space for it. Only the uptown side has evidence of the station. The other station was called «Dean Street which was closed in 1995 and demolished in 1999. The worst subway accident happened on this line in 1918. The Malbone Street wreck. Very interesting and historic line.

This is one of the few trains spinning the MTA’s web that are very dependable.
I used to live next door to this track, and could hear the train each time it passed, which was actually really helpful on weekday mornings as it allowed me to prepare for the day without having to check the clock since the train was like an alarm clock on a seven minute snooze. And since the trains on this local track run on schedule, I have found that I can finally rely on my iTrans iPhone app listing for this train to be accurate.

The shuttle gets packed full, but the ride is over before you know it so it isn’t really an issue. I wish they would charge less, because it’s strange that I have to pay the same price for taking this shuttle as riding a regular train all the way across Manhattan.

Runs frequently. Hallelujah!
Unfortunately, it is pretty to’ up (=unsightly) but the trip is short so who cares? Despite the short trip, you will still get hit up for cash.

Not to be confused with the 42^nd street S train connecting Grand Central Terminal to Times Square, the Brooklyn S train shoots up and down Franklin Ave in Crown Heights between Fulton St and Eastern Parkway, and is a bona fide NYC subway train!
I’ll admit I had my doubts as to whether the S train did, in fact, exist, since I don’t think I’ve actually met anyone who’s ridden it before. But then yesterday, looking for the best way for my sister and I to get to our dinner destination, there it was: HopStop was telling me to take the S. As skeptical as I was, when entering unknown territory I’m not one to argue with HopStop. So after getting off the C train at Franklin Ave, we climbed several flights of stairs to an outdoor platform (who even knew this was here??) and lo and behold, there it was! The S train! With real people on it! At least, they looked real.
We climbed aboard, and inside it looked just like any other subway car. Orange-​palette seats, steel poles, windows, etc. As the doors closed, they made that familiar ding-​dong sound, and I began to believe. Needless to say, we reached our destination safe and sound. Thank you, S train! I’m sorry I ever doubted you.