OH SHIT, WE’RE IN NEW YORK CITY?! Yes! We’re in NYC! And I’ll be doing not one but SEVERAL station entries on stuff in NYC. Because I’m working my way south down into the core of Manhattan Island (henceforth simply Manhattan), I’ll be starting with Fordham (even though this was in the early afternoon and I did four stations before this chronologically). So, with that out of the way, welcome to the Bronx!
The station is located on its namesake road (Fordham Rd.), and is also named Fordham-East 190th St. on timetables. However, nobody mentions East 190th St. when mentioning this station, not even Metro-North on station signage, so it’s just gonna be “Fordham” for this entry. Naming is gonna get a little messy for NYC, so there’s gonna be an entry about that too. Stay tuned. Anyways, I digress. I walked from Fordham Rd. station (the one at the intersection of Jerome Ave., not at Grand Concourse) and got lunch before coming here, and the area’s pretty freakin’ dense. You have shopping plazas everywhere and in general, it’s just so damn lively. I vibe with it, honestly. You also have Fordham University next door as well. Outside are some BlueBi- oh, they’re called Citibikes here? Sorry, force of habit. Outside are CitiBikes, bus connections to both the MTA bus network and Bee-Line’s 62. In fact, there’s even signage pointing to the “Bronx Zoo Bus” (the Bx9 to West Farms Square)
Anyways, the station itself! The station has a historic headhouse that’s still intact, has a small indoor waiting area with ticket office, vending machines, and ticket machines. There’s also exits to the platform directly from outside. The platforms are also pretty standard, but they go REALLY FAR. Or, at least, they feel very long. In reality, they’re 800ft long like your standard MBTA full high-level platform. There isn’t really much in the way of heated waiting areas down here, but why would you need that when the station headhouse is open? Elevators, of course, also exist for accessibility. Yay! This is actually pretty freakin’ good. I must admit, though, I find it amusing the inbound platform’s signage reads “To New York” as if the Bronx isn’t New York.
The good: It’s in the middle of the freakin’ Bronx! It has all the amenities one would reasonably need (maybe aside from restroom? I didn’t see one…). Furthermore, it’s around a lot of shopping and is next door to Fordham University. Neat! There’s also plenty of bus connections to both Bee-Line and the MTA, and even Select Bus.
The bad: The platforms underneath the headhouse can feel a little dingy… Also, the hike to the subway stations on Grand Concourse and Jerome Ave. can be a bit annoying at times. I also didn’t notice any bus shelters for the bus connections. Boooooo.
Nearby points of interest: There’s a lot of shopping nearby, along with Fordham University! The New York Botanical Garden is also close by, however there’s a stop closer to that.
Transit connections:
Metro-North (Harlem, New Haven)
MTA bus (Bx9, Bx12, Bx12-SBS, Bx15, Bx17, Bx22, Bx41, Bx41-SBS)
Bee-Line (60, 61, 62)
Overall, it’s a really good station in all honesty. Sure, some things could use better signage, but all things considered it’s not bad, and it’s good that I started the NYC section of this blog on a good note. 😀 I also dig the vintage headhouse interior as well.
Rating: 7.5/10
