Alrighty, so we made it to the end of line #7, at……north-central Queens? Huh, guess the subway doesn’t go out as far as I’d expect it to. Ah well. Welcome to Flushing, some might say “the better Chinatown”, but regardless, here we go!
The subway station is mostly standard, however the only major difference aside from the usual benches, wastebaskets, and (working!) countdown clocks, are that there’s THREE tracks rather than two here. Which, essentially, means “Doors will open on either or both side” is a real possibility here. There’s also a relatively nice-looking mezzanine with OMNY machines. Allegedly, a restroom also exists here but I didn’t see one. Unfortunately, though, the way the station is designed inherently prohibits any extensions of the line – as they’d all require the mezzanine to be razed as between the mezzanine and tracks are some big mean mother bumpers. But, there’s at least bus connections to eastern and northern Queens! Yay! But, that’s not all to this station…
Yes. There’s also an LIRR station here, kinda acting as a super-express of line #7 if you take this towards Grand Central/Penn Station. The station is on an embankment, with elevator for ADA compliance. There’s also ticket machines and shelters, but it really isn’t anything to ring home about. It works well for what it is. Some might say “why would you take it when the subway is there?”, to which I raise the possibility of reverse commuters to Port Washington and Manhasset, and also people who prefer a super-express that stops only at Mets-Willett Point and Woodside before going into Manhattan. Oh yeah, I also almost forgot to note, the departure boards tell you CAR CAPACITY. DAMN, I never seen THAT before on a commuter rail system!
The good: It’s a major destination, has both subway and LIRR access, and is the gateway to eastern Queens and Nassau Co.! The “N”-prefixed routes I raised questions about in a caption? Turns out, those are Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) buses. Yes, an RTA other than the MTA actually serves this station! DAMN. Furthermore, the Port Washington Line is pretty frequent by commuter rail standards, while line #7 is the most frequent subway line in the system.
The bad: The design prohibits extensions inherently! That’s…..really the only negative I can genuinely think of, aside from the piss-scented elevators at the LIRR station.
Nearby points of interest: Flushing, duh! This is probably the more major Chinatown vs. Manhattan’s Chinatown. There’s also buses to Whitestone, Murray Hill, Bayside, and Nassau Co. from here.
Transit connections:
LIRR (Port Washington)
Flushing Line (Line #7)
MTA bus (Q12, Q13, Q15, Q15A, Q16, Q17, Q19, Q20A, Q20B, Q25, Q26, Q27, Q28, Q34, Q44 SBS, Q48, Q50, Q58, Q65, Q66)
NICE (N20G, N20X)
Overall, while the vibes of the station itself are “meh”, if slightly above average, this neighborhood is really vibey, for what it’s worth, and is probably my favorite part of the city. Also, the bus connections are plentiful here.
Rating: 8/10
