181st Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

181st Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address	West 181st Street & Fort Washington Avenue New York, NY 10033
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Washington Heights, Hudson Heights
Coordinates
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	A  (all times)
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: M4, M98 GWB Bus Station
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932 (1932-09-10)
Other entrances/ exits	Fort Washington Avenue & 181st St, Overlook Terrace & 184th St, east side of Fort Washington Avenue
Traffic
Passengers (2014)	3,456,161  4.4%
Rank	149 out of 421
Station succession
Next north	190th Street: A
Next south	175th Street: A
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times
181st Street Subway Station (IND)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
MPS	New York City Subway System MPS
NRHP Reference #	05000233
Added to NRHP	March 30, 2005

181st Street is a station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. It is located on Fort Washington Avenue and 181st Street, one of the main shopping districts of the Hudson Heights neighborhood of Washington Heights, and served by the A train at all times.

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance (Elevator at Bennett Park exit. Note: Platforms are not accessible)
M	Mezzanine	Fare control, station agent, MetroCard vending machines, tunnel to Overlook Terrace at north end
P Platform level	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Northbound	← toward Inwood – 207th Street (190th Street)
	Southbound	→ toward Lefferts Boulevard, Far Rockaway, or Rockaway Park (175th Street) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right

This underground station, opened on September 10, 1932, has two tracks and two side platforms and is deep below the surface due to the area's hills. In fact, the highest natural point on Manhattan Island is in Bennett Park, adjacent to the station exit on Fort Washington Avenue between West 183rd and 185th Streets (there is no West 184th Street there).

Because of the station's depth, escalators lead to 181st Street at the south end, and elevators at the north end of the station carry passengers to the Bennett Park exit. The elevators can be used by pedestrians going between Overlook Terrace and Fort Washington Avenue without paying a fare; a similar situation exists at 190th Street, the next station uptown, as well as at 191st Street, on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line.

Exits

• Exit at Overlook Terrace and West 184th Street
• Exit at Fort Washington Avenue across from Bennett Park, between West 183rd and 185th Streets
• Exit at Fort Washington Avenue at 181st Street

In popular culture

• The station is mentioned in the title song of the Broadway musical In the Heights, where Usnavi says to take the A train "even farther than Harlem to Northern Manhattan and maintain, get off at 181st and take the escalator. I hope you're writing this down I'm gonna test ya later".
• On September 13, 1980, aspiring pianist Eric Kaminsky was robbed and stabbed to death in the station. His murder became the basis for his mother's book The Victim's Song.

Gallery

• 

  Overlook Terrace entrance at West 184th Street

• 

  Fort Washington Avenue entrance between West 183rd and 185th Streets

References

Notes

External links

• nycsubway.org—IND 8th Avenue: 181st Street
• Station Reporter — A Lefferts
• Station Reporter — A Rockaway
• 181st Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Overlook Terrace entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Fort Washington Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View