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8 was a designation given to twoNew York City Subway services. It was first used by theBrooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation for itsAstoria Line from 1917 to 1949. The ex-Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)Third Avenue El subsequently used the designation between 1967 and 1973.

v t e 8 (BMT)
Legend
Astoria Line (1917–1949)
Ditmars Avenue Hoyt Avenue Grand Avenue Broadway Washington Avenue Beebe Avenue Queensboro Bridge Plaza Queensboro Line

R12 end rollsign

The8 label was first used for theAstoria Line, which opened on February 1, 1917, as an extension of theQueensboro Line (now part of theFlushing line) fromQueensboro Plaza. TheCorona Line (now also part of the Flushing Line) had already been built as another branch from Queensboro Plaza; when the Astoria Line opened half the trains ran to each terminal. At the time, the Queensboro Line ended on the other side of theSteinway Tunnel atGrand Central.

Tracks opened over theQueensboro Bridge on July 23, 1917, allowingelevated trains of theIRT Second Avenue Line to operate to Queensborough Plaza and then over either the Astoria or Corona line. Once this link opened, all elevated trains went to Astoria, and all subway trains to Corona, but this was modified by 1923, with both divisions running on each line. On March 22, 1926, the Queensborough Line (and Astoria service) was extended west toFifth Avenue, and it was completed west toTimes Square on March 14, 1927.

BMTshuttles (also labeled internally as8) began using the Astoria Line on April 8, 1923, with a transfer to theBroadway Line at Queensborough Plaza. This joint operation ended on October 17, 1949, and all IRT trains started operating to Flushing (where the Corona Line had been extended in 1928) and all BMT trains operated to Astoria. The numbers were only publicly used starting in 1948, so the public only knew the Astoria Line's IRT services as the 8 for about a year. Direct service between Astoria and Times Square ended on July 24, 1949.^[1]

Third Avenue Local
Gun Hill Road in 1984
Northern end	Gun Hill Road
Southern end	149th Street
Stations	15
Started service	November 26, 1967; 58 years ago (1967-11-26)
Discontinued	April 28, 1973; 52 years ago (1973-04-28)
Route map Show interactive map Legend Gun Hill Road IRT White Plains Road Line Gun Hill Road–210th Street 204th Street Bedford Park Boulevard–200th Street Fordham Road 183rd Street 180th Street 177th Street–East Tremont Avenue 174th Street Claremont Parkway 169th Street 166th Street 161st Street 156th Street 149th Street IRT White Plains Road Line Show route diagram

When theChrystie Street Connection opened in late 1967, theNew York City Transit Authority assigned labels to all services. The only remaining IRTelevated line, theIRT Third Avenue Line inthe Bronx, was too long to be ashuttle, so was assigned the number 8, which had been unused since 1949. This service, running between149th Street andGun Hill Road, ran until April 28, 1973, when the Third Avenue Line closed. It wasreplaced by theBx55 bus route until 2013, when most of the former route started being served by theBx15 Limited. The 8 bullet was marked only on maps and station signs, never on subway cars, which instead displayedSHUTTLE and the destination.^[2]

Currentrollsigns have an 8 (as well as a10 and a12) in a forest green circle, the same color as the4,5 and6, theIRT Lexington Avenue Line services.^[3]

In 2020, the MTA used a hypothetical 8 designation as an express service on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line in a simulation of proposed infrastructure improvements to reduce the impact of the bottleneck that is Nostrand Avenue Junction as part of the IRT Capacity Study. As part of the hybrid operating plan, 3 and 5 trains would switch termini in Brooklyn, though the 5 would run express on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line to Crown Heights–Utica Avenue. This change would eliminate the need for 5 trains from the Eastern Parkway Line express tracks to merge onto the local tracks to go to or from the Nostrand Avenue Line, allowing for reduced congestion and increased service. To cover local service between Franklin Avenue and Utica Avenue, a new service, the 8, would be operated, running betweenWakefield–241st Street in the Bronx andNew Lots Avenue in Brooklyn, with a headway of ten minutes during the peak. The study recommended the infrastructure be built that would allow for the service's creation, including the installation of new crossovers north of Utica Avenue, but did not explicitly propose the new service.^[4]

The MTA's 20-year needs assessment in 2023 further studied the recommended service changes for the Nostrand Avenue Junction, including the creation of an 8 service, and concluded that their implementation would yield "significant benefits."^[5]

• BMT 8, theBMT service that operated in tandem with this service until 1949
• Unused New York City Subway service labels

• "New Astoria Line Opened".The New York Times. February 2, 1917. p. 14.
• "Subway Link over Queensboro Bridge".The New York Times. July 22, 1917. p. 31.
• "Additional Subway Service to Borough of Queens".The New York Times. April 8, 1923. p. RE1.
• "Fifth Av. Station of Subway Opened".The New York Times. March 23, 1926. p. 29.
• "New Queens Subway Opened to Times Sq".The New York Times. March 15, 1927. p. 1.
• "Direct Subway Runs to Flushing, Astoria".The New York Times. October 15, 1949. p. 17.
• "Third Ave. El Reaches the End of Its Long, Blighted, Nostalgic Line".The New York Times. April 29, 1973. p. 24.

• Defunct New York City Subway services

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