IBX - A new transit link for Brooklyn and Queens

The Interborough Express (IBX) is a new proposed light rail line that will improve transit between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.. The line will run alongside existing freight tracks from the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Brooklyn to Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. The MTA is currently conducting design meetings focusing on station design, rolling stock options, and urban planning around the stations. The agency has not yet announced an anticipated completion date.

Though the new line will not go into Manhattan, it will add better connections from neigborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens to Manhattan. For example, someone going from Middle Village in Queens to the west side of Manhattan by subway currently has to take the M from Metropolitan Avenue which runs south into Brooklyn and then across the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan before cutting across to 6th Avenue. From 57th Street on 6th Avenue, the M line then goes over to 63rd Street where it turns back east to go back into Queens via Roosevelt Island, with 21st Street/Queensbridge being the first stop in Queens coming from Manhattan. The IBX will stop at Roosevelt Avenue which currently serves the 7, R, M, F, and E trains, all of which go directly into Manhattan along 42nd and 63rd streets. Therefore, a trip from that part of Manhattan to Middle Village will be considerably quicker. The IBX will also connect with the LIRR at Atlantic Avenue and Woodside, providing easier access from Queens to Long Island. The entire trip on the IBX from Roosevelt Avenue to Brooklyn Army Terminal will be 32 minutes. There are 18 stations planned on the new IBX line, 13 of which will provide transfers to 17 existing subway lines. The subway lines that it will connect with are the: A, C, E, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 5, 7, B, D, F, M, J, Z, L. It will also provide transfers to 50 plus bus routes.

While the fare for the IBX is yet determined, it will most likely be the same cost as the subway or bus and will most likely be incorporated into the OMNY system. Transfers between the IBX and the subway or bus will be the same as the current transfer system between subway and bus, meaning that any transfer between the IBX and a subway or bus will be free within two hours of exiting the IBX station and tapping again for the subway or bus. It is not known yet whether all IBX stations will be directly integrate with existing subway stations, so there is a possibility that some stations will require you to exit and then reenter the subway station.

All new stations will be ADA compliant above existing standards and all integrations with existing subway stations will be ADA compliant, including renovations to those stations. There is still consideration about whether new stations will be below ground or at street level. It is likely that they will be slightly below ground as the existing freight line is trenched. Customer input for such options as way finding between connections, lighting and seating in and around the stations is being requested.