Bergen Street
Bergen Street is the first stop on the short Smith Street Subway, where the G train-Crosstown Line joins the F train for what was originally three stops to its terminal at Smith-9th Streets that became eight stops to Church Avenue after service was extended in 2009. The open portion of the station feels like a typical IND local stop with two side platforms on a two-track line with no mezzanine so exits are directly on the platforms. Passengers trying to get between G train stations and F train stations in Manhattan cannot transfer here since there is no free crossover or under and must continue to Carroll Street before they can double-back and transfer.
There are exits at either end of the station. The northern end has turnstiles on either platform and streetstairs up to Bergen and Smith Streets, the Manhattan/Queens-bound platform up to the NE and SE corners, Coney Island-bound to the NW and SW corners. The turnstiles on the Coney Island-bound platform are no longer staffed with the token booth closed and removed in 2011.
The southern end of the platform has only unstaffed High Entrance and Exit Turnstiles (formerly a part time booth on the Manhattan/Queens-bound platform, removed and modified in 2002, with the Coney Island-bound platform exit only) and exits to Warren Street and Smith Street. The Manhattan-bound platform is up to the only the NE corner, while the Coney Island-bound platform leads up to the NW corner, with a former slabbed over staircase to the NE corner. There are MVMs present only at the entrance to the Manhattan-bound platform, none on the Coney Island-bound side.
The station was renovated in the early 1990s and was retiled using an unusual light green boarder with a dark green solid portion trim, name tablets with both a green boarder and green center and white text, along with an unusual trimline at the bottom of the platform walls, and light green squares separating the now tiled over advertising panels. There is now no more of the standard Bergen white text on black tile beneath the station's trim. Each platform has columns that have been painted green. As far back as 2003 some of the tiling from the renovation job has fallen off, revealing the original trimline beneath.
On the platforms one will notice some large silver doors, one in the middle of each platform and one by the Bergen Street entrance. These lead to closed staircases down to the station's now abandoned lower-level for the line's two express tracks. This closed level of the station had two side platforms as well and was closed for regular service in 1976 when it was realized there was no way to practically have express service (with the G local and the F as express) because people didn't want to lose their one seat ride to Manhattan, and have to climb an additional flight of stairs during rush hour to transfer for passengers at the Carroll, Smith-9th and 4 Avenue stations. The 1990s renovation completely abandoned the lower-level with all the wall tiles removed. A fire in a relay room in 1999 made the express tracks mostly unusable until it was rebuilt with work being completed in 2008.
The platform which is currently visible from the 2 per peak direction rush hour “Coney Island Flyer” <F> special Express trains that skip the station. These trains were instituted in 2019 (saving up to 7 minutes of travel time) and run non-stop from 7 Avenue to Jay Street. This lower-level platform is mostly dark, looks clearly abandoned and has all of its tiling removed. The only signs are a few exit signs. North of the station, these Express tracks lead directly to Jay Street and the Rutgers Street tubes, the local tracks lead directly to Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets and the Crosstown Line, Regular F local trains use a set of ramp tracks that switch off the express tracks and onto the local tracks. This means that G trains can only access the local tracks and can't switch onto the Express tracks until just before the 4th Avenue Station.
Photos 1: June 26, 2003; 2-7: June 5, 2009; 8-9: August 15, 2007; 10: September 22, 2011; 11-12: November 30, 2011; 13-15: November 1, 2012; 16: March 25, 2013; 17 & 18: May 9, 2013; 19-27: September 4, 2023
