East 149 St
East 149 Street is an underground local stop on the IRT Pelham Line in the South Bronx. Like the other intermediate underground stops between 3 Avenue-138 Street and Hunts Point Avenue, the station receives service more service in the reverse-peak direction (when all trains run local) during rush hours and middays, compared to the peak-direction when all trains from Pelham Bay Park in the morning and all trains to Pelham Bay Park in the afternoon skip the station. During peak-direction rush hours and middays only local 6 trains to or from Parkchester stop at the station. The station recently became ADA accessible with the opening of two elevators on September 15, 2023.
The station itself has two side platforms for the 3-track line with the middle track used by <6> Express trains to bypass the station. Each platform has a single exit in the middle of the platform. Turnstiles are directly along each platform and no cross-over or cross-under meaning there is no change of directional transfer.
The uptown platform has regular turnstiles that have been unstaffed since the token booth was removed in 2011 (it had been a marron-colored Customer Assistance Booth in its final years). From here, two streetstairs leads up to the SW and SE corners of Southern Blvd and East 149 Street, the new elevator with a frosted glass design and glass canopy out to the street leads out (to a bulb out in the parking lane) to the SW corner. These streestairs each have small intermediate landings.
The Downtown platform still contains a token booth with two streetstairs leading up each side of the same intersection to NW corner of Southern Blvd and East 149 Street, on a very short block of East 149 Street nearly at the intersection with Jackson Avenue. These streestairs both have small intermediate landings.
The station is built on a gentle curve. The middle half of each platform has a line of yellow columns that say 149 St at regular intervals. The platform walls have a geometric Vickers-era design of Light brown diamonds in a pattern with yellow triangles. These have a brown inner and green outer boarder. There are name tablets at regular intervals with white lettering saying E 149th Street on a brown background with a white inner border and green outer border. In some places these name tablets are set directly in the trimline, interrupting it, otherwise they are mostly freestanding lower on the platform walls.
The ends of each platformget narrower and lack columns. The extreme ends, both at the rear of the train (resulting in the platforms being offset from each other), where they were extended in the early 1960s having a small section of 1960s tiling with tall grey rectangular blocks and a maroon trimline with E 149th St written on it in white.
Photos 1: December 19, 2003; 2-4: February 28, 2005; 5-21: June 10, 2011;
