Rockaway Park Shuttle - History

History

The Rockaway Shuttle started operating on June 28, 1956. During its early years, it provided essentially non-rush hour and weekend service between Euclid Avenue and either Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue or Rockaway Park – Beach 116th Street. At first, the route did not have an official assigned letter code on maps, although sometimes trains displayed either the A or E route on their rollsign boxes.

Beginning on February 1, 1962, the Rockaway Shuttle was officially lettered on maps and trains as HH. From November 26, 1967 to September 10, 1972, it was colored red, with daytime non-rush hour and weekend service usually available between Rockaway Park and Euclid Avenue or Broad Channel, plus some weekday mid-afternoon service provided between Far Rockaway and Euclid Avenue.

During the late night-early morning hours, service operating to and from Euclid Avenue on the IND Fulton Street Line in Brooklyn was extended between roughly midnight and 6:00 a.m., which were the hours when the A did not run to and from Far Rockaway. At those times, the HH would operate from Euclid Avenue to Rockaway Park, then to Far Rockaway via Hammels Wye, and finally back to Euclid Avenue, thus earning this night owl service the unofficial nickname as Rockaway Round-Robin.

Between September 11, 1972 and August 29, 1976, the shuttle's identifier was known as the E (colored aqua blue), although during rush hours this train was extended all the way to Jamaica – 179th Street on the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens. Afterward, the designation CC (colored green) was used for the shuttle, although during rush hours this train was extended all the way to Bedford Park Boulevard on the IND Concourse Line in the Bronx.

In the 1980s, the shuttle's identifier was changed to H (colored blue) instead of reverting to HH, as the New York City subway system had abolished two-letter designations by then. Prior to 1990, late night A service went to Lefferts Boulevard with no service to Far Rockaway. During this time again, the Rockaway Shuttle ran from Rockaway Park to Far Rockaway, to Euclid Avenue, and finally, back down to Rockaway Park.

In 1993, service was changed. All late night A service traveled to Far Rockaway and service to Lefferts Boulevard was provided by a shuttle to Euclid Avenue. The Rockaway Park Shuttle now ran between Rockaway Park and Broad Channel at all times. Also in 1993, special A service began running from Rockaway Park to Dyckman on the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Inwood, Manhattan, during the morning rush (later Inwood – 207th Street) and from 59th Street – Columbus Circle to Rockaway Park during the evening rush.

Formerly, some maps had shown the current S service in blue, but this had never been used on trains. Since May 2004, the official system map shows the Rockaway Park Shuttle as carrying a grey bullet. Recent prints, however, depicted the service itself in blue, but has been changed back to grey, as of January 2012. In order to distinguish it from the other shuttles, NYCT Rapid Transit operations still refers to it internally as the H.

The Rockaway Park Shuttle was suspended following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, due to track being washed out between Broad Channel and Howard Beach. On November 20, a temporary free shuttle was opened to replace the Rockaway portion of the A service. It uses the H designation for the first time since 1993.