21st Street Queensbridge F Station

Straight shot into Manhattan from lower Queens. If your like me and hate paying a fortune for a hotel… you can spend a smaller fortune to stay in queens. You can walk a but further to the N/​Q/​R (might have letters wrong) trains… but F is easier I think.
and your into Queens in 3 seconds. The Queens F stop doesn’t have multiple floors… just shoot down the stairs and your waiting for the train.
4 stars cause personally I think NYC subways are dirty. broken and dirty tiles. Having lived in London for a quarter of my life and knowing how clean the subways can be. I find it bizarre NYC doesn’t clean them up a bit. But that’s most NYC stops… not just ones on the F trains.

It’s a shady station but will get you to Manhattan FAST! I used to take the N/​Q to work and switched to the bus/​F train commute because I usually save 15 minutes in commuting. Yes, there are the shady booksellers outside that you question what they are selling (like who sells books all year round at any time of the day in front of the projects) and yes I sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable at night when creepy men are walking through in big groups yelling and yes one a month the NYPD builds this weird radio control tower thing right near the station (if someone can tell me what that thing is, I would love to know). But all those things are also what makes it nostalgic and exciting for me. I have some fun Queensbridge stories now! Also, there are many other business dressed people there are well. You see the same people frequently and give them a good eye lock and slight smile. Good times!

Look, this station has become my go-​to way to get into the city fast. Rather than walk to the N train, I can ride the Q-​100 or the Q-​69 bus to this station and the F train will get me to West 4 street in 15 minutes. There’s an elevator and an escalator for access. Sometimes, in times of heavy rain, part of the platform fills with standing water.
Here are the two real problems:
1. I swear to you the escalators are being worked on more than they work. Seriously.
2. The MTA refuses to post transit changes in a place that you can clearly see above ground. On a recent Sunday, there were no Manhattan bound trains. Riding the bus to the station, there were no postings on the bus, on the bus stop, on the posts surrounding the escalator. Not even on the turnstiles where you swipe your metrocard. They were on the wall by the metrocard machines (useless if you already have one) and on the bottom of the Up escalator, where you wouldn’t look if you were headed into the station. Instead, you swipe your card only to THEN realize the steps to the Manhattan-​bound platform are roped off. So you have to go back up to the street and wait for another bus to take you to queens plaza. Dumb.

This station is generally clean and has escalators. It is only serviced by the F train and opened in 1989. Outside the station, one can generally find the Bookman selling used treasures and a couple of local businesses.