What to Do at Every Stop Along the R Train
As of today, you can’t ride the R train from Brooklyn to Manhattan (or vice versa) for quite a while. Over the next 14 months, the R will run in two sections (Brooklyn, Manhattan/Queens) on weekdays and over the Manhattan Bridge on weekends while workers repair the tunnel it normally passes through, which was severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy. This makes the R train “mostly useless,” according to a headline on Gothamist. (The URL omits the word mostly, suggesting it was tossed in later by an editor?) To the contrary, though: while this will inconvenience tens of thousands of riders who commute daily between Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, the R still runs the entire western corridor of Brooklyn, connecting Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Park Slope/South Slope, Gowanus, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge; it also leaves you within walking distance of Prospect Heights, Red Hook, Boerum Hill, and DUMBO. It also provides transfer points to the A, C, F, D, N, B, Q, 2, 3, 4 and 5 trains, meaning if you live off the R train you can use it to get literally anywhere in the city. But you don’t need to transfer to enjoy life off the R. Here’re the best things to do at every single stop along the line in Brooklyn—at least 16 ways the R train is totally useful.
