Hempstead
The bus terminal at the Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center, taken before the rebranding of the Nassau Inter-County Express.
General information
LocationWest Columbia Street
Hempstead, New York
Coordinates40°42′47″N 73°37′31″W / 40.713102°N 73.625307°W / 40.713102; -73.625307
Owned byLong Island Rail Road (train station)
County of Nassau (bus station)
Village of Hempstead (parking fields)
Line(s)Hempstead Branch
Distance19.8 mi (31.9 km) from Long Island City[1]
Platforms
Tracks8
ConnectionsLocal Transit Nassau Inter-County Express: See below
Construction
ParkingYes
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone4
History
Opened1872 (rail), 1993 (bus)
Rebuilt1881, 1913, 1943 (moved), 1963, 2002
ElectrifiedMay 26, 1908[2]
750 V (DC) third rail
Passengers
20063,614[3]
Services
Preceding station Long Island Rail Road Following station
Country Life Press
toward Penn Station, Grand Central or Atlantic Terminal
 Hempstead Branch Terminus

The Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center is an intermodal center and transportation hub in Hempstead, New York. It contains the Nassau Inter-County Express bus system's indoor customer facility between Jackson and West Columbia Streets – as well as the terminus for the Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, located right across West Columbia Street from the bus terminal.

Serving 19 routes, the bus terminal is a major transfer point for customers using a second Nassau Inter-County Express route or the LIRR. It offers a waiting area, transit information, MetroCard vending machines, a newsstand, and restrooms.[4]

History

Rail terminal

The Hempstead Long Island Railroad station was originally built as a Central Railroad of Long Island depot sometime between October and December 1872, on the corner of Main Street and Fulton Avenue. When the Long Island Rail Road acquired the CRRLI in 1878, this Hempstead Station and terminus came with it, replacing the former 1839-built Hempstead Station, which ran along the original Hempstead Branch, and was located on Main Street and Centre Street.[5][6]

The station was remodeled in July 1881, and razed in 1913. A second brick station was built in February 1913, which was designed to have trains terminate behind the building rather than alongside of it. This was due to an accident from January 1912 involving a milk train that rear-ended a stationary passenger car, sending it across Fulton Avenue and crashing into a building across the street and resulting in two deaths.[7] Between December 30, 1941 and 1943, service was suspended when the tracks were cut back and the station was moved to Columbia Street. A temporary station was installed 1,265 feet (386 m) west of its former location until work on this project was finished. Upon the completion of this move and track work, the second station reopened. The station was gutted in a fire on December 31, 1962 and remodeled in April 1963. This station was razed in 1998 and replaced with a much more elaborate, modern third depot, which was built between 1999 and 2002.

Bus terminal

In 1993, construction on the Hempstead Transit Center was completed, replacing an earlier one.[8][9][10][11] In conjunction with the new railroad station, its construction was part of a plan by Mayor James A. Garner to redevelop Hempstead and help bring it back to prominence as "Long Island's hub."[4][8][11] The original Hempstead bus terminal was located across Jackson Street on the corner of Jackson and Main streets.[9] That area is now occupied by the Greyhound bus stop and various businesses. The new transit center can accommodate many more buses than the original terminal and allows almost half of the Nassau Inter-County Express (formerly MTA Long Island Bus) system's routes to run through Hempstead.[11]

Renaming for Rosa Parks, 2006

On February 14, 2006, Thomas R. Suozzi, then the County Executive of Nassau County, announced that Hempstead Transit Center would be renamed in honor of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.[12] At the dedication, Suozzi said, "To honor her memory and that of her important work, today we are renaming this vital transit hub for one of the most important figures in American history."[12][13]

In addition to the renaming of the terminal, a permanent exhibit of the civil rights movement will be constructed, telling the story of the struggle for equality through the photographs of photojournalists and artists who covered the unrest of that era, including the late Moneta Sleet Jr., Jim Peppler, and Herbert Randall.[12][13] A column in the back of the bus terminal has been renovated with black marble, engraved with a large image of Rosa Parks and her story.

Station layout

This station has two high-level island platforms, each 8 cars long. The Hempstead Branch has eight tracks at this location. The four tracks to the east of the platforms but not adjacent to them are used for train storage.

M Mezzanine Platform crossover, exit/entrance, buses, parking
P
Platform level		 Track 1 ← Storage track
Track 2 ← Storage track
Track 3 ← Storage track
Track 4 ← Storage track
Track 5 ←      Hempstead Branch toward Grand Central Madison, Atlantic Terminal, or Penn Station (Country Life Press)
Island platform, doors will open on the left or right Disabled access
Track 6 ←      Hempstead Branch toward Grand Central Madison, Atlantic Terminal, or Penn Station (Country Life Press)
Track 7 ←      Hempstead Branch toward Grand Central Madison, Atlantic Terminal, or Penn Station (Country Life Press)
Island platform, doors will open on the left or right Disabled access
Track 8 ←      Hempstead Branch toward Grand Central Madison, Atlantic Terminal, or Penn Station (Country Life Press)

Bus connections

At the Hempstead Transit Center, there are 19 routes operating through the terminal. Also, weekend Jones Beach n88x trips & rush hour n6x trips stop outside at Columbia Avenue. Departure assignments during the day are listed below, during late night hours when the terminal is closed, all buses stop on West Columbia Street at Station Plaza immediately north of the terminal.

Bay # Route Terminus Service notes
1 n31
  • No Sunday service.
2 n32
3 n15
4 n40/41
  • Operates to Freeport at all times.
5
6 n16
  • Weekday service only.
7 n35
8 n6
  • Operates at all times.
  • Local service.
  • Express service and trips operating using articulated buses stop outside the terminal on Jackson Avenue.
9
10
11
12 n40/41
  • Mineola only served daytime and evening hours.
13
14 No service
  • Unused bay
15 n16X
  • Weekday rush hour service to NCC. Runs when school is in session.
n16
  • Weekday service only.
16 n16X
  • Weekday rush hour service to NCC. Runs when school is in session.
n35
  • Nassau Community College served weekdays only.
17 n15
  • Weekday service directly serves County Seat Drive.
  • Trips that serve County Seat Drive, terminate at Mineola Intermodal Center.
18 n54
  • No Sunday service.
n55
19 n71
  • Weekdays only
20 n70
21 n70
22 n48
  • No Sunday service.
23 n49
24 n27,
MMCS
  • n27 weekday service only.
  • MMCS weekday rush hours only.

References

  1. ↑ Long Island Rail Road (May 14, 2012). "TIMETABLE No. 4" (PDF). p. VI. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Hurrah at Hempstead Over the Third Rail". The Brooklyn Times Union. May 20, 1908. p. 5. Retrieved September 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  4. 1 2 "LIRR Hempstead Station Hub Reconstruction Work Marked by Dedication Ceremony". Three Village Times. March 19, 1999. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  5. ↑ LIRR, CRRLI, and SSRRLI map of Hempstead and Vicinity (Unofficial LIRR History Website)[usurped]
  6. ↑ L.I.R.R Hempstead Branch (Arrt's Arrchives)
  7. ↑ "LIRR Wrecks". trainsarefun.com.
  8. 1 2 Rodriguez, Yolanda (March 13, 1993). "New Bus Depot and Plan For Mall Boost Hempstead". Newsday. p. 75 – via ProQuest.
  9. 1 2 Cassese, Sid (June 9, 1991). "Arriving Soon: New Bus Hub: Demolition is clearing the way for a new, one-story bus terminal". Newsday. pp. NHE1 – via ProQuest.
  10. ↑ O'Hearn, Bradford W. (July 17, 1985). "New Transit Hub Eyed In Hempstead Village". Newsday. p. 7 – via ProQuest.
  11. 1 2 3 Shaman, Diana (July 5, 1992). "In the Region: Long Island; Turning a Hempstead Loss Into an Asset". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 "Metro Briefing | New York: Hempstead: Transit Center Named For Rosa Parks". The New York Times. February 16, 2006. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  13. 1 2 "Suozzi Announces Hempstead Transit Center to be Renamed the Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center in Honor of Civil Rights Leader" (Press release). Nassau County. February 14, 2006. Archived from the original on January 7, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
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