Q (New York City Subway service)

Broadway Express
A train made of R160 cars in Q service approaching its south terminus, Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
Northern end	96th Street
Southern end	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
Stations	34
Rolling stock	210 R160A/R160Bs (21 trains)
Depot	Coney Island Yard
Started service	1878; 139 years ago (1878) (predecessor, along with current Franklin Avenue Shuttle) August 1, 1920; 96 years ago (1920-08-01) (current Q service)

The Q Broadway Express is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored sunflower yellow since it uses the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan. The Q operates between 96th Street and Second Avenue, and Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn at all times, running express in Manhattan (except at night when it runs local), crossing over the Manhattan Bridge south side, and serving all stops on the BMT Brighton Line in Brooklyn.

Q was introduced as a service identifier for the Brighton Beach Express via Broadway (Manhattan) on the rollsigns of the R27 class of subway cars as they were delivered beginning in 1960 and on all subsequent equipment ordered for the IND/BMT divisions of the New York City subway system. The former designation for the service was the number 1, itself introduced in 1924, a designation shared by all Brighton Line mainline services. The letter designations did not appear on earlier equipment that carried the former route numbers. Therefore, older equipment that carried the number 1 (notably the D-type Triplex) continued to be signed 1 until they were withdrawn from service in 1965.

Also with the introduction of the R27 fleet, the mainline local services on the Brighton Line (and other BMT services) were given double letters in conformance with IND practice. Ordinarily this would have produced a QQ service, but this designation was never used. There were two local services, the Brighton Local via Montague Street Tunnel, designated QT, which operated when the express service was running, and the Brighton Local via Manhattan Bridge, designated QB, which operated when the express did not. The so-called "Banker's Special" express, which operated a few trains in the morning and evening rush hours to the Wall Street financial district was not given a separate designation. As this service continued to use older equipment for years after the letters were introduced, this was not usually a problem. When R27 and later cars were used on these specials, they often carried the M designation in the morning that was originally (and eventually) used on Myrtle Avenue trains, and the evening sometimes carried Q or sometimes no designation at all.