Clifton
Tompkinsville is the last stop before St. George on the station island railway. The station has had a bit of a controversial recent history because from 1997 (when MetroCard Gold was introduced and conductors stopped collecting fares onboard trains) until January 20, 2010 when the stop became the second paid stop (passengers must pay both getting off and on all SIR trains, no second fare is deducted for riding wholly between St. George and Topkinsville), passengers could legally get between Tottenville to Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry for free by getting off a train at this stop and walking the ½ mile, 12 minutes from this station to St. George and not paying for the SIR (which was free for all trips to and from St. George). This was apparently done by 20% of all passengers. In the mid-2000s the MTA tried to reduce this by scheduling many local trains to skip the station during rush hour providing it with skeletal service. Finally, the MTA spent $6.9 million dollars to add fare control to this station.
Today’s station is a simple island platform surface level station. This island platform has two simple canopied sheltered areas with orange framework between glass blocks holding up a canopy structure near each end of the platform. The station originally had two exits, the southern exit was to the northside walk of the Hannah Street bridge across the railroad tracks. It had a simple staircase up to this overpass, on January 20, 2010 this entrance was closed and turned into an emergency exit only. New locked gates were added at both the top and bottom of the staircase (that otherwise maintains its 1980s renovation appearance canopied with orange support beams).
The current open entrance is located along a pedestrian footbridge connecting two different sections of Victory Blvd. This exit was closed from August 28, 2008 to be rebuilt for building of a small headhouse to collect fares from passengers. The footbridge is accessed via ramps down to Victory Blvd at both ends with a shortcut staircase down to the corner of Victory Blvd and Minthorne Street just west of the railroad tracks.
Entering passengers go into a small cream-colored modular building with blue accents. Inside is a fare control area with two emergency exit gates (both with signs stating they are remotely controlled and can be opened remotely in emergencies by SIRTOA personal, with unauthorized use of gates being fare evasion). These are between two different banks of normal subway turnstiles, each facing a different direction. There are No Entry signs on the sides where passengers normally exit at subway stations. MVMs are along opposite walls, both closets to the bank of turnstiles relevant for exiting or entry. There is also a bench within the Staten Island Railway side of the station. To reach the platform this station house integrates onto the single staircase (that was closed temporarily in 2008) down to the southern end of the island platform.
Photos 1-22: June 20, 2011;
