Metro Deportivo 18 de Marzo

Metro Deportivo 18 de Marzo is a transfer station between Metro Lines 3 and 6. It sees about 43,000 passengers pass through on normal days. The station opened in 1979 on line 3 and in 1986 for Line 6. The station serves both the Lindavista neighborhood to the west, and the Tepeyac neighborhood to the east.

Interestingly, the station was for many years called Metro Basílica but this led to no end to confusion for the thousands of passengers actually intending to arrive at Metro La Villa, now also renamed “Metro La Villa – Basilica.” It was briefly named for the nearby Avenida Montevideo. But in 1998 it was re-named Metro Deportivo 18 de Marzo for the nearby sports complex owned and operated by the city government workers union.

The station logo represents a player of the Meso-American ball game from antiquity. The sports complex includes a swimming pool, fitness center, multiple playing fields, tennis courts, fronton, racquetball, baseball, archery, green areas, football fields and more.

The station is at ground level on Line 3 and platforms are between the northbound and southbound lanes of Insurgentes Avenue.

From the northbound platform, one can see the 18 de Marzo monument in its own park along the east side of Insurgentes. March 18th is celebrated as the day of the expropriation of the petroleum industry in Mexico. This event occurred in 1938 under President Lázaro Cárdenas, although the date also coincides with that of the original founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325.