Have years of dirty weekend L-train start prepared us for all the downsizing?: Gothamist
If the first hours of the L-thrust were marked by eye-waiting times and severe overpopulation, Saturday afternoon MTA had been largely restored. As promised, trains took every 20 minutes or so between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the platforms were chaotic, but not overwhelming, and New Yorkers helped each other find other ways to get where they needed to go. It's almost like years of madness L-train have prepared us for this moment.
"The L-train has problems before I'm a bit used to it," said punisher Rod Stevenson Gothamist as he traveled from Union Square back to his home off the Jefferson Avenue stop. Stevenson pointed out periods of weekend work during the years when L was either completely or irregularly closed.
"It's a price to pay, but it's better than it gets closed [entirely] and causes even more trouble," Stevenson said of the delays. "I'm glad they found an alternative route to take."
From 8th Avenue to Lorimer, the MTA staff paced the platforms, passed literature, and shouted directions to riders in bullhorns. "It adds a human element that the screens or characters can't give you," an MTA worker said. "The kiosk right there is not going to give you real-time information that I can."
countdown clocks are back on L, simple tracking is quite chaotic, but nothing riders are not used to pic.twitter. com / lsSfEpaPGf
̵[ads1]1; Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) April 27, 2019
Outside Bedford Avenue stop, where trains in both directions share a single track, and riders have to navigate a maze of barricades and construction fencing to board, New York City Transit President Andy Byford kept an eye on what he said would be today's largest crowds, from 4 pm to 6 pm "So far, so good," was how he considered the first 20 hours of the downturn.
Byford said while maintaining L-train's 20-minute interborough nights and weekend schedules (10 minutes for trains running in Brooklyn only) it was crucial, "the second success mark for me is that people have definitely migrated to other services -We've seen an increase in riders on the M line. "
The subway officer owed Friday night delays on a single mis-programmed train. "It throws the system a bit out of kilter. We think we've just identified the repair, but at least we have plenty of employees, including myself, to give people real-time information." (This phrase "real-time information" seems to be a favorite for MTA employees.)
Byford's advice to people considering taking the L train? Maybe not take the L train.
"If you can avoid the L line and you can use one of the alternative routes, J, M, G, 7, the buses we have put on 14th Street, the M14 they are good alternatives."
This is true, provided these lines are in good service, and at least part of Saturday, they were not . And while there were definitely more M14 buses, there is nothing to save them from getting stuck in the miserable traffic that trains 14th Street. It took us 47 minutes to get from Grand Street on the Lower East Side to 8th Avenue and 14th Street.
There are five M14 buses in this picture, including the one I'm on. 14th Street Gridlock Still Got It pic.twitter.com/Ueja6GeOn
– Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) April 27, 2019
It may change in June when DOT will begin limiting car traffic on 14th Street by allowing private vehicle drivers to travel a block before they have to turn right. Choose Bus service also comes.
Nicole Fineman, who drove the M14A to the Union Square playground with her children Lior and Miko, said the arrival of SBS would be bittersweet.
"I'm glad they are doing something to try to fix the service speed," she said, as the bus crept up Essex Street. "But I'm not happy that they are closing three stops on Grand Street which are actually quite important to our neighborhood for the people living on Grand Street. It will affect us a lot."
She added, "My heart goes out to all the L train drivers in New York City. With MTA it feels like you're getting one thing and you're losing something else."
You may experience longer than expected waiting times for M service in both directions. For L customers traveling between Brooklyn and Manhattan, consider taking 7 services to / from Court Square or the Hoyt-Schermerhorn A / C service and then transferring to G.
– NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) 2019
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