1 weekend down: L-train slowdown recap

We are now officially in L-train slowdown mode for the next 15-18 months.



On Friday evening, the MTA started its service reduction to repair the Sandy-damaged tubes between Manhattan and Brooklyn, ramping down L times to 20-minute waits starting at 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. during the week and around the clock on weekends. (Here's the MTA press release on it.)

The slowdown's debut on Friday received so-so to negative reviews, based on various published reports and social media accounts.

Line for the L train. Things are going great New York! #mta #nyc pic.twitter.com/pAkGr6XIU3

— Eric Yearwood (@EricYearwood) April 27, 2019

Officially a slowdown. #LTrainSlowdown pic.twitter.com/W2mblzsr97

— Edgar Sandoval (@edjsandoval) April 27, 2019

Jake Offenhartz has a nice recap of the first night — featuring broken arrival clocks and hour-long waits for trains — over at Gothamist.

Here's a quick overview:

For many of the city's regular L riders — a group that numbers 400,000 on a normal day — the reality underground was a far cry from the governor's description of "service that would still work." In Union Square, crowds were penned in along barricades on the mezzanine level, in some cases waiting to board an open train that wouldn't arrive for close to an hour. Transit workers, stationed across the system in large numbers, practically begged customers to make use of the increased service on the M, G, and 7 lines, or the free transfers on the M14A/D and Williamsburg Link buses.

Those who did stay encountered extended waits not only inside stations, but on unmoving trains as well. The dwell times seemed especially bad at Union Square, where the MTA's interlocking system means that Brooklyn-bound service must wait for a passing train to arrive before switching over to the shared track, in order to avoid the construction area between 3rd Avenue and Bedford.

"It's worse than I thought," said Alfredo Fernando, a dish-washer at a restaurant near Union Square.

Transit reporter Vin Barone has his recap for amNY here. As he notes, the MTA's biggest challenge might be happening as you read this: making sure there isn't any lingering construction left to disrupt this morning's‬ commute.

“[We] are aware of how critically important it is to have that smooth transition so that ‪at 5 a.m. we can start back in service,” said Ronnie Hakim, the MTA’s managing director, during a trip along the L line on Sunday. “We do this. We know how to do it. It’s a function of working out all the kinks.”

You can also find coverage at the Times, who was more sympathetic in its tone with a headline: "First Weekend Disruption Is Frustrating, but Not Disastrous."

By Saturday, the L-train situation had mostly righted itself. Christopher Robbins at Gothamist explored one of the alternative methods touted by the MTA to get around — the M14 — on Saturday afternoon. "And while there were definitely more M14 buses, there is nothing to save them from getting stuck in the miserable traffic that clogs 14th Street. It took us 47 minutes to get from Grand Street on the Lower East Side to 8th Avenue and 14th Street."

Help may be on the way. In June, the city plans to convert 14th Street into a busway from Third Avenue to Ninth Avenue with very limited access to car traffic.

Look how many buses are trapped on 14th Street! Ugh.

Seeing it in person just makes me more 😡 that a few cranks in the West Village almost succeeded in dictating the policy response to the #LTrainSlowdown

Now let’s activate this busway, please. #Peopleway @TransAlt pic.twitter.com/NU3hXxu9v6

— Thomas DeVito (@PedestrianTom) April 27, 2019

Now to a few other observations related to the slowdown...

The MTA is stockpiling extra M14s on the east side of Avenue A between 11th Street and 13th Street ...





This means no parking/or standing along here for the foreseeable future... from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday, and all weekend long...



The MTA also has extra buses at the ready on the east side of Third Avenue between 12th Street and 14th Street...





This also means no parking on this side of the Avenue ...



Meanwhile, the SBS bus services starts in June... and more ticketing machines have been unveiled... on the north side of 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...



... and the east side of Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street...



Anyone have any L-train stories to share from this past weekend?

Only 178 shopping days left until the L-train shutdown

As you may have heard, read, seen, the MTA yesterday announced that the much-anticipated and long-dreaded (but necessary!) L-train shutdown will begin on Saturday, April 27, 2019.

If you missed this, then here are more details via the MTA news release, shared here...

MTA New York City Transit (MTA NYC Transit) and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) announced new details about what customers can expect ahead of April 2019 when the L train tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn is closed for 15 months for extensive repairs from Superstorm Sandy...

• The L tunnel will close for its 15-month reconstruction on Saturday, April 27, 2019. This means that the last day for L service between 8th Av and Bedford Av in Brooklyn will be Friday, April 26, 2019. L train service will continue throughout Brooklyn, between the Bedford Av station, which will remain open during the tunnel closure, and the Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway station.

• The alternative service options for customers, which includes five additional bus routes, a new M14 Select Bus Service on 14th Street and a ferry service, will begin on Sunday, April 21, 2019, to allow for customers to sample and become acclimated to new travel options. The additional subway service on other lines – more than 1,000 additional roundtrips – will begin on April 28, 2019, following the L tunnel closure. Read the full plan for temporary service options in support of the L tunnel reconstruction project.

• Customers will be able to meet in person with MTA NYC Transit and NYCDOT team members to plan their routes, through a series of open houses, pop-up events or one of the three mobile information centers – two vans and a bus – which will make stops to meet with customers. Official dates and times for open houses and schedules for events and the mobile information center locations will be posted on the L tunnel reconstruction website once announced.

• Numerous stations have received or are receiving capacity expansions, with newly reopened or expanded entrances, stairs and corridors. NYCDOT and MTA NYC Transit are coordinating with key City agencies – such as the NYPD, Department of Buildings and Citywide Events Coordination and Management – on aligning City operations with the needs of L train alternate transit services, including working to minimize disruption from construction projects and events.

• The construction for the project is on schedule. In Manhattan, the construction site footprint and hours of work both reduce between 1st Avenue and Avenue A in January 2019. In Brooklyn, most barricades will be removed along with permanent street and sidewalk restoration on Bedford Avenue by early November 2018, and throughout early 2019, work will continue to open and do permanent finishes on the additional stairs, three of four which have already opened for increased capacity.

• Officials are committing to monitor the air for particulates typically caused by diesel emissions, known as PM2.5, and making results publicly available. This is in addition to the air quality monitoring already in place for the project’s construction sites.

• Outreach continues with customers, local residents, local businesses, and elected officials.

“We’re continuing unprecedented efforts at public outreach, responding to local communities and giving as much notice as possible on key dates in this project,” said NYC Transit President Andy Byford. “With the l running as a Brooklyn-only service for 15 months starting after the weekend of April 27, we’ve been hard at work with our partners at NYCDOT and other City agencies to make sure that the alternate train, bus, ferry and bicycle networks work together to get people around successfully.”

“With DOT crews now putting down new street markings for bus lanes and bike lanes, we are deeply committed to having our streets ready for the l tunnel closure next April,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “From a ‘bus bridge’ over the Williamsburg Bridge to the 14th Street Busway, from more Citi Bikes to expanded pedestrian space for displaced l train commuters, we and our MTA partners are up for this enormous challenge.”

For a reminder about remaining L service changes in 2018, visit the L 2018 service notice page. To help customers plan ahead in 2019, new service information details about the L in 2019 include:

Overnight service closures and weekend closures during February, March and April 2019, from 8th Av in Manhattan to Broadway Junction in Brooklyn to prepare the tunnel ahead of the closure and to expedite maintenance on the l tracks remaining in service when the tunnel is closed. Weekend dates scheduled are:
- Feb 2-3
- Feb 9-10
- Feb 16-17
- Feb 23-24
- Mar 2-3
- Mar 9-10
- Mar 16-17
- April 27-28

Previously on EV Grieve:
Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction

Prepping for the new protected bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets

Bike lane line work continues on 12th Street

A look at the new L-train renderings along 14th Street

The MTA recently plastered both sides of 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue — the main construction zone for the L-train rehab — with banners touting the new ADA-compliant entrances on the way at Avenue A and other scenes from the incoming stations ... many of these renderings were similar to the ones unveiled in the summer of 2017.



However, there are several new scenes, which EVG reader Hank's Pound of Spaghetti shared... Hank had a sensible question: Why are the scalies arguing?



Does this indicate that life with the all-new L train still mean signal and switch problems and track fires, leading to possibly tense exchanges between commuters? Or are these roomies at EVGB upset over that drunken bocce match that got out of hand on the roof?

Hank also spotted the same female scalie with different male straphangers...



... and do these two know the men arguing behind them? ...



Anyway, a little diversion from the nonstop work already taking place here that's making life for nearby residents fairly miserable.

This work started in July 2017 ahead of the L-train closure between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue that starts on April 27, 2019.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Town Hall provides a few more details on the 24/7 construction at 14th and A

Renderings reveal the MTA's plans for the Avenue A L station; why does everyone look so happy?

Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction

1st Avenue L train stop during the afternoon downpour

The L-train stop on First Avenue was among the victim's of this early afternoon's heavy rainfall... in case you haven't seen this clip making the rounds...

@MTA the 8th Ave bound L Train at 1st Ave is heavily flooding. Extremely dangerous. pic.twitter.com/dNsCCi8aAu

— papi chulo (@hardwhitebarbie) September 18, 2018

And props to @hardwhitebarbie for documenting how the rats were faring in the station during this time...

Here’s one trying to make it. pic.twitter.com/rOwj2uI3U7

— papi chulo (@hardwhitebarbie) September 18, 2018