MTA Boosts Svc. To Meet Demand
Packed by popular demand, the L and M lines will get a significant service boost from the MTA later this year.
The authority announced last Wednesday, May 14, it would add dozens of round-trip trains to the L line on weekends and three additional round-trip trains on weeknights in the fall. This will supplement the additional eight weekend and eight weeknight round-trip trains coming to the L line next month.
Also this fall, the MTA will introduce an extra Forest Hills-bound M train to weekday morning rush hours and an additional Middle Village-bound M train for the lateafternoon rush. Next month, the M train will get a weekend service boost of its own, as the MTA will extend weekend shuttle service to Essex Street in Manhattan.
Increased ridership on the L and M lines-which run through the ever-growing neighborhoods of Bushwick, Ridgewood and Williamsburg-and an analysis of schedules led the MTA to enhance service on both lines.
Boosting weekend service on the L in particular, according to MTA New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco, “will decrease wait times for customers as well as increase capacity on a line that continues to see ridership growth, most notably during off-peak hours.”
“Ridership is at an all-time high, including records for weekend ridership,” he added. “These are customers who rely on us for all of their transportation needs, both work and play, and we are trying to meet that demand with our available resources.”
In all, 33 additional round-trip L trains will operate from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 23 additional round-trip L trains will operate during the same time period on Sundays. Three more round-trip L trains will also be introduced on weekday evenings.
As noted, the changes will be implemented in the fall and cost the MTA about $1.7 million. While no exact date for the L train enhancements was indicated, the MTA noted, the extra weekday M trains would be added in concurrence with the restoration of regular R train service between 71st-Continental Avenues in Forest Hills and Bay Ridge-95th Street in Brooklyn.
R train service was altered last summer when the MTA shut down the Montague Tube-below the East River between Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan-to repair damages caused by Hurricane Sandy. The repairs are expected to be completed in October.
Until then, weekday R trains run in two segments-between 71st- Continental Avenues and Whitehall Street in Manhattan and in Brooklyn between Court Street and 95th Street. Weekend R lines operate on much of its normal route, but are detoured over the Manhattan Bridge.
