Is Williamsburg about to get expanded subway service??

Maybe, according to the Times:

The V train, which now ends at Second Avenue and Houston Street, would replace the M train and travel east to Metropolitan Avenue in Queens.

And the MTA confirms it in their latest description of the proposed service cuts [warning – links to very large PDF]:

Subway Reductions/Discontinuations Being Considered for the First Time: …Extending V to Metropolitan Avenue to replace M service north of Essex Street and discontinuing M service south of Essex Street. V no longer stops at 2nd Avenue.

If this happens, the V would provide direct service on the Broadway elevated line from Bushwick and Williamsburg to Soho, Greenwich Village and Midtown. Without having to switch trains at Essex/Delancey. (I believe the elimination of the Second Avenue stop is because the switch from the BMT (brown) tracks to the IND (orange) tracks is located west of Essex Street – the train will actually be picking up the tracks that the B and D run on up to Broadway/Lafayette.)

On top of which, the latest austerity plan by the MTA no longer eliminates the Z train. (The proposed cuts still include the elimination of the B39 bus across the Williamsburg Bridge, but this route is truly redundant.)