Tag: subway

Upgrading the L Train

10/04/2011 | Comment

The MTA has announced a series of planned upgrades for service on the L line – moves that, in the long term, at least, could ease some of the overcrowding on the line. The services changes are partially a response to a request from State Senator Dan Squadron that the the MTA review the state of service on the F and L lines, and partially a response to the fact that everyone knew service on the L line was beyond capacity. (Its not just the morning rush, either – as the Times points out, service on the L train is often 35% over capacity on Saturday afternoons.)

Second Avenue Sagas has a nice rundown of all the changes that are planned. The only immediate change is that the MTA will add one additional train in the 9:00 to 9:30 morning rush period. Theoretically, this will lower crowding during this period from the current 101% to something in the mid-90% range (pro-tip – the cars at the back of the train are only running at 99% capacity in the morning rush (vs. 130% at the front) – pile in!) . Long term, the MTA will finally roll out its fully- automated train service (CBTC) on the L line. With the full implementation of the automated service, the MTA says it can run up to 24 trains an hour on the L line (currently, headway is limited to 17 trains an hour).

All of this will – in the long term – help the average commute on the Canarsie line. In the short term however, expect more weekend service cuts, as the MTA continues to implement the switching necessary to get automated service fully online by late 2012. And remember that even with the potential for 24 trains an hour, the line is still only two tracks – if one train gets stuck, everyone behind still has wait for that sick passenger to get off the train. And as new residential developments all up and down the line continue to come on line (there are still about 5,000 unbuilt housing units from the 2005 rezoning alone), those additional 7 trains an hour will pretty soon be running at capacity too.

MTA Has 99 Problems, But J/Z Ain’t One

Ha ha – the Wall Street Journal made a funny. Get it – J/Z, 99 problems? Collect yourself.

The news behind the very hip headline is big, though – Straphangers Campaign has rated the J/Z the best line in the subway system. No argument from me there – it’s usually not too crowded, runs pretty frequently and regularly, and as a bonus, gets sunlight most of the way. (Too bad the Journal’s photographer couldn’t be bothered to go beyond Broad Street – she might have seen the “pleasant East River views” and “scenic above-ground run in Brooklyn”).

Amazingly, the L line tied for 5th place (out of 20) in the survey. But – no surprise – the L is more crowded than average.

The L Train is Crowded on Weekends Too

At the Bedford Avenue stop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which serves about a third of the L train’s passengers, an average weekend day retains 90 percent of the ridership of a weekday.

NEWSFLASH: Bedford Avenue Station is Crowded

06/16/2011 | 2 Comments

The MTA has released its station ridership figures for 2010. As always, this was a big day around Brooklyn11211 (and at Second Avenue Sagas).

The big news – which should be a surprise to absolutely no one – is that the Bedford Avenue station continues to add riders. In fact, we broke 7,000,000 riders in 2010 – 7,418,203 to be exact. That makes Bedford Avenue #46 overall in the system (it was #66 in 2007), and the busiest station on the L line outside of Manhattan. (14th Street/Union Square, 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue are all busier, but they serve multiple lines; 1st Avenue and 3rd Avenue carry fewer passengers).

Over the past four years, Bedford Avenue is the 13th fastest growing station in the entire system, with ridership up 29% between 2007 and 2010 (vs. a 3% increase for the system as a whole over the same period). Bedford is not the fastest growing station on the L line over that period – that honor belongs to Morgan Avenue, which has seen a 39% increase over four years. New Lots and Livonia are also higher at 31% and 30% respectively. But those three stations are starting from a low number – combined they carry fewer passengers than Bedford Avenue, with Morgan Avenue being the busiest of the three, and ranking #224. Of the 100 fastest growing stations in the system, Bedford Avenue is by far the largest, with over 7,000,000 passengers (1st Avenue is a close second, with 6.9 million passengers, up 24% since 2007).

As you might expect, the entire L line is busier. Ridership on single-line (non-transfer) stations on the L line is up 21% since 2007, and ridership for the entire line (including transfer stations) is up 10%. Just about every station along the line (transfer and single-line) has seen double-digit growth – the exceptions being Union Square, 6th Avenue, 8th Avenue and Broadway Junction.

With most of the growth focused east of Bedford, and the huge increase in riders getting on at Bedford, it’s no wonder that the morning commute is such a nightmare. And with development picking up again, it’s not going to get better anytime soon. Something to think about tomorrow when you’re squeezing onto the fourth train to come into the station.

L Train is the Coolest

Finally, some good news about the L train (which I can confirm – the car that was stuck at First Avenue for over an hour on Thursday was very, very cool).