New York City Transit is suspending L train service between Lorimer Street in Brooklyn and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan for two straight weekends in October, taking out the line that carries Williamsburg and Greenpoint riders into the city on both October 2-5 and October 9-12, from Friday at 11:15 p.m. to Monday at 5 a.m. each weekend.
During the suspensions, the L will keep running in Brooklyn only, every eight minutes on days and evenings between Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway and Lorimer Street, which becomes the last stop. There will be no L service across the East River, and no L stops between Lorimer Street and Eighth Avenue.
New York City Transit cited communications improvements as the reason for the shutdown in the notice it sent to community partners on September 11. A station awareness poster produced for the same two weekends gives a different reason, listing the work as track maintenance. The agency’s materials do not reconcile the two.
To get between Brooklyn and Manhattan while the L is down, riders are directed to take the A or J train and transfer at Broadway Junction.
In Brooklyn, free shuttle buses will make stops at Bedford Avenue, Lorimer Street/Metropolitan Avenue (G and L), Hewes Street (J and M) and Marcy Avenue (J and M). Riders can transfer between trains and the shuttle buses at Lorimer Street/Metropolitan Avenue, Hewes Street or Marcy Avenue.
In Manhattan, the free L92 shuttle and M14A buses will run between 14th Street/Eighth Avenue, 14th Street/Sixth Avenue (F and M) and Delancey Street-Essex Street (F, M and J). The L92 and M14A make L stops along 14th Street between First Avenue and Eighth Avenue and connect with F, M and J trains at Delancey Street-Essex Street.
Both suspensions start Friday night at 11:15 and run through 5 a.m. Monday, first over the October 2-5 weekend and again over the October 9-12 weekend.
Riders can call 511 or check the MTA Planned Service Changes page for service information for their date of travel. New York City Transit also runs the MTA Weekender, a newsletter sent on Fridays tracking planned weekend service changes on the subways, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.
Featured image: ThePhotoDropOut / Bushwick Daily archive
