L Train: Crowded For the Foreseeable Future

L train riders, your patience, as well as personal space, will be tested for at least another three years. The NY Times reports that an additional 64 train cars that would take advantage of the "high-tech signal system" the MTA spent so much time installing won't be on tracks before January 2010. Which means that you'll have to make do with waiting for now!

Currently, rush hour trains are scheduled to arrive every four minutes (15 trains every hour). The MTA tells the Times that once the new trains are added, trains will arrive every 2 minutes 18 seconds. But for 2007, the MTA will bump up the number of trains to 17 trains an hour - you'll shave your waiting time by 30 seconds. If you can even get on the train that comes in. We found this anecdote depressing and familiar:

“I hate standing on a crowded platform, and I hate the sardine train,” said Traci Tullius, 30, a Williamsburg resident who commutes to work at Yeshiva University in Manhattan, where she teaches art.

Ms. Tullius lives closest to the Graham Avenue stop, but she said that during the morning rush the trains stopping there were so crowded that she has to let several pass before she can board. Instead, she regularly rides her bicycle three stops farther into Brooklyn, to the Morgan Avenue station, which is less heavily used.

“I ride my bike three stops in order to avoid the crunch,” she said. “It’s gross. You have to wait for four trains to go there. It’s insanity.”

How many trains do you typically wait for an L?

Only last year did the MTA admit the L was too crowded. We imagine the MTA will consider improving service to the F and G by 2012 and 2015. And be look out for the report cards where riders get to grade the subways and buses.

Photograph by isaiahlt on Flickr; we like to think the "pray" was added as a cry for better service

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on May 22, 2007 2:33 PM

Comments [rss]

Oddree

Relatively new to the L train (Graham stop), I must say I find the commute a dream when compared to early morning 6 train rides. Waiting for four trains to pass? Ha. I repeat, ha. Try getting to work from 68th Street - Hunter College. Days when I would only have to wait for four trains to pass were ones I considered to be portents of good fortune. I came to consider the 6 train named after how many strips of passenger-filled cars I would have to watch slowly (and indeed, they inched by) pass before I could entertain the notion of standing back and charging the doors to try and secure a nook in cess of equally irate commuters.
I heard that in Tokyo, attendants wait on the platform and shove the jutting passenger limbs in before the doors close. At first it sounded brutal; however, the idea is starting to sit well with me. Any seconds?

Billy Burg

THE L TRAIN IS A SWELL TRAIN!

ed_Extinct

a couple of points to all the above comments:

the computer system for tracking the trains is not 100 years old (the subway system itself is) and yes it is very capable of tracking trains throughout the system... especially since most train stops are less than a mile apart from each other on any given line.

the L used to be a shitty train. if any of you knuckleheads from the midwest were here in the early 1990's (at least when i first moved into the city) the L was the forbidden train. No one except artists lived in williamsburg or greenpoint and even then yoiu were hard pressed to find an artist.

The L, IMHO has been upgraded supremely over any of the train lines the MTA manages in this city. It seems to be the "testing" line for most of the new advanced trains as well as siginal technology, sound system and arrival/departure monitors.

the very fact that an enormous number of hipsters/bankers/celebrities and trust fund babies have moved out to the Burg and Greenpoint is the very reason the trains are overpacked.

You blame the MTA? How can you? perhaps if you were a leader, you'd find that any number of other options to live near or in the city are around you, not just the hip-ass burg. Try LIC or Washington Heights. Perhaps you're familair with Prospect Heights and West Hell's Kitchen. Maybe you're not and you feel the Burg is your home... well, if that's the case, suck it up and deal with the over populated hood. I feel to pain nor should anyone else about your plight.

I also find it hilarious that the very people who live in Williamsburg (newbies) are the same ones who cry when developers come in to redevelop the waterfront or streets. Where were you 10-15 years ago when all the planning was being conceived?

Still Not Amused

You all need to stop bitchin and be happy the (L) is running period ! It's not the MTA's fault you jokers are moving into, & filling up three neighborhoods at the speed of light ! Don't get me wrong here, I'm not taking sides with the MTA it's just that all the bitching, & Moaning about the service tends to become annoying ! Get over it, You all know what the MTA is all about . They state that fact every time you see one of them stupid signs they post telling you all about service changes and "How there building the system for the next one hundred years" . The sad thing is it may take them half that time to complete all this "Building for the future" .

Reality Czech

Sorry folks, but this isn't going to be just a problem on the L train. All NYC subways are sardine cans. It's getting worse, not better.

Anonymous

Boohoo. Move to East New York. I never have a problem getting on the train from there.

Alienswede

I live off the Lorimer L stop and I've started walking to work to avoid the overstuffed trains. It's a bit of a hike but feels great. I work at Varick and Spring in SoHo.

Dude

#37 - yes we have to address the hipster issue before they ruin everything, I suggest force reallocation to Hollis.

Patrick

You idiots don't help when you stand in the way and I can't get off the damn train!

Tami

I have to be at work by 9:30am in SoHo, and to me a bad day is not getting a seat on the L train. I live between Graham and Grand - I NEVER have a problem with Grand, and with Graham my biggest problem is maybe not getting a seat.

I never give myself extra time (I leave my house at 9am) and the only times I'm late for work is ... when I'm being too slow. I mean, the L has problems, but so does every other train line. When I used to take the A/E (from Brooklyn Heights to midtown) I wanted to kill myself - I was getting in a packed-to-the-brims train every single day at 7:20 IN THE MORNING. that was horrible.

awe

does half the gothamist readership get on the subway at the lorimer stop? i'm amazed. the long & short of it is, people should move if they don't like the quality of life (or if rent is too high). the UWS won't win any hip awards, but getting on the subway is a breeze at any time of day (except maybe 66th street), and rents are reasonable.

Kriton

I take the L from union square to Broadway junction daily, the "reverse commute", it's always empty

Toby

Eva, the R160s on the N are the newer technology trains. Putting them on the L and moving the older equipment from the L to the N would help solve the problem.

Also, many people use the L as a Manhattan cross town line, as it is much quicker than the M14 bus. OK, walking is usually much quicker then the M14 bus. Still, the L can be the quickest way across town.

I also agree with #34.

Tape

I'm surprised no one has addressed the "hipster" issue yet.

David McCaffredy

I second #34. The SEPTA is hilariously bad. The stations are clean, but whoevers running it now is an f-ing idiot. Most of the stations don't even sell tokens or have a machine for it. The booth attendants just blankly stare at you before going back to sleep.

Kojak

"Why does the L get special attention?"

Because it runs through some of the most 'trendy' neighborhoods in New York, and that seems to be Gothamist's beat these days.

Damn Hipsters

Tex

Worst subway in the world - SEPTA (Philly). Hands down.

Vinny

Holy shit! A crowded train! CALL THE PRESS!

Seriously folks, wtf? Why is the L train being crowded news?

The E at Rush hour, the 4,6,5 & 2 during most of the day, and don't even get me started on the A are crowded more often than not.

Why does the L get special attention?

bay

why would the condos be filled with cokehead trust fund hipsters??

think about it...itd be like hipsters walking around with giant diamond studded clothes and gold bars. a conspicuous embarrassing display of wealth!

everyone around there thinks the condos are ridiculous, dont belong there, are overpriced for rich idiots that dont know any better, pushed polish/native people out of their houses.

so if they were hipsters, the other regular hipsters would make fun of them too much, secretly

gobacktothesuburbs

Nothing says "I'm not from New York (City)" quite like hipster bashing. Most native New Yorkers

(a) aren't hipsters

(b) don't give a flying f@*# about them. At least they aren't in my age group. I can't speak for all those idiot NYU hipsters. (Nothing says "I'm getting older" quite like bashing younger people.)