The L train is going down at least twice this spring/summer so you have another excuse not to leave your neighborhood on the weekend and skip your co-worker’s birthday party at Brass Monkey. Currently the two weekends with scheduled downtimes are:
Memorial Day weekend – May 25th (11:30pm Friday to 5AM Tuesday morning)
The weekend of June 21st
The L train was originally scheduled to go down the weekend of Northside Festival (June 15-17), but the MTA rescheduled after a plea was made by Brooklyn politicians including Marty Markowitz.
laughingsutra: Saw some hipster girl walking through Bushwick last night with a hunting bow and arrows over her shoulder.
OiScout: I occasionally see this couple, they’ve gotta be 40+, on the L eating breakfast. Fucking cup of noodles and they crush up whatever potato chips they have and put it in there. Sometimes they dunk it.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen on the L? This guy still takes the cake for us. [via]
A man was fatally struck by an L train last night in Brooklyn. According to police, the incident happened around 9:15 p.m. at the DeKalb Avenue station near Wyckoff Avenue, on the northbound L train tracks. The man was found about 200 feet past the station on the tracks, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neither police nor FDNY could confirm how the man ended up so far away from the station. Last month, an intoxicated man who had crawled under the platform to “sleep it off” had his leg amputated after he was struck by a train in Queens. This is the seventh subway fatality of the year so far.
At least one person claimed the victim had jumped in front of the train, which the NYPD could not confirm. They took the Vine below of the scene last night.
The unidentified victim was struck by the Canarsie-bound train about 7:40 a.m. in the station at Bedford Avenue and North Seventh Street, an FDNY spokesman said.
“I was on the train and when it stopped the doors didn’t open and the conductor guy said somebody was on the tracks,” said Kirk Anderson, a construction worker who was on his way to work. “The people outside on the platform were saying that somebody jumped.”
The victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he’s expected to recover, cops said.
Police said it appears the man jumped into the path of the oncoming train, but they are still investigating the incident.
“I’ve heard about this happening, but it has never happened with me before,” Anderson added. “It’s very crazy and it’s happening a lot lately.”
Rejoice north Brooklynites, the L train is back! In case you’re wondering what kind of work goes into restoring a subway line, the MTA released this video on Wednesday of its crews hard at work.
The L train is back, according to MTA CEO and Chairman Joe Lhota’s personal Twitter feed. The line had been closed for more than a week due to Hurricane Sandy. Trains are running once every ten minutes according to @MTAInsider.
And just when you were starting to love your 45 minute wait on the L and G lines.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled on Monday four proposals for a scheduled fare increase next March, introducing the possibility of raising the base fare on subways and buses to $2.50 from $2.25 or increasing the cost of a 30-day MetroCard by as much as $21.
Some of the proposals put more burden on travelers who buy their rides one at a time. Others extract more blood from those who buy rides in bulk or spring for an unlimited card. Which do you think is the fairest? Which would you rather see the transit agency implement (which is not necessarily the same question)?
How miseable is it on the L platform? L-Degrees.com has you covered. An interview with the creator of the site, via Gothamist :
Over the past month I have been recording the temperature at the different platforms and the above ground temperature. I came to a fairly accurate system which has allowed me to pull in the localized weather from Yahoo Weather for the different neighborhoods and add a weighting system for the temperature at the platforms.
On the tests that I have been doing it has been accurate to a couple of degrees around 80% of the time. However, like the weather, sometimes there are some things you cant account for that may affect the weather.
When the L train isn’t running and you’re stranded on the subway platform surrounded by people and sweating profusely, there’s nothing to do but tweet about it. If you get cell phone reception, that is. Here are some of the best complainers from earlier this morning.
Photo by Theo Wenner
