The chronically overcrowded L train, which connects Manhattan to Brooklyn’s fastest growing neighborhoods, is now running 98 more times a week. The NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority just finished installing a new radio-based signal system that allows trains on the line to travel closer together and, as a result, more frequently…
Ridership on the L train has grown 141 percent since 1998 because of a population boom in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, the chosen enclaves of NYC’s hipster set and more recently, a hub of new condo construction. It’s not unusual for riders during the morning rush to let a packed train pass because there’s no room to board it.
The NY MTA announced a plan to increase service on the line eight months ago, which led to a squabble with its largest union over why the new schedule would take so long to implement.
Riders will now see 16 more trains on weekdays and 18 more trains over the course of a weekend.
The MTA says, during the morning rush, customers can shave 30 seconds off their wait with trains now arriving every 3 minutes. Non-rush hour weekday riders, as well as Saturday night revelers, can expect a train every six minutes, down from 7 ½ minutes. And Sunday evening straphangers can expect a train every 6 minutes, down from 8 ½ minutes.
The L train to Manhattan stopped running around 9:45 a.m., sources report. According to the @NYCTrains Twitter feed, there is a police investigation at Union Square.
Gothamist reports that police have charged Ryan Beauchamp with attempted assault (a misdemeanor) and harassment (a violation), not murder, for his involvement in last Friday’s deadly Bedford L station brawl. A misdemeanor carries a maximum of 1 year of jail time, while a violation is up to 15 days. Beauchamp has priors, including an Occupy Wall Street arrest in October and an earlier arrest in Connecticut.
This is the latest development after police first released a sketch, then a video, and then took Beauchamp in for questioning on Tuesday. As of yesterday afternoon one of the “WANTED” fliers still hung in the 1st Avenue L station.
With these charges come new details about the incident and Beauchamp’s background. While initial reports made it seem that both men were to blame and later accounts said Beauchamp was at fault, new witness accounts say Basin initiated the fight after Beauchamp bumped into him. One witness says “there was a point when it was over and Basin followed him.”
Beauchamp is 33-years-old, homeless, and originally from Westchester.
After first releasing a sketch and then surveillance video, police have now identified the suspect in Friday night’s Bedford Ave. L train murder as Ryan Beauchamp. According to reports, Beauchamp is 33-years-old and homeless and had tried to start altercations with several passengers on the train that night.
As you may have read by now, on Friday night an L train struck and killed a 20-year-old man who had fallen on to the subway tracks during a fight. We’ve posted about subway deaths before, but this one hits close to home as it happened at the Bedford L station.
According to accounts, two men were arguing on the train when things became physical. The altercation eventually moved out to the platform and both men fell on to the tracks. When the Manhattan-bound train approached, one man got out and fled, while the other was hit.
Initial reports seemed to put both men at fault, while later reports claimed the victim, a local college student named Joshua Basin, had been attacked by a drunk man.
Police have released a sketch of the suspect. Here is the description from Gothamist: “The suspect is described as a white male, between 30 and 35 years old, with a thin build, light complexion, dirty blond hair with pock marks on the right side of his face. He was wearing brown pants, black rain jacket and black sneakers.”
Call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or visit NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM with any information.
I was waiting for the L train at Bedford Avenue twice in the past three days when I heard announcements involving “a customer injury” and “a police investigation” that resulted in no Manhattan-bound trains. While it is a sad fact that passenger deaths and injuries occur all too frequently, the past few days have been particularly deadly.
The first L train death occurred around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning after a train struck 22-year-old Brian O’Mara of Garden City, Long Island. O’Mara had been standing on the tracks near the 3rd Avenue stop. Service partially resumed three hours later.
A second L train death happened Saturday night when a man became caught on the tracks between an oncoming train and the platform at the 6th Avenue station. There have been several reports of passengers seeing the decapitated head.
Manhattan-bound L trains were delayed again at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning because of a sick passenger at Union Square, according to an announcement from an MTA employee.
What makes the L train particularly dangerous? While last weekend’s deaths happened to people on the tracks, the line’s overcrowding doesn’t help. According to a study published in October, the L train “has grown at three times the rate of the subway system as a whole.” Morning rush hour trains operate at 116% capacity. The MTA is aware of the overcrowding and has pledged to run more trains beginning this summer.
Can these tragedies be prevented by keeping people off the tracks? Cities like Paris and Tokyo have barriers and safety doors along the platforms at some stations.
Notably, within twenty-four hours of the two L train incidents, two other people died within the subway tunnels and walls. Riders found a man in his 60s dead in an R train station in Queens at 2:01 a.m. on Saturday morning. Reports speculate that he may have fallen down stairs. Later that day, an MTA employee found the body of a man near the Nostrand Avenue A station in Brooklyn.
[T]he large number of travelers we are carrying has resulted in many boats reaching their Coast Guard mandated capacity and the loading and unloading of large crowds has at times caused delays in scheduled departures. We expect this to last throughout the free trial period which ends on June 24. If you plan on using the East River Ferry during the free period, especially during the weekend of June 18th and 19th, you should anticipate long boarding delays.
Oh well. Chillax – it’s the weekend!. Enjoy the view during that long platform/pier wait, or simply explore those other alternative modes of transportation.
This could prove useful, especially considering how the L train’s weekend “service” has seriously made us question the MTA’s sanity of late: the new East River Ferry, with three pickups in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area (India St. in Greenpoint, N. 6th St. in N. Williamsburg, Schaefer Landing in S. Williamsburg) will be offering FREE ferry service for its first few days of operation – from June 13-24.
The ferry operates from 7am-8:30pm, with pickups every 20-30 minutes. It also offers a free connecting bus service from the East 34th St. terminal and into east midtown. No word yet on how much the ferry will cost Edit: from a helpful commenter: After the 24th, 1 way trips will be $4, all-day hop-on hop-off passes will be $12, a monthly unlimited pass will be $140, and monthly unlimited with bike $170.
Check out the service map below for more info, or visit the ferry’s website.
Greatest Hits give us this love song to every L train missed connection out there. Here’s a dancey song with a faux-retro video for their song “L Train Girl.” Towards the end, there is a breakdown in the song naming the first six Brooklyn subway stops. “Bedford, Lorimer, Graham, Grand, Montrose, Morgan, I’m the man.” OK. Sold.
