The MTA wants to add more L trains throughout the week to ease riders’ congested commutes.
In response to growing commuter demands, the agency will propose a plan that would add 50 L train roundtrips throughout the week, with the biggest increase in service on Sundays. The boost would cost the MTA $1.7 million annually and will be presented at this month’s MTA board meeting.
“Adding more trips helps get our customers where they need to be faster, but we also must balance that extra strain on our equipment and fleet with a robust maintenance program and an eye on investing in our future,” said MTA Transit President Ronnie Hakim in a statement.
The additional roundtrips would be distributed accordingly: another 11 trips on weekdays, between 9:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.; 12 more trips on Saturdays between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 27 more trips on Sundays, between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., according to a letter the MTA sent Brooklyn Assemblyman Joe Lentol on Monday to alert him of the service proposal.
Another 50 roundtrips would roughly equate to a 15% increase in the L train schedule. The line currently makes 339 roundtrips each week. In terms of congestion, the added service translates to anywhere between six and 15 fewer riders per train car, according to the letter.
Lentol said the extra train trips will be particularly beneficial to those who visit North Brooklyn on weekends to shop and eat.
“These service increases will not only reduce headway times they will also reduce the number of riders per car, allowing for a more comfortable commute,” said Lentol in a statement. “It is clear that these increases speak to the population explosion in North Brooklyn.”
If approved by the MTA board, the L train will begin running the additional trains in June 2017 — right when the MTA plans to partially close the M train to demolish and rebuild its deteriorated, 103-year-old Myrtle Viaduct in Bushwick.
The agency expects that the extra weekday trips to help bear the burden of M train riders who might begin taking the L to work during the eight-month construction project.
