MORE ROUTES ADDED TO BATTLE L PAIN
Next year’s L-pocalypse will send commuters across Brooklyn and Queens under a series of subway service changes announced Monday.
MTA bosses are adding 66 extra roundtrips on the G line to help straphangers.
From downtown Brooklyn and Queensboro Plaza, commuters will be able to cross the East River with an extra 70 weekday round trips on the A, E, F, J, Z and 7 lines.
The MTA is also adding another 62 trips on the M train for riders who want to use the Williamsburg Bridge.
The plan further adds to L train riders’ pain by cutting 88 weekday trains between Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg and Canarsie. The Manhattan section of the L line will be completely shut down.
MTA officials expect the changes will affect about 80% of displaced L train riders. They figure the other 20% will rely on bikes, buses and ferries to get to and from Manhattan.
Weekend service on the G, M, J, F and E lines also will increase to accommodate L users.
NYC Transit president Andy Byford — who oversees the city’s subway and bus system — said the service changes are one reason many weekend and overnight trains are delayed by maintenance work.
Byford said the lines expected to get service increases need to be in good shape ahead of the L-train shutdown. “We are making these lines as reliable as possible for these new service levels starting in 2019,” he said.
The 15-month shutdown of the L line’s Canarsie Tunnel for Hurricane Sandy repairs begins in April.