Wasn’t quite so L-ish
Riders roll with slowdown on B’klyn line
The first full day of the LPocalypse didn’t live up to the fear and dread.
L trains began running every 20 minutes between Manhattan and Brooklyn and every 10 minutes within Brooklyn starting Friday — and passengers said it wasn’t as bad as they feared.
“It’s not hectic,” said Brianna Smith, 19, of the Bronx, who rides the L to get to her job at a Whole Foods on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg.
Trains run on just one track between Manhattan and Brooklyn — meaning that Smith and others traveling between the boroughs have to make sure they’re on the right places on the platforms. “We have to wait for the train going the right way,” she said.
So far, so good, said MTA employees.
Some workers spent Saturday directing riders to the correct platforms and announcing when the next trains would arrive. But they acknowledged that the upcoming week might be a difficult transition for commuters getting used to the slowdown.
“I don’t know what Monday will be like,” one employee said.
Orange barricades in the main passage of the Union Square station gave L train riders a designated pathway to their platforms. MTA workers periodically used megaphones to direct straphangers to the proper lines.
Bright pink signs — which have been up at L train stations for weeks — alerted commuters to the changes.
Electric overhead signs urged people to avoid bringing bicycles and other large items aboard trains during “busiest times.”
One Brooklyn-bound standing-room-only train got stuck at Union Square for five minutes. The train crew announced the problem was “delays due to construction.”
On the other side of the East River, riders and cops crowded the Bedford Ave. station in Williamsburg, where the closed exit to Driggs Ave. caused some confusion.
Police were stationed both inside and outside the station, helping MTA employees direct pedestrians to entrances and portable MetroCard “mobile sales” trucks.
“I’m frustrated, but I’m happy it’s for the greater good,” said one rider in the chaotic station. “I’m chill about it.”
Publicly, the MTA was chill about it, too. The official subway Twitter account reported at noon: “Things on the L look like they did at 11 a.m.” The message was much the same the rest of the day.