For me, every commute on the 'L' train at 6:30 a.m. is H - E - double hockey stick! If you didn't know this, the earlier you board this train, the more bums there are -- scattered along seats, sprawled out sleeping. This means us hard working, tax paying New Yorkers - along with school children on their way to getting an education don't get to sit or rest before the hustle and bustle of our workdays.
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| Any stop can be your "last" on the L! |
Many of my morning rides are spent trying to drown out loud commuters who are wide awake - laughing and chatting it up on their cell phones before the sun even rises! During other treks into the city, I'm simply trying to maintain my "space" in a seat where I get smushed by someone who has no regard for personal physical boundaries. Am I getting my $2.75 worth? Is ANYONE?
Of course not!!
Of course not!!
What gets me riled up is the freestyle mornings! Those are the days when anything can happen. The 'L' train has "signal problems" and "train traffic ahead" or some "mechanical disturbance/delay" that renders everyone's trip useless! Just one minute can be the difference between getting to work on time and going back home altogether because it would simply take too long to reroute yourself from anywhere along the line to another train that could get you to your destination.
Trust me, whenever there's an issue with the 'L' in the morning, I'm tempted plenty of times to just get on a train back to Canarsie and call in sick. The headaches produced by MTA woes is sometimes too much to bare!!! But why let the MTA defeat me and make me miss an entire day of work!!
A couple of weeks ago, my morning commute - which hadn't been disrupted for quite a few months (shock and a half!!) - was off to a quiet start. Of course, it was too good to be true! A few seconds after the train pulled away from the Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue stop, the cars seemed to bump unexpectedly into each other and I could feel an abrupt halting of the gears.
Something wasn't right! Sure enough, after two minutes of not moving, the train conductor announced that there were NO L trains running in either direction due to "someone who had been hit by a train at Myrtle-Avenue."
Something wasn't right! Sure enough, after two minutes of not moving, the train conductor announced that there were NO L trains running in either direction due to "someone who had been hit by a train at Myrtle-Avenue."
WHAT!
Crazy enough, as I evacuated the train along with hundreds of fellow commuters, we saw a middle -aged man hunched over on the edge of the platform. MTA staff yelled at everyone to stand back as they assessed the situation.
It was uncertain if the guy hit by our train was inebriated, homeless or simply a straphanger who was side-swiped after leaning too far out to see if the train was coming. It could have been any one of these tangibles. Regardless, we all got yelled at for standing around (and what else could we do - we had no idea yet what our alternative transportation options would be!!!).
As soon as FDNY personnel showed up with their gurneys in tow, we were forced off the platform and upstairs to take an alternative route - the 'M' train - a line that practically stops at every block in the borough!! Sure, we were lucky to be stranded at transfer point - but what if we weren't?
As soon as FDNY personnel showed up with their gurneys in tow, we were forced off the platform and upstairs to take an alternative route - the 'M' train - a line that practically stops at every block in the borough!! Sure, we were lucky to be stranded at transfer point - but what if we weren't?
For those of us who wanted to take an 'L' train back east towards Canarsie - to perhaps catch a better option of transfers into the city - it was a no-go. So NO trains operated for about an hour on the 'L' as officials sussed out the situation, soon leaving thousands of riders fending for themselves at the last minute.
This harrowing course of events on the 'L' seems to take place more often than not - and no one has figured out emergency tactics to get riders back on track immediately after an "incident." Investigations, interruptions...the only thing I was thankful of that morning was having the 'M' train option to begin with.
If we were evacuated from the train at, say, Grand Street or Montrose Avenue, commuters would have to foot the bill for a cab to their destination because the MTA wouldn't be able to resolve the situation in a timely fashion.
If we were evacuated from the train at, say, Grand Street or Montrose Avenue, commuters would have to foot the bill for a cab to their destination because the MTA wouldn't be able to resolve the situation in a timely fashion.
Why are we always left stranded?
As you can imagine, I've already had it up to here (hand saluted at forehead level) with the 'L from Hell.' And I'm not alone when I say that straphangers would have been totally frazzled by the mandatory shut down of our 10.24 mile line this April. Unavoidable Hurricane Sandy repairs would be tediously executed along what officials coined the "Canarsie Tube."
Alas!!!
New York's own uncaped hero Governor Andrew Cuomo came to the rescue in early January - tossing out years of engineering studies, budget allotments, contracting plans and everything else that came along with the scope of reconstructing our already doomed 'L' line tunnel. Cuomo and his new "team" of engineers from Columbia and Cornell universities have it down pat.
New York's own uncaped hero Governor Andrew Cuomo came to the rescue in early January - tossing out years of engineering studies, budget allotments, contracting plans and everything else that came along with the scope of reconstructing our already doomed 'L' line tunnel. Cuomo and his new "team" of engineers from Columbia and Cornell universities have it down pat.
Their new agenda calls for construction that only disrupts service during nights and weekends instead of 24/7 - GREAT!
Their new plans will also reportedly shut down one track at a time inside of the Sandy-damaged tube so that we can actually ride uninterruptedly into and out of the city with minor inconvenience...FABULOUS!
Fun fact?
I've been riding the 'L' train since I was 16 years old and to be quite honest, I can't recall too many weekends or late week nights when it actually operated without diversions. There would be weekends at a time when shuttle buses served the line between Rockaway Parkway and Broadway Junction. Then there were days when the 'L' facilitated ONE single shuttle train every 25 minutes on ONE track back and forth between Canarsie and Broadway Junction.
More recently, riders were diverted on the weekends with no trains traveling beyond Broadway Junction, Myrtle Avenue or Lorimer Street so that crews could haul in materials and prepare for the Big Shutdown.
Hey - I should be used to this game of musical trains by now after 20 years!! And we all get it - our precious 'L' is becoming more and more popular every year as Brooklyn's up-and-coming neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick draw in thousands of residents.
I've been riding the 'L' train since I was 16 years old and to be quite honest, I can't recall too many weekends or late week nights when it actually operated without diversions. There would be weekends at a time when shuttle buses served the line between Rockaway Parkway and Broadway Junction. Then there were days when the 'L' facilitated ONE single shuttle train every 25 minutes on ONE track back and forth between Canarsie and Broadway Junction.
More recently, riders were diverted on the weekends with no trains traveling beyond Broadway Junction, Myrtle Avenue or Lorimer Street so that crews could haul in materials and prepare for the Big Shutdown.
Hey - I should be used to this game of musical trains by now after 20 years!! And we all get it - our precious 'L' is becoming more and more popular every year as Brooklyn's up-and-coming neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick draw in thousands of residents.
There have been a slew of editorials, updates and opinion pieces on Gov. Cuomo's reassessment of the updated work span. I had no idea our savvy governor had such astute engineering skills that provoked him to bring on a new team of contractors and planners!
A considerable population of New Yorkers are worried that Cuomo's revamping efforts will just add up to dangerous or useless "patch work." We want permanent resiliency efforts. The pre-Cuomo plans included a multi-million dollar project which involved removing and ripping out ALL of the old wiring/tracks etc.
Will new plans - that include simply relocating power lines and fortifying bench walls - last long enough? And will the new tunnel components be strong enough that crews won't have to come back years later to fix or repair?
Let's get real - it doesn't matter what the itinerary is for the new scope. Send in every army of the government you've got with different resources and insights - our 'L' will practically always mean "Lost"!
Once this rehab project is done, another one will follow in 10 years from now... and who knows what those commuters will have to contend with!
Yes, it's a small victory for daily riders like myself who panicked about which alternative method of transportation we'd use when the Big Shutdown finally happened, so kudos to Cuomo! Crisis averted! If you can't sense my sarcasm, it means we shouldn't be shocked or annoyed at any upcoming plans that infringe on our commute.
In the end, it's just another day in the life of hell on the 'L'.
A considerable population of New Yorkers are worried that Cuomo's revamping efforts will just add up to dangerous or useless "patch work." We want permanent resiliency efforts. The pre-Cuomo plans included a multi-million dollar project which involved removing and ripping out ALL of the old wiring/tracks etc.
Will new plans - that include simply relocating power lines and fortifying bench walls - last long enough? And will the new tunnel components be strong enough that crews won't have to come back years later to fix or repair?
Let's get real - it doesn't matter what the itinerary is for the new scope. Send in every army of the government you've got with different resources and insights - our 'L' will practically always mean "Lost"!
Once this rehab project is done, another one will follow in 10 years from now... and who knows what those commuters will have to contend with!
Yes, it's a small victory for daily riders like myself who panicked about which alternative method of transportation we'd use when the Big Shutdown finally happened, so kudos to Cuomo! Crisis averted! If you can't sense my sarcasm, it means we shouldn't be shocked or annoyed at any upcoming plans that infringe on our commute.
In the end, it's just another day in the life of hell on the 'L'.
