Archive for June, 2011
Jun
08
Public Finance lawyer named to MTA board
Posted by: | CommentsJonathan Ballon, a public finance lawyer, is the newest MTA Board member. The New York State Senate confirmed Ballon yesterday to a six-year term. He was appointed to the board by Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the suggestion of Robert P. Astorino, the county executive of Westchester, and is likely replacing Donald Cecil, a holdover appointee whose term had expired in 2009.
A Business Wire piece has a bit more on Ballon’s background: “Mr. Ballan is a Member of the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. and heads the firm’s New York Public Finance practice group. He has served for many years in a number of significant appointed governmental positions, including as Chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of New York, Chairman of the New York State Public Asset Fund, and Board Member and Chairman of the Capital Committee of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.”
Ballon reported has “broad experience developing innovative legal structures for financings for numerous state and local governments.” At a time when the MTA’s finances are on a shaky foundation, his expertise could come in handy.
Jun
08
NJ Transit seeking station naming deals
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The never-ending push to generate excitement and, more importantly, revenue from transit naming rights deals has spread across the Hudson. New Jersey Transit is engaged in an effort to sell the naming rights to stations and advertising space on trains, and the bidding procedure has sparked a controversy.
Mike Frassinelli of The Star-Ledger reports:
In the not-too-distant future, a commuter going from Newark to Hamilton might board a Minute Maid express train and take it to Sprite Platform at Coca-Cola Transit Center. Such an itinerary could result from NJ Transit’s intention to sell advertising rights to its stations, terminal facilities and locomotives.
This planned sale of naming and product-advertising rights has set off a frenzy among companies trying to pay NJ Transit tens of millions of dollars to broker the potentially lucrative sales. It also has led to a formal protest from one bidder, who contends the transit agency would leave almost $12 million on the table by renewing with the advertising company that now holds the contract.
Craig Heard, president and CEO of Gateway Outdoor Advertising in Hackettstown, said NJ Transit did not allow his company into the final round of bidding even though Gateway’s $65 million offer of guaranteed revenue was nearly 20 percent more than the $53.3 million guaranteed by the current contractor, the Titan Outdoor advertising agency.
Over the past few years, I’ve followed transit naming rights deals closely, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they are mostly smoke and mirrors. Transit authorities speak glowingly of them as potential revenue sources while advertisers sound excited for a few months. When the bidding process begins though, dollars at all but the most trafficked of stations fall far short of expectations.
In New Jersey, I can see a few things happening: First, the deal to sell ad space on the outside of trains will be far more popular and lucrative than the station naming rights deals. Perhaps NJ Transit can realize some dollars for Newark Penn Station or Trenton, but beyond that, it won’t sell many station names. Second, New Jersey Transit is sacrificing some dollars by putting its eggs in the Titan basket. This company, after all, was recently dumped by the MTA for failure to make payments.
Anyway, with money short, New Jersey Transit seems to be joining a long list of transit authorities who think they can strike gold when all they’ve found is nothing.
Jun
08
The Way We Ride: By the Numbers
Posted by: | CommentsWhen the MTA releases their annual breakdown of subway ridership by station, I tend to spend far too much time playing with these numbers. The new figures came out yesterday and are available here on the MTA’s website and here as a sortable Excel file. It is the stuff of what data dreams are made of.
We begin with the system’s most popular stations, and we see a newcomer in our midst. With construction impacting Fulton St., it slips to 11, and a Queens station — the Flushing-Main St. terminal along the 7 — enters the top ten. Considering how only one train services Flushing, that it cracks the top ten speaks volumes of that area’s growth. As good as the soup dumplings are, I don’t think 18.6 million folks are heading home from Joe’s Shanghai.
| 2009 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Times Sq-42 St/42 St | 58099313 | 58422597 | 0.60% |
| Grand Central-42 St | 42002971 | 41903210 | -0.20% |
| 34 St-Herald Square | 36945680 | 37769752 | 2.20% |
| 14 St-Union Sq | 34245245 | 34730692 | 1.40% |
| 34 St-Penn Station | 27196195 | 26892243 | -1.10% |
| 34 St-Penn Station | 24182097 | 24265016 | 0.30% |
| 59 St-Columbus Circle | 20418815 | 20711058 | 1.40% |
| Lexington Av/59 St | 18924005 | 19553597 | 3.30% |
| 86 St | 18891890 | 19147021 | 1.40% |
| Flushing-Main St | 18287069 | 18630490 | 1.90% |
The least popular stations too don’t often change that much. More people pass through Times Square in a day than visit the Aqueduct Racetrack all year, and the stations in the Rockaways don’t see much traffic in good times. That many were closed for renovations last year depresses ridership even further. Whitlock Ave. and East 143rd Sts. crack the list because they too were shuttered for renovations for much of 2010.
Not listed here is 21st St. on the G train. It wasn’t closed for construction last year and was just the 11th least used station in all four boroughs. Fewer than 320,000 straphangers passed through the station that is clearly visible from the G’s northern terminus at Court Square.
| 2009 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aqueduct Racetrack | 27004 | 29644 | 9.80% |
| Beach 105 St | 58588 | 65802 | 12.30% |
| Broad Channel | 93087 | 92523 | -0.60% |
| Beach 44 St | 176647 | 143788 | -18.60% |
| Whitlock Av | 480146 | 163461 | -66.00% |
| Beach 98 St | 259501 | 215474 | -17.00% |
| Aqueduct-North Conduit Av | 249341 | 238119 | -4.50% |
| East 143 St | 239458 | 256277 | 7.00% |
| Rockaway Park-Beach116 St | 267902 | 268625 | 0.30% |
| 21 St | 333612 | 319984 | -4.10% |
While pure numbers validate our belief that one station is crowded while another is less so, the percentages are more interesting to explore. Has one station become more popular than another? If so, why? By and large, the ones listed in the top 10 became more popular because those nearby were closed. That’s why a bunch of stations along the 6 in the Bronx, the A in the Rockaways and the Brighton Line in Brooklyn saw big increases in ridership last year.
Only one station along the L line — Morgan Ave. with 20 percent growth — made the top ten cut, but the rest of the L train stations throughout Williamsburg and east into Bushwick showed strong across-the-board growth. Michael Grynbaum speculated that gentrification is the cause of the uptick in ridership. Bedford Ave. is now the 46th most popular station around. Of note too was the West 8th St./New York Aquarium stop which saw an increase in straphangers of over 11 percent.
| 2009 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elder Av | 2050983 | 2864031 | 39.6% |
| Roosevelt Island | 1875228 | 2580003 | 37.6% |
| St Lawrence Av | 1284770 | 1655340 | 28.8% |
| Beach 36 St | 263693 | 326592 | 23.9% |
| Lexington Av-63 St | 3989743 | 4889704 | 22.6% |
| Beverley Rd | 889066 | 1070872 | 20.4% |
| Morgan Av | 1684084 | 2021162 | 20.0% |
| Parkside Av | 1777758 | 2050518 | 15.3% |
| Castle Hill Av | 2036025 | 2345255 | 15.2% |
| Dyckman St | 1681370 | 1931287 | 14.9% |
And finally, we arrive at the losers. Below are the top ten stations that saw major declines in ridership. For this chart, I omitted most of the shuttered stations along the 6 and A because the declines were drastic. Whitlock Ave. was closed for most of 2010, and it saw ridership drop by 66 percent. If the turnstiles aren’t on and the trains aren’t stopping, it’s going to be hard for passengers to find their ways on board.
The remaining declines paint an interesting picture of a train in trouble. Many of the G train stations are bleeding passengers, and it’s hard to explain why. Broadway, for instance, saw a 10 percent dip in ridership. Maybe more straphangers who would have ridden the G to Court Square to transfer to the E simply find it convenient to take the M into Midtown. Myrtle-Willoughby and Nassau Ave. too though are losing passengers at a brisk rate.
Other stations can trace their declining numbers to the service cuts. With M trains no longer heading throughLower Manhattan and along 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, Broad St. saw its ridership decline. I do wonder why the JFK stop at Howard Beach saw a seven percent dip in traffic as well.
| 2009 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadway | 1047629 | 941243 | -10.2% |
| East 180 St | 2049824 | 1852836 | -9.6% |
| Myrtle-Willoughby Avs | 1346184 | 1223378 | -9.1% |
| Broad St | 1795906 | 1636627 | -8.9% |
| Nassau Av | 2321809 | 2126804 | -8.4% |
| 215 St | 635361 | 582955 | -8.2% |
| Rector St | 2662135 | 2463933 | -7.4% |
| Dyckman St | 2406407 | 2237661 | -7.0% |
| Howard Beach-JFK Airport | 976481 | 908576 | -7.0% |
| Church Av | 4966209 | 4654613 | -6.3% |
Anyway, that’s your peek at the way we rode in 2010. Make of it as you will. It’s certainly one way to analyze the ever-changing demographics of New York City.
Jun
07
The PATH stinks
Posted by: | CommentsWhile we know full well that the New York City Transit subway system can, at various points and places, smell pretty bad — 2nd Ave. on the F, anyone? — the city’s other subway ain’t exactly wine and roses. The PATH trains might not exude human waste quite as frequently as our city’s system does, but they have a certain odor to them. Today, Christine Haughney of The Times tries to get to the bottom of the odor, and the culprit seems to be mold or mildew.
Haughney spoke with PATH officials and rode the trains with Larry Sunshine, a so-called odor mitigation specialist, to determine the source of the smell. PATH representatives say the aroma is one of new cars, but I’m skeptical. New subway cars smell great while the PATH has an earthy nose to it. Sunshine believes the aroma is one of mildew and plastic chemicals and the general smell of a subway system all wrapped up into one. I sure am glad The Times got to the bottom of this underground mystery.
Jun
07
BRT Battlegrounds: Hylan Boulevard
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From the MTA press office:
MTA New York City Transit and the New York City Department of Transportation invite the public to discuss transit service, traffic conditions and pedestrian safety on Staten Island’s Hylan Boulevard during an Open House that will be held on Wednesday, June 8, at The Renaissance Conference Center in the Grant City section of Staten Island beginning at 7 p.m.
The study will examine ways to improve safety, traffic flow and ease congestion along this major thoroughfare. The scope of the study will extend from the Staten Island Mall on Richmond Avenue to the 86th Street (R) subway station in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. It carries several express bus routes and is served by the S78 and S79 with a combined average weekday bus ridership of more than 30,000.
The MTA and NYC DOT have already started to work on bringing Select Bus Service to Hylan Boulevard following its successful introduction in the Bronx (Bx12) and Manhattan (M15). In addition to concepts for Select Bus Service, the Hylan Boulevard Transportation study team will develop two or three different proposals for transportation improvements to be evaluated and discussed with the community.
The public is invited to learn more about the objectives of the study, examine display boards, and offer comments regarding transit, traffic and curb use on Hylan Boulevard with project team members. The event begins with a formal presentation at 7:15 p.m. but the general public may stop by any time between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Regency Room of The Renaissance at 2131 Hylan Boulevard (at Bedford Avenue) in Staten Island.
For more on the Hylan Boulevard proposal, check out NYC DOT’s project page.
So why does Hylan Boulevard matter? Well, lately, the MTA and DOT’s joint Select Bus Service efforts have not been met with arms wide open. The plan to turn 34th Street into a Transitway that would have benefited commuters, pedestrians and businesses alike was shot down by a small but stridently vocal group of NIMBYs. Hylan Boulevard, though, is the perfect place for a bus lane.
Staten Island is a tricky area for transit improvements. Because it has so long been disconnected from the subway map and enjoys some express bus service, it is by far the most car-dependent area of the city, and its residents are skeptical of anything that takes road space away from autos. Yet, this SBS proposal — which connects to the R train in Bay Ridge but should continue deeper into Brooklyn if not Manhattan — could be the first step in speeding up bus service and improving transit in and out of Staten Island.
I won’t be able to make the meeting tomorrow, but hopefully, Staten Islanders will take this chance to voice their support for better bus service and more transit options in an underserved borough.
Jun
07
Musings on the traffic in New York City
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A photo I took in March shows just how poorly maintained New York City's roads are. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)
Every now and then, I’ll volunteer to help some friends move. I grew up driving in New York City and don’t find myself fazed by the traffic and manic drivers as out-of-towners often are. Still, driving around the city is no easy task, and yesterday, I saw first-hand just how bad conditions have become.
My route was a fairly straightforward one yesterday. We started in Park Slope, had to make a pick-up in Midtown Manhattan and then had to travel a few miles into Queens before circling back to Brooklyn. I was tasked with driving the U-Haul van, and while these Ford vehicles don’t have great shocks, we felt every single pothole around. On the BQE and at Tillary St., rutted roads create hazardous conditions; in Manhattan and on the side streets of Brooklyn, potholes are everywhere.
As I drove, I reflected on the state of the roads and how indicative they are of the general transportation policy in the city and state right now. At its most basic level, the purpose of a government is to fund, maintain and repair things we deem to be common goods. Because of free-rider problems, that has always included roads. After all, if my neighbors want to pay for road improvements, why should I contribute anything and not just free-ride onto their efforts?
Right now, though, the government seems to be failing at even simple road maintenance. At a time when municipality spending is tied up in health care and pension costs, the roads — that most basic element of government responsible — are falling apart. In New York City, at least, one might argue that the subways should replace roads because a much higher percentage of the city’s population rely on subways than rely on the road, but the point remains the same. The city and state cannot afford to fund the subways either. After driving around three boroughs today, I’m almost inclined to say that the subways are now in better shape than the roads, and that’s saying a lot.
But beyond the condition of the road, something else jumped out at me: From around 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a Monday, the roads were absolutely clogged with people. Our full route required three legs, none of them smoother than the other. We had to travel around 9 miles from Brooklyn to Midtown, and that took an hour. We had to go from Midtown into Queens, and that took an hour. We had to go from Queens to Brooklyn, and that took only around 40 minutes. That doesn’t count the time I spent circling blocks in Park Slope looking for a final parking spot.
Everywhere in Manhattan, the roads were crammed with cars. Across the Manhattan Bridge, up to Houston, west to Sixth Ave. and north, traffic was stop-and-go. I’d hate to have to make this ride at Midtown, and it’s no stretch to say that the subway would have been faster. The ride east out of Queens to the Ed Koch Bridge was just as bad. Wall-to-wall delivery vans and trucks, taxis and passenger cars mar the roads.
All of this brings me to a simple conclusion: For the sanity of its drivers, for the sake of its roads, for the quality of its air, for the ability to drive around the city when necessary, New York needs a congestion pricing plan. Had we needed to pay an additional fee to drive through Manhattan yesterday but with the promise of fewer cars on the road, I gladly would have made that trade-off. If I knew, trucks weren’t going to back up on Canal St. from one end of the island to the other, if I knew getting across 59th St. to the bridge would be a faster ride with fewer one-person cars hogging up precious space, I would pay.
Ultimately, maintaining control over the quality of the roads involves significant investments. The city has to keep the roads in good repair, but it also must figure out how to prioritize the use of those roads. Right now, things have run amok in New York City, and the inmates seem to control transportation policy. No one is winning that battle.
Jun
06
Video of the Day: Harry Nugent on the 1 train
Posted by: | CommentsOn the same day I discussed intrusive MTA announcements, allow me to present Harry Nugent, one-time conductor on the 1 train.
Gothamist dug up this video over the weekend, and it provides an interesting counterpoint to the MTA’s automated announcements. They may be easier to hear, but there’s a certain charm to a conductor who’s willing to inject personality and information into the PA calls. It’s funny too how these complaints come full circle. We have automated announcements because the PA systems weren’t up to par, but now the PA systems with their pre-recorded messages are grating as well. You can’t win ‘em all.
For more on Nugent, check out this 1993 article The Times ran to commemorate his retirement.
Jun
06
Cell phone signals as subway countdown clocks
Posted by: | CommentsA few months ago, I spoke with Alex Bell, an engineering student at Columbia and the brother of an old friend of mine, about his transit app. His idea was simple: crowdsource train locations through user-submitted messages. Unfortunately, the app never reached the critical mass of users it needed to br successful, but Bell isn’t giving up.
As The Times reports today, Bell has signed up with Densebrain, a mobile company that wants to use passive cell signals to triangulate train locations. With the approval of each user, Densebrain’s app reads when the cell signal is lost and notes when and where service is restored. For instance, if someone loses signal just south of 161st St. in the Bronx and resurfaces at Grand Central, the app knows that this user took a 4 train, and it can provide real-time info on that train’s location. With over 600,000 users of its free NYCMate subway map app, Densebrain thinks it has the user base to support such a project.
Of course, concerns over privacy remain to be tested. Will users consent to anonymous location tracking? And how will the app distinguish between different trains that run the same route? For now though, Densebrain’s plan is another in the effort to tell us just where our trains are and when, and that sounds promising to me. [New York Times]
Jun
06
The Way We Ride: Noisily
Posted by: | CommentsThe New York City Subways are not a quiet place. Noise filters into our rides from nearly every source. People lost in their music forget how loud their cheap headphones are; kids coming home from school laugh and joke with their friends; subway car brakes squeal; metal-on-metal sparks fly.
While the outside noise is impossible to contain, the MTA’s own announcements aren’t helping. The new countdown clocks make waiting for trains far less stressful but also far more bothersome. Every two minutes the loud pre-recorded announcements let us know that the next Brooklyn-bound 2 train is two minutes away while the next Bronx-bound train is 4 minutes away and over and over and over again.
The on-board announcements are even worse. We are bombarded with messages from the New York City Police Department that haven’t changed in nearly 10 years. We are told not to ride on the outside of the train. We are urged not to litter. But the worst, says Juliet Lapidos in this weekend’s Daily News, are those exhorting us to be patient when unavoidable delays arise. In fact, she absolutely hates it.
Nearly every day, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority asks me, quite insistently, to “please be patient.” On the F line, which I use to commute to work from Brooklyn, I’m often held up at Jay Street-MetroTech. There, a pre-recorded message explains that it’s necessary to wait for a connecting train: “please be patient.” At West Fourth Street, I’m told there’s been a signal malfunction in midtown: “please be patient.” Stalled at Second Avenue due to trouble with the closing doors: “please be patient.”
..Well, to those who run the sprawling MTA bureaucracy, I’ll say this: Thanks but no thanks. New York’s subway system is vast, constantly in operation and perennially underfunded. It serves some five million people every weekday. Delays are unavoidable. But just skip the “please be patient,” or the PBP. It’s presumptuous and condescending – and, most of all, counterproductive.
Anyone with a basic understanding of psychology knows that when you request patience, you draw attention to the passage of time. It’s comparable to that tired trick your uncle trots out at barbecues: “Don’t think of an elephant.” “Please be patient, you say? Come to think of it, I’m feeling pretty impatient. How long have I been on this train, anyway?” The more they ask, the worse it gets.
According to Lapidos, the MTA says the messages were “introduced to soften messages that contain useful yet unwelcome information.” They were not tested on a focus group though who could have noticed how annoying they are. The messages, Lapidos writes, “irritate and inflame. She says, “The worst is when a computerized message delivers the message – which is becoming increasingly common as the system automates many of its operations. The computerized voice is annoyingly unflappable; it most assuredly does not feel my pain.”
Of all of the complaints about customer relations underground, I find Lapidos’ gripe to be spot-on. These prerecorded messages do nothing to inform straphangers of the cause of the delay or the amount of time the train will be waiting. On the B train every morning, the conductor asks us to be patient before we cross the Manhattan Bridge, and the delay is inevitable five or ten seconds longer than the announcement. In that case, the announcement simply draws attention to a delay that isn’t.
So what’s the solution? Lapidos offers a great one: “The MTA would do well to give its riders more and more useful data. Tell us about how long we should expect to wait…Announcing that the connecting train should arrive within two minutes, or that the signal trouble should be cleared up within three, will go much further than a PBP in encouraging docile acceptance.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Jun
03
A weekend without interborough L service
Posted by: | CommentsIt is a doozy of a weekend for folks who live along the Canarsie Line. Due to upgrades along the L, there is no service from 8th Ave. to Broadway Junction, and all of the Williamsburgians and Bushwickites are stuck with shuttle buses and alternate routes including weekend M service. On the bright, the new Court Square Station should come in handy this weekend.
As always, these come to me via New York City Transit and are subject to change without notice. Listen to on board announcements, check signs in your local station and be prepared for longer than usual rides this weekend. Subway Weekender has the map.
At all times beginning until June 2011, the Manhattan-bound platform at 238th Street will be closed for station component work. For Manhattan-bound service, customers should take the Bx9 bus or walk to the 242nd or 231st Street Station.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6, there are no 1 trains between 14th Street and South Ferry due to Port Authority work at the WTC site and no 1 trains between 168th Street and 242nd Streets due to station component work between 242nd and Dyckman Streets. 2, 3 and A trains, free shuttle buses and the M3 bus provide alternate service.
Free shuttle buses replace 1 service at three locations:
- Between Chambers Street and South Ferry
- Between 168th Street and 191st Street (also the M3 bus)
- Between 207th Street A station and 242nd Street 1 station
2 and 3 trains operate local in both directions between Chambers Street and 96th Street, 1 service runs express between 14th and 34th Streets.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6, Brooklyn-bound 2 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to platform edge rehabilitation at Bergen Street and Franklin Avenue and cable installation at Franklin Avenue.
From 4 a.m. Saturday, June 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, June 5, Bronx-bound 2 trains skip Jackson Avenue, Prospect Avenue, Intervale Avenue, Simpson Street, Freeman Street, 174th Street and East Tremont Avenue due to track panel installation at Freeman Street and 174th Street.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, Brooklyn-bound 3 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to platform edge rehabilitation at Bergen Street and Franklin Avenue and cable installation at Franklin Avenue.
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5 and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6, Brooklyn-bound 4 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to platform edge rehabilitation at Bergen Street and Franklin Avenue and cable installation at Franklin Avenue.
From 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Saturday, June 4 and from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Sunday, June 5, Bronx-bound 5 trains skip Jackson Avenue, Prospect Avenue, Intervale Avenue, Simpson Street, Freeman Street, 174th Street and East Tremont Avenue due to track panel installation at Freeman Street and 174th Street. Note: During this time, trains run every 20 minutes between Dyre Avenue and Bowling Green.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6, Manhattan-bound 6 trains skip Morrison Avenue-Soundview and Whitlock Avenue due to station rehabilitations at Elder and St. Lawrence Avenues.
From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, June 5, Manhattan-bound 7 trains skip 111th, 103rd, 90th, and 82nd Streets due to completion work on elevated structure.
During the overnight hours, from 11 p.m. Friday, June 3 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, June 4, from 11 p.m. Saturday, June 4 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, June 5, and from 11 p.m. Sunday, June 5 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6, uptown A trains skip 72nd, 81st, 86th, 96th, 103rd, 110th, and 116th Streets due track work south of 110th Street.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, uptown C trains skip 72nd, 81st, 86th, 96th, 103rd, 110th and 116th Streets due to track work south of 110th Street.
During the overnight hours, from 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 3 to 5 a.m. Saturday, June 4, from 11:30 p.m. Saturday, June 4 to 6 a.m. Sunday, June 5, and from 11:30 p.m. Sunday, June 5 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6, Manhattan-bound E trains skip 65th Street, Northern Blvd., 46th Street, Steinway Street and 36th Street due to track work north of 36th Street.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6, there is no L trains service between 8th Avenue (Manhattan) and Broadway Junction (Brooklyn) due to CBTC track and signal work. The M train, M14 bus and free shuttle buses provide alternate service. Free shuttle buses operate in three section:
- Between Broadway Junction and Myrtle-Wyckoff Aves.
- Between Myrtle-Wyckoff Aves. and Lorimer Street (L)/Metropolitan Avenue (G)
- Between Lorimer Street (L)/Metropolitan Avenue (G) and Marcy Avenue (J, M)
The M train is extended to 57th Street-6th Avenue. The M14 bus replaces L train service between 1st and 8th Avenues. Note: Manhattan-bound customers should transfer to the A or J at Broadway Junction or the M at Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues.
From 6 a.m. to midnight Saturday, June 4 and from 8 a.m. to midnight Sunday, June 5, M service is extended to 57th Street-6th Avenue due to work on the L line.
From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, M trains skip Fresh Pond Road in both directions due to platform edge repairs. Customers should use the Forest Avenue station instead. There is a free bus connection to the Q58, B13 or B20.
From 4 a.m. Saturday, June 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, June 5, Brooklyn-bound N trains skip 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue and 39th Avenue due to structure painting.
From 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, N trains run local in Brooklyn between DeKalb Avenue and 59th Street in both directions due to structure painting.
From 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday, June 5, Brooklyn-bound R trains skip 65th Street, Northern Blvd, 46th Street, Steinway Street and 36th Street due to track work north of 36th Street.
