The absurd story of the L train

[Music] let me tell you a story this is the story of a train that disrupted so many lives uprooted businesses residents and had people living in anxiety for a good three years this is the story of the L train [Music] welcome to Urban caffeine my name is Thea and you're watching a channel that talks about all the trains in New York City make sure to hit that like button so YouTube knows to share this video with others first of all what is the L train the L train is one of the few Crosstown trains that run the width of Manhattan the others being the 7 and E the reason why the L train is so important is because it services so much of Brooklyn and easily connects travelers to all these lines which are important to getting around Manhattan back in 2016 where we're going to start our story the L train had a ridership of about 400 000 per workday to give you an idea 400 000 is more than the population of New Orleans or Tampa during this time I remember taking the L train during morning rush hour and it was so full I couldn't even get on it was so packed that it made sardine cans look like first class I let two more L trains go by before finally deciding to just suck it up and push my way in my personal record was letting three trains go by before forcing my way on the train the highest record I know of was an old roommate who let 11 trains go by before finally getting on board so if you think of that situation and figure if trains were coming every three to five minutes which would be ideal then that would mean waiting on the platform anywhere between 33 minutes and 55 minutes the L train was really that bad so you can imagine the mass hysteria when on July 2016 the city announced that L train was shutting down for a year and a half ah let's go back a few years to 2012. being called a superstorm tonight Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy devastated New York City and one infrastructure that was heavily damaged was the Canarsie tunnel that ran through the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn to repair this tunnel there were two options either the L would have a partial shutdown for three years or a full shutdown for 18 months which was half the time it was voted at a full shutdown for 18 months would be better the idea was they just pulled the Band-Aid off to shut it down and fix it as soon as possible so we could move on with our lives the proposed shutdown was from the last track of the L train in Brooklyn and all the stations in Manhattan with the rest of the L train station in Brooklyn still operating but Manhattan is where most of everyone goes for work so all this was announced in 2016 and that was the year I decided to move to New York City I was looking for some places to live in Brooklyn and when I mentioned Williamsburg to her friend I was immediately shut down and this person who texted me didn't even take the L train regularly but they were well aware of what was happening because it was such a big deal it was clear that the L train was shutting down for a year and a half but the problem was that the MTA didn't have a solid plan on what to do for alternative transportation for all those people trying to get to Manhattan it's always worrisome when there's no solid plan especially for something this important especially for something that transports 400 000 riders in a single day so everyone was just sitting and waiting to see what the Alternatives would be because nobody wants to jump the gun and pack up and move out moving in New York City is hard especially if you've found the perfect place for you it's very hard to find a place that you love when you move to New York you're lucky if you find a place right away that you want to stay there for years and years to come but sometimes it takes two three four five moves to find the right neighborhood for you if you're interested to know what renting is like or the process of renting in New York City I've made a video last week just on that topic so check it out in the description so everyone along the L train both residents and businesses were just sitting and waiting before making any drastic decisions with their lives there were even dedicated websites independently made to give the latest news and monitor the situation and whenever there's a gap in any plan it's filled up with other people's imaginations and so alternative transit for the L train was just all over the place everybody was pitching in there were proposed gondolas a pontoon bridge on the East River and even a floating bubble Bridge there are even hosted design competitions to find solutions for the L train shutdown along with lawsuits and threats of lawsuits I mean this whole situation was gaining national attention all the while the G train was getting optimized to transfer some community tutors to the seven and E trains that will take them to Manhattan it was very important that the G train would be reliable during their L train shutdown but in order to optimize the G train that meant it had to be shut down itself so that it could have maintenance and repairs so leading up to the plan shutdown of the L train every weekend I swear every weekend that g was shut down which is awful because it's just such an important train line in Brooklyn if you want to learn more about the G train I also made a video on this check that out in the description below as we got closer to the shutdown date which was April 2019 but there was a full-on campaign to let people know that that L was shutting down there were constantly people at the Bedford station handing out flyers to let people know that this is going to happen this is the reality that we are heading towards the L is shutting down but there was still no Alternatives there was still no solid alternative plan on how to get people to Manhattan Sans the L train so leading up to 2019 there were two camps of people some were not renewing their lease and moving out of Northern Brooklyn and Williamsburg and the second Camp were people who were ready to accept their fate and see what would happen I was borderline between the two but serendipitously I did find an apartment that I could afford and was in a nicer location with better public transit so I just eventually moved out otherwise I would probably still be living in Williamsburg as I speak the reality of the shutdown was slowly sinking in and as people were moving out businesses that relied on customers that took the L train were trying to come up with plan on how to survive the MTA also announced boosting the services on the 7 e and G to help support the loss of the L along with this getting larger ferries that traveled on the East River and getting more buses to help with the load people were about to Buckle in and get this show on the road but then all of a sudden out of nowhere it was announced that the full shutdown was not going to happen not gonna happen out of nowhere there was this announcement that this new technology from Europe can be used to repair the tunnel without having a complete shutdown in just under two years I fell off my seat when I read this news people have uprooted their lives businesses were in anxiety and worry for the last two and a half years and all of a sudden out of nowhere there's this new technology from Europe that has saved the L train people honest to goodness pooped out bricks we went from a complete shutdown to a Slowdown and then we come to 2020. fast breaking developments in the coronavirus emergency coronavirus coronavirus at this point nobody is really taking the subway much less talking about it I'm not gonna lie depending on where you were in New York City during this time things are looking Bleak hundreds of people were dying every day and it doesn't help that when you look up you get some Silent Hill Vibes people were living in paranoia and isolation and through all this Doom and Gloom there was this headline that I had to read twice the L train tunnel repairs were completed ahead of schedule ah it's the moments like these that I truly believe the world is a funny place and life itself is a humorous spectacle but I will end with this the New York City subway is legs behind transit systems around the world it's not the best it's not perfect it's far from perfect but it's what we have so we're all forced to use it since most of the time it's the fastest way to get around the city and the cheapest minus walking or riding a bike most people have learned to deal with this but obviously this shouldn't be the way it is because of its imperfections and laughable inadequacies I have this love-hate relationship with the subway the Subways like the weather You can predict how well it's gonna run on certain days but your prediction is only good 50 of the time sure we have technology and a buttload of apps that we can use but apps are not always a Surefire way to predict if the subway is coming or not or if they're sudden so service changes The Saga of the L train shutdown was so ridiculous that it's hilarious and all I could do is just laugh at the situation I would like to know your thoughts on this comment below were you there during the L train shutdown did you move out did you wait and see if you weren't there what do you think of this what would you have done if this topic was interesting to you I recommend watching the movie The End Of The Line where they did talk about the L train shutdown and Andy Byford famously known as train Daddy I also linked an article that chronologically lists the events that happened leading up to the L train shutdown or non-shutdown check those things out in the description below I hope you enjoyed this video if you did please share it with someone you know because as I've always said sharing is caring thank you all to the patreon members of urban caffeine if you want to help out this channel while gaining exclusive content check out patreon.com Urban caffeine thank you all so much for watching and until the next video Happy new yorking

Channel: Urban Caffeine

Views: 52,881

Keywords: nyc, new york, new york city, l train, new york subw, new york subway, new york subway train, nyc subway, brooklyn, williamsburg, l train nyc, l train mta, bedford brooklyn, bedford avenue brooklyn, l train shutdown, l train shuttle, l train shuttle bus, public transit, public transportation, public transit in america, mta train, mta, nyc metro train, mta nyc subway, mta subway, least used stations, nyc subway trains, public transit be like, ny mta subway, mta trains

Id: g5ZeI9BQLms

Length: 10min 38sec (638 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 24 2023