At any given hour of the day, a Manhattan or Brooklyn-bound L train generally looks the same—crowded. The benches are almost always full, the cars are loud with conversation and the platforms are bustling with musicians playing tunes ranging from banjo-plucking folk to synchronized percussion.
The subway line, which runs from 14th Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan all the way to Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie, sees over 400,000 riders daily.
However, due to extensive damage from Hurricane Sandy back in 2012, the MTA has recently announced that the L train will shut down between Manhattan and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg in January 2019 for 18 months so that it can be properly repaired.
The MTA has yet to provide details about alternative transportation services to substitute for this closure.
The announcement has been met with mixed reactions among Brooklyn commuters who rely on the L train daily in neighborhoods which are largely disconnected from other subway lines.
Although the MTA’s plan will be highly inconvenient for some, most locals do not plan to relocate to other parts of New York. In fact, with neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Bushwick growing in popularity, many residents are actually hoping that the L train’s closure will help them afford to live in these trendy areas.
“I’m really hoping that the L shutting down will help decrease my rent. I can’t imagine people wanting to move to a place where there’s no subway. But as for me, I love this area and I don’t want to live anywhere else,” commented Megan Lansky, 32, of East Williamsburg, adding, “Taking a shuttle bus will definitely suck, but commuting sucks in general, so I guess it’s not that bad.”
Stephanie Pearson, a 24-year-old living in Bushwick, agreed with Lansky, saying, “I hope rent goes down here. It makes sense that a remote area would become cheaper. Perhaps, with people moving out because of the shutdown, gentrification could reverse itself.”
In fact, a rent decrease in the effected neighborhoods could actually be possible, according to dnainfo. The news source claims that “rents could plummet…between $200 to $450 for one-bedroom apartments.”
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