When Will the L Train Return From Its No-Longer-Watery Grave? [UPDATED] NOW!
UPDATE: We in there.
More »Ladies and Gentlemen: The L train is back.Enjoy your trip home tonight. twitter.com/JoeLhota/statu...
-- Joe Lhota (@JoeLhota) November 8, 2012
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Print ArticleIs The L Train Running? Yes, Much Better Now Actually
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Every straphanger knows about the L train. The (in)famous line that connects the 14th Street corridor of Manhattan with its parallel neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bushwick and many other Brooklyn neighborhoods has its stories.
For some, it is the public transportation reason why Brooklyn has revamped itself as the borough to be in. For others, its service is a running joke (search: L train to Bedford Avenue, any given Saturday or Friday night, lack of personal space).
Exhibit A: "Oh, the L train isn't running this weekend? Great."
But, as of today, those woes may soon be a thing of the past. The MTA, in recognition of the L train's immense popularity, is adding 98 weekly trips for your commuting pleasure: 16 more each weekday, 11 more on Sunday and 7 additional rides on Saturday.
Who said bureaucracy was so inefficient?
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Lonely L Train Riders Now Have Their Own Free WiFi
This week, normally aloof L train riders can unite virtually during their morning commute. Notwork, developed by a creative consultancy group called We Make Cool Sh.it, is a free pirate WiFi network that will operate in the rear cars of the L train from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. every day this week between the Morgan and 8th Avenue stops. Instead of striking up a conversation with your fellow commuters IRL (because, who does that, right?), you can now chat with them on your smartphone, sitting side by side. 
The service also offers feeds from a bunch of sites including Gothamist and Gawker (no Runnin' Scared, it seems) plus a "Missed Connections" section and content from local artists and writers. It's targeted towards the kind of people that regularly ride the L train, in case that wasn't clear.
More »Is the L Train Fucked? New Site Gives the Titillating Answer
Everyone knows L train service is spottier than a Verizon iPhone. Just last week, there was major confusion as to whether or not the train was even running at all! The MTA said yes. The people said no. Finally, our prayers have been answered thanks to a new expletive-filled website that gives you the answer to that single burning question: "Is the L train fucked?" My word! We love single service websites, but "Is Gossip Girl New Tonight?" will forever be our favorite. [via Gothamist]
Missed Connections: the Halloween Edition
Catalyzed by booze and an incessant need to couple up for the winter season (because, let's be honest, NYC relationships function seasonally), Missed Connections has been on fire recently. In addition to the flyers from our lovelorn friend JJ, the Metropolitan-Lorimer bachelor looking for his Kristy (or was it Kristie? Krissy?), Craigslist was full of notable listings in honor of Halloween. For example: 
Survey: Subway Announcements Wah, Wha, Waaah...
If you thought that you couldn't hear those garbled gobbledygook subway announcements alerting you to a delay or disruption at all, well, you were more than 50 percent right. 
The Subway Spy: Smart, Simple Solution for L-Train Pain, or an Assassin of New York Charm?
Every New Yorker falls into one of two categories. There's Group A, people who do strange shit on the subway, and Group B, people who see other people doing strange shit on the subway. Group A used to victimize Group B. But now, the tables are turning. Your subway torturers are possibly having the tables turned on them. 
Catching Up with the Antenna Man
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Wait a minute, we thought -- is that Antenna Man? Turns out it was. We hadn't seen him on the L train for years. He was slightly less eccentrically costumed -- the shades were less ornate, and he had lost the deely boppers that signaled his presence, along with the Sun Ra pitch, to riders in the 90s. (We think we saw him in the 80s too, but we don't much trust our memories that far back.)
We asked him where he'd been.
"I have been on the planet Mars..." he said, gesturing grandly.
No, really, where you been?
More »L Train Twitter Tales: "This Car Reeks of So Much Weed That Even I Need Air."
Elizalice, courtesy of the Voice Flickr Pool Just another day on the L Train
When it comes to L Train service, Williamsburg's skinny-jean choked underground thoroughfare, you never know what sort of experience you'll encounter. One week the justifiably irate Transit Union will call for two "Days of Outrage" and you're stuck at the Third Avenue station on a Monday, informed via loudspeaker that you'll be standing there for the next 45 minutes. The next, it's a Saturday afternoon and you're schlepping from the Lorimer stop's snaky tunnels to a slushy corner, waiting for a herky-jerky shuttle-bus to arrive, eventually. But there is one factor you can feasibly rely on any given L Train commute: someone posting 140 characters or less about the ride to their 39 followers on Twitter. A quick search for the last few days yielded just the sort of sassy mini-monologues you'd come to expect from "the hipster train." To wit:
More »Now Trending
