Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Next Stop, Crown Heights? L Train Shutdown Escapees Consider Their Options

By Rachel Holliday Smith | May 6, 2016 1:34pm | Updated on May 8, 2016 9:41pm
 An MTA New York City transit subway L train. Aug. 13, 2013.
An MTA New York City transit subway L train. Aug. 13, 2013.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Michael Ip

After months of threatening news about the shutdown of the L train, residents of north Brooklyn now have a fun choice to consider: Will the MTA shut down the line completely for 18 months or just stop most service for up to three years?

Whatever the transit agency decides, it’s clear a lot of Brooklynites are going for a third option: Getting the heck out.

But where to? It depends.

For many, Crown Heights seems to be the answer.

In a thoroughly unscientific survey, chatter online about the impending L train debacle seems to focus around the neighborhood — both from those who see it as an alternative to Williamsburg and Bushwick and from locals who worry the train repairs will make rising rents in the area even worse.

At the town hall meeting Thursday where the MTA discussed its plans for the L train, an attendee suggested relocating to the neighborhood as an option following three other choices: having longer waits for trains for three years, having "no L train at all for 18 months” and, reasonably, “death.”

The hysteria has been building for months.

Savvy Brooklyn residents see the writing on the wall.

But on the bright side?

Not everyone, however, is in the running for a rental on Franklin Avenue; Astoria, L.A. and Canada are options, too.

And for those who aren't able to move? Well, the MTA says they’ll have extra service on the M, J, Z and G trains.