There's been a lot of talk about how the massive rebuilding of the L line will inconvenience riders in Williamsburg, but commuters in another part of Brooklyn are facing even more pain. NY1's Jose Martinez filed the following report.
From the farthest reaches of the L line deep in Brooklyn, it's already a long haul to Manhattan.
"Here in Canarsie, it's too much for us to even handle," said one commuter. "We take a lot of buses just to get to the train."
But with a massive rebuilding of the line approaching, the commute will get even harder for riders like Wilford Johnson, who travels from Canarsie to the Veterans Affairs Hospital on East 23rd Street.
"I would have to probably catch a bus to another bus to a train and to another train or another bus. I don't have the slightest idea. But all I can say is it would be mayhem," he said.
The MTA is considering two options for repairing damages to the line under the East River caused by flooding from Hurricane Safety. One would shut the line for 18 months between Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn to Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. The other would stretch the repairs over three years, allowing for limited service between Bedford Avenue and Manhattan. But it also would require shuttle buses between the Bedford and Lorimer street stops.
Under either scenario, riders who use the line's far-flung stations in Canarsie and East New York will face longer, more complicated commutes.
"I think it's kind of bad because the L train is the only train to Canarsie. So now I have to look for different routes to school every day," said one commuter.
To coax riders onto other lines, the MTA says it will allow free transfers from the L at Livonia Avenue to the nearby Junius Street stop on the 3. L line riders will also be able to transfer on to the A, C, J and Z lines at Broadway Junction, and to the M at the Myrtle-Wyckoff station.
Straphangers will need to give themselves more time.
"Probably an hour," said one commuter.
With the start of the work about two-and-a-half years away, riders on the L still have plenty of time to figure out their transit alternatives. The MTA says it's going to pick between one of its two options in the next two to three months.