L (New York City Subway service)

14th Street – Canarsie Local
250px A train made of R143 cars in L service at New Lots Avenue, bound for Manhattan.
250px An R160A L train at Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway
L map
Northern end	Eighth Avenue
Southern end	Rockaway Parkway
Stations	24
Rolling stock	R143, R160
Depot	East New York Yard

The L 14th Street – Canarsie Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway, providing full-time service along the entire length of the two-tracked BMT Canarsie Line and its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored light slate gray. The L operates between Eighth Avenue in Chelsea, Manhattan, and Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie, Brooklyn. It also briefly enters Queens at Halsey Street, serving the neighborhood of Ridgewood. It is the first New York City Subway service to be automated using communications-based train control.

History

For the history of the trackage, see BMT Canarsie Line § History.

Early history

The L, being a local train, was originally give the LL designation when letters were assigned to the BMT division. From 1928 to 1967, the same service was assigned the BMT number 16.

In 1924, part of the eventual 14th Street – Canarsie Line opened, called the "14th Street – Eastern District Line" (commonly the "14th Street–Eastern Line"), and was given the number 16. This was extended east, and in 1928 it was joined to the existing BMT Canarsie Line east of Broadway Junction. Since that time, the 14th Street–Canarsie Line service has operated as it is today, except for an extension from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue, which opened on May 30, 1931 to connect to the new Eighth Avenue Subway. The Eighth Avenue Terminal was originally built in IND style and has been restored to BMT style like Fulton Street and Broad Street. During rush hours, express service ran nonstop between Lorimer Street and Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues. (Locals usually ran from Eighth Avenue to Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues or Atlantic Avenue at these times.)

Starting on September 23, 1936, express trains ran to Lefferts Boulevard via the connection with the Fulton Street Elevated at Atlantic Avenue. This connection was severed on April 30, 1956; then the service ran to Canarsie – Rockaway Parkway again, but was discontinued on August 23. The R27 to R38's roll signs had both L and LL for express and local service, even though the express never ran thereafter. (Skip-stop was proposed in the 1990s.)

On November 26, 1967, with the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection, the BMT Eastern District lines were given letters; the 16 became the LL. When double letters were dropped on May 5, 1985, the LL became the L, and it still has that designation.

Before the 14th Street – Eastern and Canarsie Lines were connected, the Canarsie part of the line already had a number, 14, running from Lower Manhattan via the Broadway Elevated and called the Canarsie Line. When the 14th Street – Eastern Line was connected in 1928, this was renamed the Broadway (Brooklyn) Line, but continued to operate to Rockaway Parkway. In 1967, the 14 Canarsie service was given the label JJ (though the 14 itself was designated KK, continuing east from Broadway Junction towards Jamaica). Canarsie service to Lower Manhattan was discontinued in 1968.

2000s-present

Ridership

Annual ridership for the L service:

• 1994 . . . 16,968,025
• 1996 . . . 18,107,243
• 1998 . . . 21,196,693
• 2000 . . . 26,155,806
• 2005 . . . 30,452,319

Headways:

• Morning and evening rush hours: 4 minutes
• Midday: 6–8 minutes
• Overnight: 20 minutes

The 5 busiest stations in 2005:

1. First Avenue, Manhattan
2. Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
3. Canarsie – Rockaway Parkway, Canarsie, Brooklyn
4. DeKalb Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
5. Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

The stations with greatest ridership increases in 2014:

• Bushwick Avenue – Aberdeen Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
• Wilson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
• Jefferson Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn

Ridership on the L has increased dramatically since 2000, since many older neighborhoods along this line from end to end have been or are being revitalized and rebuilt along with a very large wave of gentrification to same has caused ridership on this two tracked line to soar tremendously and uncontrollably. Also these increases are due to many of Manhattan's residents began moving into these northern Brooklyn neighborhoods to escape the extremely high rents from same, and adding more pressure to this line. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $443 million fleet of subway cars on the L was introduced in 2002, but by 2006 was already too small to handle growing ridership. The Transit Authority had projected that 212 Kawasaki-made R143 subway cars would be enough to accommodate ridership demands for years to come, but ridership has risen higher than expected. Sixty-four new R160A cars made by Alstom have been equipped to run on the L.

In 2008, L service was increased and some AM rush hour short turns to Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues were added.

Countdown clock at the Lorimer Street station

The BMT Canarsie Line tracks have been undergoing an extensive retrofit over to CBTC, a system that will transfer control of the trains to a computer on board, as opposed to the current system, where the trains are manually operated by a human operator. This was completed in April 2012. While the retrofit has resulted in nearly two years of service changes and station closings, this system will eventually allow trains to run closer together, and enable in-station "countdown clock" displays to note the exact time until the next train arrives. The line also used OPTO (one person train operation) beginning in June 2005, but a combination of public outcry due to perceived safety issues, which increased after the July 2005 London tube bombings, heavy lobbying by the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), as well as an arbitration ruling that MTA had breached its contract with TWU caused the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to end OPTO the following September. However, the MTA's successful implementation of countdown clocks on the L has been the first in the system.

Route

Service pattern

The L uses the following lines with the same service pattern at all times.

Line	From	To	Tracks
BMT Canarsie Line	Eighth Avenue	Canarsie – Rockaway Parkway	all

Stations

For a more detailed station listing, see BMT Canarsie Line.

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops weekdays only
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
	Station closed
	Stops weekdays in the peak direction only
Time period details

	Stations		Subway transfers	Connections
Manhattan
Canarsie Line
	Eighth Avenue		A  C  E  (IND Eighth Avenue Line)
	Sixth Avenue		1  2  3  (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line at 14th Street) F  M  (IND Sixth Avenue Line at 14th Street)	PATH at 14th Street
	Union Square		4  5  6  <6> (IRT Lexington Avenue Line) N  Q  R  (BMT Broadway Line)
	Third Avenue
	First Avenue			Northbound M15 Select Bus Service
Brooklyn
	Bedford Avenue
	Lorimer Street		G  (IND Crosstown Line at Metropolitan Avenue)
	Graham Avenue
	Grand Street
	Montrose Avenue
	Morgan Avenue
	Jefferson Street
	DeKalb Avenue
	Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues		M  (BMT Myrtle Avenue Line)	Southern terminal for some rush hour trains
	Halsey Street
	Wilson Avenue
	Bushwick Avenue – Aberdeen Street
	Broadway Junction		A  C  (IND Fulton Street Line) J  Z  (BMT Jamaica Line)
	Atlantic Avenue			LIRR Atlantic Branch at East New York Station closed until Winter 2015/2016.
	Sutter Avenue
	Livonia Avenue
	New Lots Avenue			B15 bus to JFK Int'l Airport
	East 105th Street			Southern terminal for some northbound trains
	Canarsie – Rockaway Parkway

External links

• MTA NYC Transit – L 14th Street – Canarsie Local