L Trains Will Be Back To Normal For Pride Weekend, MTA Says

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — After months of weeknight and weekend slow-downs, L train riders will catch a break this weekend thanks to the NYC Pride March, the MTA announced.

The L, which has been running only every 20 minutes every weekend, will go back to its normal weekend schedule from Friday, June 28 until Monday, July 1.

That means the train will run every four to nine minutes between 8 a.m. and noon, every four minutes between noon and 6 p.m., every four to six minutes between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and every 10 minutes between 10 p.m. and midnight.

Transit officials said the shift will help the large crowds expected for the NYC Pride March on Sunday make their way to the festivities. The L train project, which has been fixing the Canarsie tunnel's Hurricane Sandy damage, is also moving ahead of schedule and can afford a weekend off, the MTA said.

The NYC Pride March will start Sunday at noon near 26th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Another alternative pride march is also scheduled to head up Sixth Avenue that day.

The change in the L schedule will mean, though, that other trains that are usually ramped up during the weekends to help L train riders will go back to normal, too.

This means that M trains will run every 10 minutes during the busiest times and will not run all the way up to 96th Street and Second Avenue. Instead, they will run their normal weekend route from Middle Village-Metropolitan Av to Delancey St-Essex St starting around 8:30 p.m. on Friday night.

The L train slow-down will start up again on Monday night, going back to its normal 20 minute waits for the train.