Brooklynites Cheer the L Train's Rescue, Unless They Moved

(Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today heartened the 300,000 Brooklynites who use the L train to get to Manhattan, saying a 15-month construction shutdown planned for April won’t be necessary.

“It represents a huge win for our transit system and our customers and for that we can all be thankful,” said Acting Metropolitan Transportation Authority Commissioner Fernando Ferrer.

Well, maybe not all in the L train community. Some commuters moved from their Brooklyn addresses in anticipation of the subway line’s closure. As the New York Post reported in an Aug. 8 story headlined, “Hipsters Flee Williamsburg as L Train Shutdown Approaches,” available apartments were rising and rents were falling as people fled to places where the subway was sure to go.

In a Facebook discussion group named L Train Bike Train, one member commented, “I am stunned. 4 months out, after businesses have closed, people have moved, this is unreal.”

The Bike Train was formed by Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit group that planned a biking alternative to the L train. On Facebook, another group member pointedly posted, “Is there some way to be reimbursed for the billions of hours we’ve spent thinking about, stressing over, and planning for the shutdown?”

To contact the reporters on this story: John McCorry in New York at jmccorry@bloomberg.net;Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Gillen at dgillen3@bloomberg.net, Michael Tsang

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