Ride-share service Via tackles weekend L-train shutdowns with special discount pass
Via Roshan Vyas on Flickr
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced this summer that the L-train will not run between Brooklyn and Manhattan for 15 weekends, including every Saturday and Sunday in October. To ease the impact of the L-train’s mini shutdown before the 15-month shutdown scheduled for April, ride-share service Via is offering riders this month an affordable option to travel to and from Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Lower Manhattan. According to the company, the L-Train ViaPass costs $19 per week and provides riders with four shared rides per day on weekends in October, between Friday night and Saturday morning.
Via’s pass covers rides only taken this month between Friday at 11 p.m. and Monday at 5 a.m. For 16 rides, the $19/week pass costs less than the cost of a $2.75 one-way ride after just seven rides. A discount of 10 percent will be applied to rides outside the designated ViaPass zone and additional rides.
To choose the pass, riders need to apply the code LTRAINVIAPASS in the app.
During the full shutdown in 2019, Via plans to add supply to areas of higher demand. “Specifically for the L-train shutdown, we plan to send high-capacity vehicles that seat 6 passengers to enable highly efficient pooled rides,” the company said in a statement. “It will naturally create a fully dynamic on-demand shuttle service to serve impacted commuters, without the need for a fixed route infrastructure.”
Via recently partnered with the city’s Department of Transportation to offer a discount last month during the United Nations General Assembly, which caused tremendous gridlock in Manhattan. The company had offered 50 percent off each additional passengers for rides within the borough.
In addition to discounted ride-share service, developers are also offering New Yorkers incentives to live near new buildings built near the L-train. Tenants at the Niko East Village will be given from free Citi Bike memberships and $500 gift cards to us for any rideshare company. At LEVEL, a building at 2 North 6th Place in Williamsburg, tenants are currently being offered free car-sharing service and once the shutdown officially happens, the building will provide complimentary shuttle service to the subway.
Other modes of transit being floated as L-train alternatives include electric scooters (which would have to be made legal by City Hall) and rolling out a new fleet of electric buses. The MTA has also announced plans to add more scheduled service to the 6 and 7 trains beginning in April.
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