Brooklyn straphangers were blindsided by R train closures over the weekend — even as some were relieved to avoid the Big Apple’s violence-plagued underground.
The R was suspended from Friday night to Monday morning for “structural maintenance,” though riders found a silver lining in getting to ride a free shuttle bus.
“I usually take the train, but I also don’t feel safe with everything happening right now,” student Aliaa told The Post. “The buses are a safer option. … I just feel more safe knowing who is coming in.”
The R will also see partial closures beginning Friday night and running through next Monday but the disruptions were news to some straphangers expecting business as usual on Sunday.
“On the app, it’s saying that the train is running … we didn’t even notice it,” Bay Ridge resident Julissa said, noting that she took the train to Ninth Avenue before realizing the R was running on the D line.
“Definitely, they do not notify us,” she quipped. “Even the [free shuttle] sign, it said [to exit] at 59th Street, and we still had to walk over two blocks.”
R trains will be running on the D line between 36th Street and Ninth Avenue during the suspension and late-night R trains won’t be running at all. Instead, Manhattan-bound N trains will be making express stops from 59 Street to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center overnights.
“It’s really annoying,” said Bay Ridge resident Arlene, an employee at a doggy daycare near Barclays Center, who only found out about the closure on social media. “I didn’t even know about it until yesterday.”
An MTA rep told The Post signs alerting customers to the suspension were posted in affected subway stations on Dec. 30, and news of the service change has been on the MTA website since Dec. 2.
Despite the abundance of English-language signage posted at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park some riders were left in the dark as the Spanish- and Mandarin-language signs seemingly vanished, The Post learned.
While it’s unclear when the signs went missing, the MTA noticed the fliers had disappeared Sunday morning and reposted them that afternoon, an MTA rep said.
The weekend suspension comes as MTA crews work on high-priority concrete and steel roof beam repairs between 95th Street and 45th Street on Fourth Avenue, according to NYC Transit Deputy Chief, Weekend Service Diversions and Coordination Jose LaSalle.
Free shuttle buses are available at affected stations, the MTA said.
