G Train

When Peter Eide moved to Clinton Hill, he had a "fantastical" idea.

The sculptor had spent 12 years moving around the borough after arriving from Philadelphia: Greenpoint, Williamsburg, back to Clinton Hill. But Mr. Eide, now 37, never strayed far from the G train, the only subway line in the city that doesn't travel through Manhattan. And he never stopped thinking of that idea he had: to connect his neighborhood G train stop, Fulton Street, to the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street transit hub, effectively linking the line to almost a dozen other routes.

The fantastical part? A 660-foot tunnel buried under Fort Greene.  read more »

Advocates reacted with disappointment and worry to the news that the G train will not receive the service increases that the Metropolitan Transit Authority promised riders in February.

"The M.T.A. has done a grave injustice to G train riders and commuters in Brooklyn if it fails to enact service enhancements," said State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn. In May, Mr. Jeffries and others launched a campaign to pressure the M.T.A. to increase the G's frequency and to restore its four-car trains to six cars.

"The M.T.A. seems to be primarily in the business of broken promises," Teresa Toro of Save the G said today.  read more »

Not exactly. But close. The Times' William Neuman reports this morning that the perennially put-upon G Train will not be part of a round of scaled-back service improvements:

One line that had been scheduled for more service in the original proposal last December but was not included in this round of improvements was the G. Riders on the G often complain of long waits between trains. Officials said the G did not exceed the loading guidelines.

The M.T.A.'s decision will, of course, annoy many G Train riders, not least those who kicked off a campaign in May to improve service.

"The four-car G train is just like one step above the horse and buggy days," State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn told the crowd at Wednesday night's Save the G rally at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene.

Almost 100 G riders kicked off a monthlong campaign to increase service on the "forgotten stepchild" of the New York subway system, as Mr. Jeffries and others have called it.

"It's important to increase the intensity of the public campaign," Mr. Jeffries said, "to stress to the M.T.A. that G train service enhancements are absolutely necessary."

On June 25, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board will meet to discuss systemwide service improvements. Mr. Jeffries, who organized the rally, intends to make sure the G is a top priority. In the coming weeks, G advocates will be writing letters, sending e-mails and corralling the support of elected officials in an effort to "convince the M.T.A. to do the right thing," as Mr. Jeffries put it.  read more »

On Friday morning, I posted about transit activists’ attempts to pressure the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to move V cars to the G train. Friday afternoon, we received from Jim Trent of the Queens Civic Congress a copy of the note he sent to MTA chief executive Elliot Sander, and the eight-page letter he received in response.  read more »