Riders Alliance, officials urge more frequent service on `G’

April 10, 2013 From Transit Riders Alliance
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State Senators Daniel Squadron and Martin Dilan and members of the Riders Alliance on Wednesday called on the MTA to increase G train service in light of new ridership data that showed G train service increasing by a higher percentage than any other train in the last year.  

G train service grew by 4.2 percent on an average weekday in 2012, according to new ridership data released by the MTA, carrying an average of 2,000 more riders each weekday than in 2011.

According to the MTA, the growth is likely due to new residential development along the G train and increased travel between North Brooklyn and activities in Downtown Brooklyn, including events at the Barclays Center.  

Elected officials and Riders Alliance members urged the MTA to consider the dramatic new ridership data as a component of the “Full Line Review” requested in January by State Senators Daniel Squadron and Martin Dilan.  The MTA agreed in February to conduct the Full Line Review, which is currently under way and expected to be complete by the end of June.

 “The MTA’s new numbers show what G train riders already know.  These trains are overcrowded, and we need to run more of them,” said John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance.  “We appreciate the MTA undertaking a Full Line Review of the G train.  We are asking the MTA to consider these record ridership numbers and add more trains to accommodate all the new riders crowding their way onto the G.”  

The Riders Alliance is a grass-roots membership organization of subway and bus riders, fighting neighborhood by neighborhood to win better transit service—details are at www.ridersny.org.

Squadron said, “The numbers add up: more G train riders mean we need more G train service. And there’s good news: at our urging, the MTA has agreed to conduct a Full Line Review, providing a real opportunity to improve and increase G train service so that it keeps up with growing ridership.”

Dilan said, “The latest G Line figures confirm what riders have known all along: that demand has outpaced service in North Brooklyn. It’s time that G Line service to Williamsburg and Downtown Brooklyn reflect the upward growth that both areas have seen, and every indication shows it will only continue.”

Annemarie Caruso, a member of the Riders Alliance who lives near the Nassau G train stop, said, “I ride the G every morning from Nassau Avenue to Court Square. I work in midtown and this is my most direct transit option. No other lines have stops in Greenpoint. Day after day I make my way down a crowded platform and squeeze into an even more crowded train.”

Brooklyn. As western Queens and Brooklyn continue to experience growth, the number of New Yorkers relying on the G train will also grow. I urge the MTA to take this telling data under consideration as part of the Full Line Review of the G train that we have requested.”

 

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