By Raanan Geberer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

CITY HALL – Brooklyn officials and activists told horror stories and demanded better service on the much-maligned “G� train, while the MTA, in effect, pleaded poverty based on today’s economic situation.

That was basically the scenario at the City Council Chambers Tuesday at a Transportation Committee hearing on the “G� train.

Current MTA plans for the line, which has suffered serious cutbacks since late 2001, involve what could be interpreted as “giving with one hand and taking from the other.� This would involve extending the line from the awkward Smith-9th Street southern terminal in Red Hook down to Church Avenue, adding five well-used stops.

But in return, the permanent northern terminal would become Court Square, near Long Island City. Cutbacks from a Forest Hills terminal to Court Square were what started the G protest rolling back in late 2001 – nowadays, the G only goes to Forest Hills on the weekends and late at night, and when track work ensues, it doesn’t even run then.

As Queens Councilman John Liu, who chaired the meeting, pointed out, the reason the G originally came into being was to link Brooklyn and Queens, but that idea is apparently a thing of the past.

Peter Cafiero, director of operations planning for MTA New York City Transit, said many of the changes protested by neighborhood advocates actually were put into place to improve service. For example, the use of four-car trains, almost unique in the transit system, helps the MTA run trains more frequently, he said.

This argument gave rise to a back-and-forth between Cafiero and the council members about whether new cars could be added to the G line. Cafiero insisted that all new cars must go to replace 40- and 45-year-old cars currently in service, but Councilwoman Diane Mealy called attention to the many new cars that have been added to the “L� line, dramatically decreasing waiting time there.

Cafiero added that when G trains go onto the Queens Boulevard line into Forest Hills, the G has to share tracks with several other lines, thus necessitating 10- or 12-minute wait times between G trains. If all Gs terminate at Court Square, he said, the trains can then be run closer together.

Most of the councilpersons and community activists at the hearing, however, didn’t buy these arguments. Mealy, for example, said the four-car trains, which stop only near the center of the platform, are a nightmare for senior citizens, who have to run to catch the train but often are unable to do so.

She added that because of the G train cutbacks, area residents, who used to go shopping at the Queens Center Mall, now find it inconvenient to do so. Mealy represents Bushwick, an area that has little shopping of its own.

Councilwoman Letitia James used the most colorful language, saying, “Many people call the G train the stepchild of the transit system, but I call it the abused child, the abandoned child  When I was a girl, when I got a `G’ on a paper, it meant “good.� But in the case of the G train, `G’ means God-awful, and it means the train is running like it’s in a ghetto.�

She asked Cafiero why the G train was curtailed in Queens to make room for the V, which, according to some, has fairly low ridership. Cafiero replied that the V “has more riders than the G,� and that “the destination of most Queens riders is Manhattan, and that’s what has to get priority.�

James is also floating a plan for a new transfer between the G and the IRT (numbered) lines in Downtown Brooklyn, and has started a petition drive.

Many, including James stressed that the neighborhoods along the G’s Brooklyn route – Fort Greene, Williamsburg, Greenpoint – are growing dramatically, but said the transit system hasn’t kept pace with this development.

“Rider consensus,� said 52nd A.D. District Leader Joanne Simon, “is that the route serves too few stations, that the stations have suffered significant neglect, and the t service is inadequate.� She also tied her demand for better G service to the long-standing request for express service on the F line, which co-runs with the G south of Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street.

Teresa Toro, a Williamsburg resident who is a member of Community Board 1, said, “`G’ must stop being the MTA’s shorthand for `Go-To’ line every time it needs to meet its budget.  During morning rush hours, the G train is overcrowded to the point where riders cannot board the four-car trains.�

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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