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Rush Hour Reality by Joe Rappaport
amNewYork, December 9, 2003
 
Low-down on the G:
  • Travels between Smith-9th Street, Brooklyn and 71st Continental Avenue, Queens (late night and weekends only)
  • 16 stations in rush hour; 29 on weekends and late nights
  • Suggestions?: Call the line superintendent at 718-334-8190.
How often does the G line run?
  • G line - AM rush, every 7-1/2 minutes; PM rush, every 8 minutes.
How often does the average train run?
  • G line - AM rush, every 6 minutes; PM rush, every 6 minutes and twenty seconds.

On average, how often does a G train break down?
  • 108,725 miles between breakdowns.
How often does the average subway train break down?
  • 151,349 miles between breakdowns.
Die-hard Manhattanites won't have heard of the G line, but it's the only New York subway line with its own web site.

SavetheG.org went up in 2001 when riders of the Brooklyn-Queens crosstown route - a rarity in the subway system because it doesn't serve Manhattan - protested the elimination of most service to Queens Plaza, a major transfer station.

Also in the plan, which went into effect on December 16, 2001: four-car trains, shortened from the standard six on the line. The MTA targeted the G for cuts because it wanted to introduce new V line service in the $645 million 63rd Street tunnel.

Feisty residents of Greenpoint - a thriving Brooklyn neighborhood near the Queens border that relies exclusively on the G - set up the web site and spearheaded the drive to save the transfer to the N and R lines.

Now, almost two years to the day after the line was shortened, G line riders say their predictions were on the mark.

"The overcrowding is ridiculous," Patti Choy, a G line veteran for 18 years. "This morning I couldn't even get on the train."

"When we can't get on the train, people are disgusted. You can feel it in the air, people are almost cursing," said Choy.

Now, G line riders on their way into Midtown Manhattan must walk three blocks at the Court Square station in Queens to get to the E and V lines. A moving sidewalk promised by Governor Pataki in the face of the protests often breaks down, reported Choy.

Pataki did force the MTA to extend the line along its original route on weekends and late at night.

Aside from the shortened route, the G also suffers from a lack of service, according to the Straphangers Campaign's annual subway line rankings. But NYC Transit records show that the G is a reliable line, according to the Straphangers analysis.

The line doesn't get a numerical rating from the Straphangers Campaign because the MTA doesn't supply crowding data.

The line also serves Long Island City in Queens and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Pratt Institute, downtown Brooklyn and Cobble Hill.


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