MELISSA FERRARI
There could be relief at the end of the tunnel for frustrated G-train riders.
State Senators Daniel Squadron and Martin Malavé Dilan sent a letter to the MTA in January requesting a full-line review of the G train’s performance. In February, the transit agency agreed.
With the review completed, the MTA has made several recommendations to improve commuters’ experiences.
Those include increasing G train service by 25 percent in the afternoon and evening, running trains at more even intervals, stopping the train at the same place on the platform at all times, clearly marking where on the platform the train will stop and rearranging “benches and other station elements so that riders wait at the right place for the train.”
Further recommendations call for adding public announcements at the 12 G-train stations that currently lack them and making changes to train operations such as letting trains wait “with all the doors open longer so that passengers can spread throughout the train instead of bunching together near the one open door,” according to Senators Squadron and Dilan.
“Now G-train riders will be en route to much-needed relief that may one day lead to the G meaning great,” Squadron said. “These recommendations will allow the G to keep pace with skyrocketing growth in Brooklyn and Queens — and make the notorious ‘G-train sprint’ a thing of the past. Increased frequency, shorter wait times and better communication will go a long way for many riders.”
The MTA said that increasing the frequency of the G train — which runs from LIC to Kensington, Brooklyn — in the afternoon and evening will be “contingent on identifying $700,000 in additional funding for that service.”
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