August 27, 2007

When Do You Need The G?

The majority of our ongoing straw poll voters has indicated it would like more frequent service on the G train. When do you think more frequent service is needed -- rush hour or evenings/weekends? Are you mainly a G-line commuter, or do you take the line all the time? Would more frequent service change your G-riding habits?

Comments and observations, please...

17 comments:

Lesterhead said...

More service is needed evenings just after rush hour- around 8pm. If I go out after work, forget it. I'm always waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

Bwrecka said...

I work/socialize at late hours. Sometimes I have waiting for almost 2 hours for a G train after 11pm. It would be great for the G to service one more stop in Brooklyn so I could transfer from the G to the R train at 4th & 9th. I concur w/lesterhead - more trains are needed right after rush hour. I have waited for 20-45 minutes for a train after 8pm. If this was improved it would help those working the graveyard shift to get to work in a timely fashion. If they cannot give us more cars, they can at least have CLEARLY MARKED (Tape on floor in bright colors w/signs in multiple languages - English, Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Bengali, Korean and Chinese at the very least) where the trains will stop and please ensure that the train operators actually stop there. If the trains came more regularly, it wouldn't be such a traumatic loss to miss the short train b/c of one's inability to run to its whimsical stopping point in time.

Bwrecka said...

I am sorry - the reason it is important for the G train to stop at 4th & 9th is b/c right now I take the R train in from South Ferry, have to get off at 4th & 9th and then wait for the F to take me to Smith and 9th in order to catch the G.

Anonymous said...

Off-hours. Rush-hour service isn't too bad, and more would bottleneck even worse with the F at Bergen.

They do need to extend it to Church, or further south, and run either the F or G on the express track, to give better service and to eliminate this bottleneck.

Anonymous said...

morning and eve rush hour AND late night. The late night post-30 minute waits are beyond horrendous. One should never have to wait more than 10 minutes for a train at anytime.

Anonymous said...

morning and eve rush hour AND late night. The late night post-30 minute waits are beyond horrendous. One should never have to wait more than 10 minutes fora train at anytime.

Anonymous said...

find a way to extend the g into manhattan, eg sharing the F line for part of the way into manhattan. yesss!

JD said...

Like Rebecca, I often take the G late hours, either because I'm socializing late, or because I'm commuting from my art studio in Greenpoint to my home in Jackson Heights, Queens. I simply assume a 15-30 minute wait, which is unconscionable for any subway rider: we all pay the same fare, so why should we G train commuters be so underserved? I guess it's because the G serves Bed-Stuy and Greenpoint, rather than the Upper East side or Park Slope.

My other huge pet peeve is the ending of the line at Court Square. At this point, it's incredibly rare for the G to go all the way into Queens, which inconveniences hundreds of riders. At least extend the G one more stop to Queens Plaza, where the transfer is so much easier! At 11:00pm, the last thing you want to do is to drag yourself all the way down that tunnel at 23rd/Ely (whose moving sidewalk thingy is broken half the time!), and wait another 10 minutes for the E train. On weekdays, the MTA says there's no room for the G in the Queens tunnel because of that stupid V train (don't get me started on the V; talk about underused lines!), but what about weekends and late nights, when the V isn't running? At this point, I feel like the MTA has phased in a major cutback in G train service without being honest about it.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree - late night service is more than ridiculous. I don't even bother anymore - a cab is the only way to go at that time. But in a perfect world, I would like to see more late night G trains. Every ten minutes would be a DREAM!

laura said...

the G is in fact being extended out to Church next year, rumor has it. I used to live at 4th and 9th, but worked in LIC for a year, thus adding on 15 minutes to my commute to take the F train one stop. Even though I live by Bergen now, so it's moot for me, I still am excited to see this (re-)extension for all you R train transferrers out there.

Anonymous said...

Rush hour, rush hour, rush hour......

Anonymous said...

The morning rush seems to be ok, but it would be great to have more trains in the evenings from rush hour on. I'm sure more people would ride if they could rely on it coming relatively quickly -- even if "relatively" meant you only had to wait 10 minutes tops instead of 20+ on all-too-frequent occasions. It really is a crap shoot right now.

Unknown said...

Yes, more service IS needed. Morning rush hour is usually good, but after 8pm(ish) it is quite infrequent. Took 2 hours to go from Metropolitan Ave. stop to Clinton-Washington! Please MTA, hook it up!

Anonymous said...

When do I need the G you ask? When I want to see a bunch of whining starving artist hipsters just wasting more space in this great city.

Anonymous said...

www.diehipster.com

Ginger Dolden said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ginger Dolden said...

Oh the G train. JD hits the point straight on. The G train just runs through some really poor areas in the Brooklyn and it is very easy for the city to neglect the people in these areas.

Remember when the flooding occurred this summer? All trains in Manhattan were up and running by the end of the work day. The G train didn't re-open until the next day. Walking to the L and the JMZ that day made me really appreciate the MTA.

Anyways, when do I need the G train?

Evenings. Anytime after 8 or 9 it can be a very long wait.

Weekends. The weekend trains can come anywhere between 15-45 minutes, but it's impossible to plan around it.