As you know, getting from Brooklyn to Queens without having to go into Manhattan is going to be a pain in the ass this summer, what with the G train tunnel shutdown. At least this time we can blame Sandy, as opposed to some secret initiative to force Brooklyners to go to the struggling borough of Manhattan. To make life a little bit easier though, the MTA has agreed to allow free walking transfers from the Broadway G stop to the Lorimer J stop just overhead, in the five weeks in the tunnel to Queens is shut down. Which is good news. The bad news is that the transfer only exists for the five weeks between July and September.
The Daily News has the story on the transfer expansion, which will allow people who get off at the Broadway stop on the G to get a free transfer to the Lorimer J train stop. This is a free transfer that the Riders Alliance and other transit advocates have been arguing in favor of for years now. As would anyone with eyes and a working brain in their head if they got a look at where the Broadway stop is located and where the entrance to the Hewes and Lorimer J train stops are.
It’s not that we don’t appreciate this, but it just doesn’t make sense to offer the transfers and then take them away. It’s not particularly useful for people who would use to G to get to Greenpoint and Long Island City, and for people coming from Greenpoint, a five week period of free transfers is nice, but then what? The point here isn’t that the transfer isn’t helpful. It’s that if the MTA thinks it’s fine to let people walk between two stations that are on top of each other for free for the five weeks that happen to coincide with a service reduction, why is not alright the rest of the year?