Ah the G Train, the line that we love, except when we hate it. Did you notice it was normal, full platform, length for a hot minute last week, quickly become comfortable with the reasonableness of that, and then miss the train after wildly sprinting a half mile when it resumed short bus service just as suddenly? If are one of the flailing fools dependent on the G Train you can attend a meeting of the Riders Alliance–a grassroots NYC transit improvement advocacy group–for a G Train Planning Meeting tonight, Nov. 27, at 6:30pm (El Puente Che Institute, 289 Grand St., RSVP).
Riders Alliance is a new organization with a mission to rally NYC Subway and bus riders into a political force for better transit policy and service. “We believe that lawmakers respond best to their own constituents, and that an organized group of local residents, trained and empowered to demand results, will fill an important gap in transit advocacy, helping win the sustainable, long-term funding needed to fix public transit in New York.”
One of the main G Train pet peeves is the lack of connections. Seems like some city planner should have been fired for botching the obvious idea to connect Fulton Street and Atlantic Terminal so G dependent riders had a station where they could transfer without a double swipe. But the very lack of connectivity also makes the G line mostly independent of the troubles of other trains. Except for the F down in South Brooklyn, the G is rarely a victim of switching problems and there is only one other train to worry about a damn sick passenger up the line. One of the Riders Alliance proposals is free out-of-system transfers to the 9 trains at Atlantic and to the J/M at Broadway. This would also improve service on the always packed L Train line as the Metropolitan/Lorimer transfer is the main hub for connections to the City.
8.5 million New Yorkers use MTA subways and busses daily. We are beholden to them for our livelihoods and the fares keep going up. We should have a voice in how that money is spent. Join your neighbors and fellow straphangers tonight to strategize next steps for the campaign to improve your commute.
Riders Alliance — G Train Planning Meeting, Nov. 27, 6:30pm, El Puented Che Institute, 289 Grand St.
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"Some city planner should have been fired?" When the G line was built, the IND, which the G is part of, and the IRT and BMT systems, which have the Atlantic Avenue stations, were under separate ownerships, and free transfers would have been out of the question. The three systems were in competition with each other. Any New Yorker over 40 who grew up in the city would know this.