G train is the bastard stepchild of the MTA

Brooklyn officials and activists told horror stories and demanded better service on the much-maligned “G” train, while the MTA, in effect, pleaded poverty based on today’s economic situation.

That was basically the scenario at the City Council Chambers Tuesday at a Transportation Committee hearing on the “G” train.

Current MTA plans for the line, which has suffered serious cutbacks since late 2001, involve what could be interpreted as “giving with one hand and taking from the other.” This would involve extending the line from the awkward Smith-9th Street southern terminal in Red Hook down to Church Avenue, adding five well-used stops.

But in return, the permanent northern terminal would become Court Square, near Long Island City. Cutbacks from a Forest Hills terminal to Court Square were what started the G protest rolling back in late 2001 – nowadays, the G only goes to Forest Hills on the weekends and late at night, and when track work ensues, it doesn’t even run then.

As Queens Councilman John Liu, who chaired the meeting, pointed out, the reason the G originally came into being was to link Brooklyn and Queens, but that idea is apparently a thing of the past.

Brooklyn’s ‘Stepchild Train’ Gets Bad Marks at City Hall