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Is No G Train Better Than Slow G Train?
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 26, 2010
Modified Jan 26, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 26, 2010
Modified Jan 26, 2010
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We're halfway through the G train's month-long disappearance on weekends, and naturally there have been horror stories of inconvenient commutes by shuttle bus to under-served parts of Brooklyn and Queens. That Greenpoint blog New York Shitty published a photo series of forsaken commuters waiting for the shuttle bus in Williamsburg, calling it "Waiting for G(odot)," with a dedication to the MTA. And another blogger described an annoying ride on packed shuttle that passed her usual stop by half a block. Nightmare! But not everyone misses the G train, and some wish it would stay disappeared for good.
Well, okay, one person, anyway. Williamsburg resident Tovah Shanok usually relies on the G train to get to her weekend job in Fort Greene, but she tells us she loves the shuttle, because "weekend G train service is the worst. You wait forever. The shuttle is so much faster than the train." According to Shanok, she usually allows 20-40 minutes for her weekend G train commute from Broadway / Union Avenue to Clinton-Washington, but with the shuttle bus she gets there in 10 minutes. Though she admits some people riding on the shuttle are "confused and screaming" at the driver for not stopping exactly at their usual subway stops, she's in no rush to go crawling back to the subway platform.
Of course, this coming weekend marks the first of many 7 train weekend service suspensions, so you've got that going for you, Long Island City. And although Shanok's case is persuasive, she still seems part of some radical shuttle bus-loving fringe. Here's The Sargasm's characteristic take:
I finished a crossword, had a full-length conversation with my mom, painted my nails, updated all of my social networking sites, ate a sandwich, made a friend, gave him a bight of my sandwich, tried a new variation on tying my shoe laces, became religious, brushed up on current tragedies, practiced my french, practiced my Jack Nicholson, and took a nap before you decided to grace us with your presence. Thanks for showing me what it was like to be schizophrenic and homeless.
For what it's worth, NYC Transit spokesman James Anyansi tells The Local that "because a bus can hold far fewer people than a train, they have been running shuttles every four minutes at peak hours," which is twice as often as the G normally runs. "Hopefully, things will be running much smoother this weekend," Anyansi adds. Well, we're convinced.
Tagged
advisory
fort green
g train
greenpoint
MTA
service
shuttle
subway
weekend
williamsburg
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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