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G Train Ridership Explodes, But Lackluster Service Stays The Same
By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 11, 2013
Modified Apr 11, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 11, 2013
Modified Apr 11, 2013
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We learned yesterday that the G train, which strikes dread through the hearts of all forced to wait several lifetimes for its arrival, grew a full 2,000 disgruntled riders per day in 2012 from 2011. It goes without saying that the spike in ridership is directly related to the surge in Brooklyn's popularity, a fact that has been long been obvious to everyone—everyone that is, but the MTA (and apparently the Daily News).
“The MTA’s new numbers show what G train riders already know. These trains are overcrowded, and we need to run more of them," Riders Alliance Executive Director Josh Raskin said in a statement. Nearly every elected official whose district even brushes the G agreed that service improvements need to be made, and Rider's Alliance member Annemarie Caruso summed up the sentiments of everyone forced to ride the Terrible Train day after day: "Service is not frequent enough to say to myself ‘Oh, I’ll just wait for the next one.’ The next one could be 12 minutes away. I love my fellow Brooklynites, but I am tired of spending my mornings pressed up against them!”
Will the MTA Fairy grant desperate G train riders their wish? Who knows. Spokesman Kevin Ortiz sent us this statement:
We will of course use the latest ridership figures as we assess G Line service, but total ridership is only one of the elements we use to determine levels of service. Transit schedules are, in fact, based on ridership through the peak load point of a route at any given time and these measurements are taken a minimum of three times each year. The last time we looked at ridership trends, the level of service on the G was sufficient, but we will continue to analyze.
Fair point. But before you come to any conclusions, MTA, consider this: How many other trains have their own safari? Their own twee ukulele songs? Yeah, that's what we thought.
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g train
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riders alliance
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Lauren Evans
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