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Lawmakers Beg MTA For More G Train Service Options
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 18, 2013
Modified Aug 18, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 18, 2013
Modified Aug 18, 2013
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If you live along the G train or have tried to travel from Brooklyn to Queens this summer, then you already are likely well aware of the partial weekend G train shutdown that has been frustrating New Yorkers in recent weeks. The MTA swears it's due to unavoidable track maintenance stemming from Hurricane Sandy, but that doesn't make it any easier to grab brunch on Sunday at Court Square Diner. In response to the transportation frustrations, Christine Quinn and other lawmakers are now begging the MTA to add more service options for straphangers: "There’s no question they need to repair the G line, but the MTA needs to provide alternate forms of transportation for those in the area," Quinn said.
Quinn was joined by City Councilmen Stephen Levin and Jimmy Van Bramer in asking the MTA to subsidize East River Ferry and Citi Bike service in Greenpoint and Long Island City. “The MTA should step up and help with financial to accelerate Citi Bike; to make sure that the Citi Bikes come to Long Island City and Greenpoint immediately,” Quinn told 1010 WINS. “That would help people get to where they need to go more easily while the train tunnel is under reconstruction.”
According to a press release, their plan calls for 22 new Citibike stations at sites running north to south along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront. Commuters could use Citi Bike bicycles to get to the L, G, No. 7 and E trains.
The Greenpoint Tube, which carries the G train under Newtown Creek, will be closed for twelve, 53-hour long weekends—repairs started Saturday July 6th—to fix damage in the tunnel caused by Hurricane Sandy. The northernmost three stops—Greenpoint Avenue, 21st Street and Court Square—will be closed during these weekend shutdowns.
The closures are planned to start at midnight on each Friday of the following weekends in 2013: August 24-25; September 7-8, 28-29; October 5-6; December 7-8, and 14-15. Then everything will be dandy, until next summer, when it shuts down for five hellish consecutive weeks in a row. And, of course, let's just all hope we don't have another superstorm in the fall, because that would really put a crimp in everything.
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christine quinn
g train
lawmakers
MTA
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train
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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