The G Train — Love It Or Hate It — Could Get A Makeover By 2019

The G train, which a New York Times writer recently dubbed Brooklyn’s “scrappy mascot” is (reportedly) getting a makeover.

The four-car G line cuts across Fort Greene and Clinton Hill at Fulton Street, Clinton-Washington Avenue, Classon Avenue, and Bedford-Nostrand Avenue stops. Last week, the MTA announced plans to double the train’s size, to accommodate scores of riders left hanging by the 18-month L shutdown, planned for 2019.

But here’s the kicker — we’ll have to wait for the L train shutdown to get those extra cars. It’s a good thing G riders are accustomed to waiting.

The G has also taught us to be expert dashers. The notoriously short G line has been making riders sprint breathlessly across platforms throughout Brooklyn for years, because the train stops either in the center or at the end of each platform — and in some stations changes location on weekends.

Assembly Member Joe Lenton of District 50, which covers parts of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, wrote to the NYC Transit chief Ronnie Hakim in July, requesting more cars to accommodate rush hour riders, reports the NY Daily News.

But Hakim responded by assuring Lenton that rush hour on the G meets the guidelines for cramped subway cars, and that the MTA doesn’t have cars to spare until 2018 — when new model cars will go to the A, C and J/Z lines that all transport more riders than the G, MTA spokeswoman Beth DeFalco told the Daily.

About 150,000 people ride the G train per weekday, compared to the 225,000 per weekday on the L, reported The New York Times this week. But the Times also noted the major boom in ridership on the G, the only full scale line that doesn’t connect to Manhattan — 17 percent in the last six years.

Riders have been on the lookout for other potential improvements, including countdown clocks, a digital ticketing system, in-station wifi, touch-screen kiosks, new signage, and new lighting. Both Classon Avenue and Flushing Avenue G stops are on the list of 30 stations that will allegedly see these features sometimes before 2020, reports Gothamist.

But New Yorkers have a deeply embedded culture surrounding train habits, and we sometimes cling nostalgically to even the anxiety-producing ones. Some riders — like artists Jason Eppink and Newmindspace, don’t want countdown clocks to spoil the surprise of a train’s mythical arrival; the adventure, the nervous pacing, and the thrill when that light finally illuminates the end of that tunnel.

While G train plans are being proposed and discarded, there is a lot of slight being hurled at the Brooklyn–Queens, quirky underdog train, which has been mocked and fiercely defended — sometimes in the same breath — by subway riders throughout the boroughs.

While proposing a connection from the G to the E line, Jim Venturi, founder of urban think tank ReThink, delivered a backhanded slap in the face. “This line would be transformed, all of a sudden people would find this line useful,” said Venturi to DNA info.

Ouch, that smarts.

Fort Greene Focus readers, we want to hear from you. Do you love or hate the G train? What do you think about the proposed improvements on the horizon? Leave your comments below.