G (New York City Subway Service) - Expansion of Queens Boulevard Service and G Cutback Controversy

Expansion of Queens Boulevard Service and G Cutback Controversy

When the connector to the IND 63rd Street Line from the IND Queens Boulevard Line was completed in December 2001, it not only introduced the new V service, but allowed up to nine additional trains on the Queens Boulevard Line during peak hours. However, to make room for the V train on Queens Boulevard, the G had to terminate at Court Square on weekdays.

The service plan was designed to redistribute Queens-bound passenger loads on the heavily-used IND Queens Boulevard Line (under 53rd Street in Manhattan) and better service and transfer opportunities as the V train allowed direct access to 53rd Street and the IND Sixth Avenue Line for Queens Boulevard local customers. The New York Times described the service plan as "complex and heavily criticized;" several years experience with the service running, however, has shown its value. V trains, while by no means consistently full, had taken some load off the F train, which was rerouted via 63rd Street, though many riders complained that the passenger load on the E has worsened as it is now the only express train that runs along 53rd Street. This is, in part, due to riders' propensity to board an express even in situations where it offers no real advantage in travel time over the local. In response to complaints from G riders at public hearings about losing a major transfer point to Manhattan-bound trains at Queens Plaza, the MTA agreed to a number of compromises, including installing a moving sidewalk in the passageway between Court Square and 23rd Street – Ely Avenue (E M trains) on the Queens Boulevard Line. In addition, a free out-of-system MetroCard transfer to 45th Road – Court House Square on the IRT Flushing Line was created at those two stations—one of only two such transfers in the system. This special transfer was discontinued when construction of an in-system transfer at the corner of 23rd Street and 45th Road that opened on June 5, 2011, and made both stations ADA-accessible.

The MTA also agreed to extend the G to Forest Hills – 71st Avenue during evenings and weekends (when the V was not running), and run more trains on that route. There was a two hour period where the G, R, and V were all supposedly running at once since the V stopped running at 10:00 p.m. and the G was extended to 71st Avenue at 8:00 p.m. The authority "had spent several hundred thousand dollars on tests, trying to figure out a way to keep the G train running past Court Square and farther into Queens on weekdays, but because of the addition of the V train, which shared space along the Queens Boulevard line with the trains already there, the E, F, G and R trains could not fit during the daytime, when service is heaviest."

To increase service and reduce waiting time, the G would need more trains, but there were not enough cars, so the solution was to reduce the length of trains from six cars to four, sticking all the leftover cars together to make the extra trains. This, however, meant there would be more riders packed into smaller trains. Some passengers also missed trains because they were standing at the wrong part of the platform as the trains are only about half their length, although there are signs indicated where the train stops at some stations such as the 4 and 6 markers on the tracks.

A community group, Save the G!, regularly lobbied the MTA for more G train service since the original cutbacks when the V was introduced in 2001. They made the restoration of service to the Queens Boulevard Line at all times an issue in the 2002 New York gubernatorial race, but the transit authority said, "Unfortunately, putting the G back to full service is just not an option, given our track capacity—and that's not likely to change."

They have also lobbied for the creation of another free out-of-system transfer between Broadway and Hewes Street on the BMT Jamaica Line, which is only two blocks away. However, the MTA said, "We have no intention of making that a permanent free transfer."

Most stations along the IND Crosstown Line were built with multiple exits to the street. Over the years, many lower-use exits were closed (as they were in other parts of the subway), as the city was concerned that they were a magnet for criminals and there was insufficient traffic to justify staffing them full-time, but in July 2005, in response to community pressure, the MTA agreed to re-open the South Portland Avenue exit of Fulton Street. The New York Times described it as a "minor victory" for "a maligned line." This minor win is truly minor as one must still use the underpass at Fulton Street in order to exit one the other side nearby Brooklyn Technical High School.

Due to construction on the Queens Boulevard Line, the G train frequently terminated at Court Square even at times when the published timetable said it ran to 71st Avenue. Some riders were suspicious that the service disruptions were "simply a de facto way to implement the original plan of halving G train service." The original plans called for the G terminate at Court Square at all times. The plan was shelved in 2001 in face of community opposition, but implemented in 2010. An MTA spokesman says that "It's not personal…. If you want to keep the system up to date, you need to make sure the track and switching are all in good repair."