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Terrapin Transit: Let’s Grade the G Train!
By The Changeling | November 13, 2007
 
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Terrapin Station Part 1: Long weekend waits take place here
Do you know why they chose the color green for the G train? Green represents the slow moving turtle, green represents envy, and perhaps most importantly, green represents the money that the MTA won’t put into service upgrades.
If you feel disenchanted with the service you’re getting from your train, then be sure to fill out the MTA rider report card. At the end of last week on my way to work I was about to exit the subway when I was handed a rider report card by an MTA worker. They were giving them out at several stations and urging train riders to make their voices heard. Let’s make sure the MTA knows what they are doing wrong and what things (if any) they are doing right. What do you think the biggest problems are with the trains that service our neighborhood (G train, JMZ trains or the AC trains)?
Click here to complete the MTA Rider Report Card.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:22 am
after living off the G line for 6 years, i am in shock that they haven’t made significant improvements to the service. then again, i remember with shock how they cut the train down to 4 cars and truncated the queens-side course. but now every single stop on the G is getting heavy traffic, but still the train seems to arrive sporadically, and the 4-car thing means it’s crowded much of the time. fill out that rider report card; i live on the J line now, which i think is pretty good. but its rider report card was like a C-, imagine what the G will be!
November 13th, 2007 at 11:01 am
I hate the G train. I’ve waited up to 45 minutes for it during NORMAL hours (not peak, but not late night either!) and its expected to wait 30+ minutes if its after 11. Its impossible to plan your day around a train that is so inconsistant- sometimes it’s every 6 minutes and sometimes (same time of day) its every 25. You HAVE to run for the train because, you know, the next one might not come for half an hour. And lets not even talk about when its shuttling and you get on the train at bedford/nostrand and it sits there for 25 minutes wating for the train in the opposite direction to come…
AND lets not forget how it sometimes just doesnt run to the F line, which is a huge PITA causing me to have to take the G to hoyt, then the A one stop to jay, then the F back in the direction I was originally traveling.
Hate hate hate the G
November 13th, 2007 at 11:17 am
i thought i commented but i guess i didn’t hit “submit”. waaa waaaaa.
yes, the G train IS ridiculous with it’s shuttle service on nights and weekends, longer intervals between trains, and general half-trainosity. the real source of frustration for me, however, is the A train. rush hour service is horrendous, both morning and evening. it’s a normal morning occurrence to be waiting forever for the train and then not being able to board it once it does show up because it’s so packed. my evening commute takes anywhere from a half hour to over an hour. i call shenanigans on that. the A train services some of the most densely areas of NYC, there is no excuse for the shoddy service.
i am, like jimmy legs, surprised by the fact that service hasn’t been stepped up on the G. i lived in williamsburg and saw firsthand the improvements made to L train service (more trains, less time between trains) as they anticipated the population explosion that would accompany the high rises being built in wburg. meanwhile the G is operating the same way it has for years but will also be affected by that same population growth. it makes no sense to me.
November 13th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
oh good grief, can the changeling please remove one of my comments? i look like i have train tourette’s.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Laduchessa, I think the double comment should stay. It really illustrates how poor subway service drives people crazy!
November 13th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Ok, I deleted your first comment.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
a lot of people make fun of the G line because it doesn’t go into the city, so you have to transfer no matter what.
just curious how important or not is living near the G is to everyone.
would you say you liked the area regardless of the trains, or didn’t know how bad the trains were before you moved, or that you love the G and decided to live near it (kinda doubt but you never know!)
November 13th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
I live on the G, I only take it during the day but it’s not so bad then. I know it blows at off-peak times though. The L, on the other hand, during the morning rush, is hell on earth. sometimes it comes every 2 minutes, sometimes every 15, and i’ve had to let 2 go by before I could squeeze in. I dread taking it. The C is terrible too, it just never shows up.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
I knew that the train service wasn’t what it could be, but I thought that it was better than moving to a place that didn’t have any train service (that is, a place far from a station, like Red Hook).
November 13th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
The G has gotten better over the past few years. Two years ago during the summer the Queens bound side was down practically every night which meant waiting an hour for the train at 11pm. It’s not what it could be, we deserve a full train, but it’s been worse.
November 14th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
In Bedstuy most say that living near the A/C is the best, but that area is Stuy Heights which is pretty expensive for most. I almost considered moving to Myrtle and Nostrand because, but it was a walk to the G and a walk to the Foodstore in Clinton Hill. I would have lived with the G in that area though. Since then I haven’t heard good things about it. They are always making fun of it.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I’m greatful to be right on top of the train station (esp when its raining or snowing) But being right on top of the G is pretty useless. On the bright side, I do get to read LOTS of books waiting for the train, and then waiting for it to move, then waiting for my inevitable transfer (or two or three or fifteen)
November 14th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
um…how about a schedule? they are available at the booth and believe it or not, the g actually runs on schedule most of the time. i like the g. i live near bedford/nostrand and it gets me to midtown in 20 min. i take the g to the e in queens and it rocks. i think as the whole brooklyn coastal thing continues to get built up, the improvements will come…more trains, etc. the train that really bites is the f as far as i’m concerned.
also…to 5:31-being close to the city, fg, ch, 5 min from williamsburg as in the bedford/nostrand area…no way i’d move as far out as stuy heights.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I would like more G trains. That’s all. I wouldn’t mind if they only had 4 cars, I just wish that they would come more often.
When I used to work in Manhattan, the G train-7 train commute was a dream. I usually made it to work in 30 minutes.
November 14th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I think the G is fine during rush hour (which is the only time I use it). When we filled out the report card, my 10 year old wanted to do it. He gave the G high marks for frequency and room to sit, but low for cleanliness and signage. He didn’t seem to notice the graffiti/scratchitti though.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:46 am
What line are you near Alexa? Perhaps there are better stations than others for the G, even though it’s all a local train?
November 15th, 2007 at 11:05 am
ooh, let’s vote on the worst G stations! my vote is for the Broadway stop, every bit of paint in that place, floor-to-ceiling, is peeling off, there is a constant river of filth coursing down the tracks, and the places smells of petroleum, possibly because it is built under a gas station. which makes me feel so very safe when i down there!
November 15th, 2007 at 11:37 am
I vote for the Greenpoint Avenue stop- the delicate bouquet of garbage and I-smell-dead-things seals the deal for me. Really… what is that horrendous stench????
Thanks Changeling for editing the crazy!
November 15th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
No problem, laduchessa! Jimmy Legs, I second the Broadway stop for all the reasons you mentioned. The constant wetness in that station makes me sick!
November 15th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
i would say the hoyt schemmerhorn station, it’s cold, and run down, and i do smell something on the tracks there.
laduchessa what do you mean by editing the crazy?
November 16th, 2007 at 1:38 am
laduchessa accidentally double posted, and she requested that I remove the extra post.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:44 am
oh okay, i thought she was thanking you for editing some crazy comments made by others.
thought maybe alexa, or someone wrote something silly about her stop and it was deleted.
November 16th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Oh no, I only asked that my double comment be removed. It was brought to you by the department of redundancy department.
December 5th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
The MTA has been attempting to destroy the G for years and they are getting away with it.How idiotic the xfer is to the E train at Court Square.The G could really be a GREAT line but the MTA refuses to let it be.A pox on the MTA for the condition of the G train.