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Long ignored by most subway riders, the G Train finally got some attention last week when the City Council Transportation Committee held hearings to examine MTA service cuts and stalled plans to improve service on the disregarded line.

The line may not make any stops in the all-important borough of Manhattan, but it is a major transit lifeline for riders in Brooklyn and Queens where it has been criticized by straphangers for poor service for many years.

When the MTA recently issued rider report cards for the G line, 3,903 riders responded and gave the G line a grade of D .

The G line currently operates from the Smith-Ninth Street Station in Brooklyn to Court Square in Long Island City. During evenings and weekends service extends to 71st Street and Continental Ave. in Forest Hills.

The line had previously run at all times to Forest Hills, but service cutbacks in 2001 left many Queens riders on the line stranded at Court Square, unable to transfer at Queens Plaza for further service into the borough.

Now it appears Queens riders are getting the shaft again as service on the line has been extended in Brooklyn and not in Queens.

At the hearings NYC Transit Chief of Operations Planning Chief Peter Cafiero announced the G will now permanently terminate at Church Avenue in Brooklyn instead of Smith-Ninth Street.

As for improvements in Queens, those are not on the horizon. As of late 2001 service cuts were made to the line. Upon questioning, Mr. Cafiero affirmed that other subway lines have acquired additional cars since 2001 due to an identifiable increase in ridership, the most recent of which were in December 2007 on the L and 7 lines.

Similar improvements were planned on the crosstown line. In January of this year, the MTA announced plans to increase service during peak travel times as part of the agency’s 2008 service enhancement program.

By late March however, plans to increase frequency on the line were postponed by the MTA.

In comments at the hearing Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) affirmed the lines importance to Queens riders.
“The G train carries the unique distinction of being the only subway line not running through Manhattan and serves as a vital connection for Brooklyn and Queens residents,” Liu said.

He also criticized the MTA for delaying promised service improvements.

“Voluminous and vociferous complaints that the G train is neglected have permeated and suggests that the MTA should reexamine how resources are allocated to the various subway lines. City ridership statistics are inadequate,
particularly when ridership declines are clearly correlated to adverse changes to the subway lines. The kinds of decisions overlooking the process utilized by the MTA, relying almost wholly on ridership numbers, results in a downward spiral in the quality and frequency of service.”

Several transportation advocates also testified at the hearing. Kate Contino with the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign expressed concern about the level and frequency of service currently provided to G train riders, calling upon the MTA to “appoint a General Line Manager to run the G, as MTA New York City Transit has done for the L and the 7 lines.”