WILLIAMSBURG — In the wake of improved service on the L Train, locals a braying for enhancements for its underdog neighbor, the G.
The Williamsburg Community Board 1 is asking the MTA to add signal alerts to the G platforms, to give waiting commuters an idea of when their next train will arrive.
"People are crowding up on platforms," said Community Board Chair Christopher Olechowski at Tuesday's meeting, "and not knowing when the next train is coming."
Earlier that day, for instance, service was suspended on the train due to a water condition, the MTA said.
Olechowski said the headache should be fixed.
“If the L train already has signal alerts,” he said, “why can’t we have them on the G train? The money’s already allocated.”
Olechowski said the G, which shares many stations with the L, deserves the same attention.
“It’s in the same community,” he said of the G at Tuesday's Community Board meeting. “Get it done in one neighborhood and then move on.”
The MTA, however, said the solution was more difficult than it seemed.
"Because of the cost to design, procure and install a system on the lettered lines similar to that on numbers 1 — 6," MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said of the numbered trains' signal alerts, "other methods of providing real time information are currently under evaluation. We have not yet settled on a final choice."
He also said the L and G trains operate differently, with the G train running on an older tracking system that could not simply switch over to the L train-style alerts.
