WILLIAMSBURG — The G train may be known for inconsistency and inconvenience, but today the underground underdog is seeing its moment in the sun: proposals for more frequent service and better marked stations.
"Today the G train means good news," state Sen. Daniel Squadron said Monday, announcing the MTA's release of a comprehensive service review with recommendations for more subways, more even intervals between rides, and more consistent stopping points on each platform for the 4-car train. "Any way you spell it that's absolutely great news."
The MTA's review recommends 25 percent more trains on weekday afternoons and evenings — an improvement that the agency said is "contingent on identifying $700,000 in additional funding for that service," but which elected officials and advocates said they would push the MTA to find by the end of this year.
Meanwhile the MTA's proposal for more clearly marked stations requires no added money, so should be implemented by the end of the year, officials said. The agency recommended the train stop at the same place on the platform each trip (so straphangers can avoid the notorious "G train sprint" to their rides) and that benches be placed in the waiting area of the station to mark where the short subway stops.
The MTA's other recommendations include adding public announcement systems at the G train stations (which would require further budgeting) and running trains at more even intervals (which requires no further money so should easily be implemented).
To impassioned straphangers from the Riders Alliance transit group, the announcement brought major relief from their commuting nightmares.
"This is a big win," said Clinton Hill resident Alexis Sabia who has lamented the tribulations of having a boyfriend elsewhere on the finicky line.
And the Riders Alliance's leader John Raskin said the news would boost the moods of thousands of worn-out Brooklyn and Queens residents.
"There are 125,000 people who ride the train every weekday," he said. "This will be 125,000 happier riders."
