The Straphanger’s Campaign released its 2008 “State of the Subways Report Card” and the grades are looking less than A+ for our little engine that could. The G’s profile lists the train as the title holder for the system’s dirtiest subway line. Orphaned plastic bags and sticky Snapple floors make me want to get tested for Hep – but the news gets worse: cars on the G are the most likely to break down as well!
Reasons for the G’s runt like behavior seem to elude even Subway authorities as Brooklyn Paper reported. But while the G continues to mystify; its shiny, starlet Williamsburg sibling, the L train, brought home a glowing report card boasting the best regularity of any line and perfect in-car announcement performances. The L received low marks for seating but that bodes well for all the people that continue to use the line as a catwalk.
I guess I must be Night-of-the-Living-Dead status when I ride the G because I have absolutely no qualms with this line. I find the trash that isn’t soiled generally provides good reading material when you’ve forgotten your book. And Hey! Being stuck on the G beats being stuck on the L because at least you’ll be sitting when your panic attack sets in!
That’s what I’m talking about! Everyone is always knocking the G, but I find it to be as good as every other train I’ve ridden in the city. I don’t know where all the vitriol for the G comes from. Nice post.
The statement by the MTA spokesman, “we run the same cars on many tracks,” is misleading. The accurate way to say it would be that they run the same types of cars on many different tracks.
Yeah, R46 cars like those on the G are used on other lines. But a car set placed into service on the G is likely to remain there for a while.
Which means that when maintenance decisions are made it’s not just “this is an R46” but “this is a car from the G line.” You know, that line with low ridership that doesn’t even go to Manhattan.
Maybe they still give them the same priority as a car on another line. Maybe…
I agree LL. I like the G and think it runs pretty regularly (at least during commuting times) and a seat during an attack is key.
That WAS misleading! I read that too and it sounded to me like he was saying they were using G cars on different routes.
Thanks for the info, Jay!
I take the G to the V and I’ve had more problems with the V. The G always gets a bad rap but when I lived out in Bensonhurst, the B still ran there, it was horrible. At night we almost never went directly home, it would run on the N to Coney/Stillwell where we had to get on the Manhattan bound one and get off our stop from that direction. Total nightmare.
its funny because my first commute home on the G after I posted this was totally fever. At Court Street, they did that thing where everyone is in one G train and then they tell us the next departing train is across the platform. so we all filed out – THROUGH ONE OPENED DOOR.
Then there was a phantom farter and lots of pushy angries. Some slowing and then a complete stop prolonged the whole experience.
But I still defend the G! Its always been good to me and every train is bound to have a bad day every now and then. In Seattle there really is no such thing as public transportation so every time I’m able to hop on a train and head to another hood, I count my blessings.
Personally I think most of the complaints about the G aren’t because of anything going wrong. They’re because of long waits compared to other lines but that’s simply the schedule.
As the Straphangers Campaign’s report on the G says, “The G line is scheduled to come less often than the average line… but arrives with above-average regularity.”
What I can’t figure out is why they run 4 cars during the week especially rush hour, then late night on the weekends they pull in with 10 cars and there’s only 6 people waiting for the train..