The G train shutdown might be a little less of a nightmare with the MTA’s announcement that the project has earned its own czar (and yes, that’s his official title).
Meet Hugo Zamora, an MTA employee with decades of experience, who will oversee customer satisfaction with the upcoming shutdown.
MTA officials, alongside Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, announced his appointment at a recent press conference.
“We’re working hard every day to address the critical state of good repair needs and to upgrade the transit system so that it fits the needs of today’s riders,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “The G line serves one of the fastest growing communities in New York City, and we’ve come up with a plan to deliver it better, faster, and cheaper.”
“My community is looking forward to a faster train with a more modernized way of functioning,” said Assembly Member Emily Gallagher. “I am so grateful that we have such incredible leadership at the MTA, because they do not give up and they have a vision for the future that they are willing to fight for. Transit is our future, and we need a beautiful, well-run, beloved subway system.”
According to an MTA press release, “Mr. Zamora will be overseeing the implementation of the project’s customer communications campaign as well as managing shuttle bus deployment.”
The North Brooklyn elected officials recently hosted a shutdown town hall alongside representatives from the MTA and DOT. The agencies presented their plans for the logistical elements, like shuttle bus service and turn bans on local streets, to help mitigate the stress of an entirely inaccessible G train.
One bright spot in all of this? While the line is out of commission, the MTA will renovate Greenpoint Avenue station as part of its Re-NEW-vation program. Though Lieber recently told reporters that the MTA would not be using this time to add more cars to the line, as elected officials had called for, he expressed interest in exploring the possibility once the agency completes its repairs.
Has there ever been an explanation as to why this heavily used line has such a short line of cars? It is ridiculous.
Basically all comes down to budget cuts. The G used to run from Smith 9th all the way to continental avenue in forest hills but that all stopped around 2010 I believe so they took away two cars in the front and two from the back bc they felt less people were going to use them but that’s before Greenpoint blew up and became the Disney land that it is today. Be grateful bc it used to have 4 cars and was run by the older train models whereas they added one car bringing total to 5 and it’s a more modern model. Hope this helps but yea MTA can go kick rocks and fall into a burning dumpster fire any day of the way!
This G train shut down is a joke. It is just another pay day for some third party contractor hired out by the MTA. Several years after Sandy the G was shut down and we used buses, it really was not so bad but I could not help think you mean all these years later the MTA is still doing “Sandy” repairs and now this. You can put lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig.