NY State Politician Demands Longer G Trains -- Now

• Photo courtesy of The All-Night Images/Flickr

BROOKLYN, NY — New York State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, who represents all of Greenpoint and the western half of Williamsburg, demanded Thursday that city transportation officials expand G train capacity "immediately," years before the anticipated 2019 shutdown of the L Train across the East River.

According to a 2013 study conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the G carries 125,000 riders per day.

At its May 5 public meeting on the dreaded L Train shutdown, MTA officials said they planned to increase G Train capacity by 160 percent during the time they're repairing the L Train's underwater tunnels.

That could be achieved by lengthening G train cars and running around three more trains each hour, officials said at the meeting.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz then specified to Brooklyn Paper a few days later that G Trains would be doubled in length, from 4 cars to 8 cars.

But on Thurday, Lentol sent a letter to MTA head Thomas Prendergast calling for the G Train growth to begin now.

Doing so would ease congestion, increase ridershide and familiarize new riders with the line, Lentol said — helping prepare them for the big, scary L Train shutdown.

In a followup conversation with Patch, Lentol admitted the G enhancements could take a while, due in part to the fact that MTA officials will likely have to purchase new cars for the line. Even so, he said the process should be initiated now "as a show of good faith" to riders.

In response, Ortiz, the MTA's head spokesman, said the MTA has already made efforts to run G Trains more frequently, in keeping with recommendations the agency outlined in its 2013 report.

However, the MTA doesn't "have the cars to add additional service on the G at this time," Ortiz said.

The spokesman didn't say how long long it would take to purchase the needed cars.