MTA Promise To Increase L Train Service Leaves G Line Riders Green With Envy

For the mix of artists, students and Midtown Manhattan commuters who regularly take the G Line from Fort Greene-Clinton Hill, delays aren't just a fact of life—they can also be a badge of honor.

"One time, I sat on a platform for an hour before a train came," said Allison Bennigan, a veteran G rider at Classon Avenue station in Clinton Hill on Monday. "I'm not joking."

A few feet away, Clinton Hill resident Steve Krasowski had Bennigan beat. 

"Two hours," he said. "After the blizzard."

While riders throughout North Brooklyn celebrated the Metropolitan Transit Authority's promise today to beef up L Train service in 2012, it was business as usual for most riders of the lime green-clad G Line in Clinton Hill.

That meant running after "stub" trains parked more than 30 feet away from some subway entrances, service interruptions given with only a few days notice and, of course, the waiting.

According to the MTA, weekday ridership at all three Fort Greene-Clinton Hill G Line stations has risen, with Classon Avenue leading the pack with an average 3,935 straphangers crossing the turnstiles in 2010—up 4.7 percent over the previous year.

Fulton Street and Clinton-Washington stations were both tied at a year-to-year increase of 4.3 percent, with average weekday ridership at 3,523 and 4,942, respectively. 

However, the increased passenger load has not resulted in more frequent service, according to Bennigan.

"It seems to get worse, not better, the longer I live here," she said.

For others, life along the G Line wasn't so bad. Sometimes even the G Line's notorious unreliability offered some—albeit, accidental—benefits.

"When I've been out drinking, I always know that by the time I get back home, I'll be sober," Krasowski said.