G (New York City Subway service)

The G Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown is an rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored since it serves the IND Crosstown Line.

The G operates 24 hours daily between Court Square in Long Island City, Queens, and Church Avenue in Kensington, Brooklyn and makes all stops along the full route. It is the only non-shuttle service in the system that does not serve the borough of Manhattan. The G serves two stations in Queens—Court Square and 21st Street, both in Long Island City. Prior to 2010, it served the IND Queens Boulevard Line between Court Square and 71st Avenue in Forest Hills. In 1939 and 1940, the then-designated GG also used the now-demolished IND World's Fair Line to access the 1939 New York World's Fair. The GG, which became the G in 1985, had its southern terminal at Smith–Ninth Streets from 1976 to 2009.

In the 21st century, the G suffered from a wide range of issues that has resulted in complaints by people living along the route. These issues included an inadequacy of transfers to other services; the lack of direct service to Manhattan; short train lengths; and low frequencies. Since the 2000s, several improvements have been made to the G, including a route extension in Brooklyn and a full-route audit in 2013 that identified solutions for issues on the G service. , additional improvements are planned for the G route, including the automation of the entire route. The G has a weekday ridership of 166,000.

History

Early service The original Brooklyn–Queens Crosstown Local service began on August 19, 1933, as a shuttle between Queens Plaza on the IND Queens Boulevard Line and Nassau Avenue. This service was designated GG because the IND used double letters to indicate local service. Starting on April 24, 1937, GG trains were extended to Forest Hills–71st Avenue during rush hours, serving as the Queens Boulevard local while trains ran express west of 71st Avenue. The entire IND Crosstown Line was completed on July 1, 1937, including the connection to the IND Culver Line (then the South Brooklyn Line) at Bergen Street. Although some retrospective accounts have intimated that GG service initially ran at all times between Forest Hills–71st Avenue and Church Avenue before being truncated, a contemporaneous article from The New York Times reported that the Smith–Ninth Streets station served as the GG's original Brooklyn terminus.

From April 30 to November 1, 1939, and from May 11 to October 28, 1940, GG trains were extended via the temporary IND World's Fair Line to World's Fair Station at Horace Harding Boulevard at all times during the 1939–1940 World's Fair. Trains were marked as S Special. The fair closed on October 28, 1940, with the station and line being demolished later that year. As a result, GG service was truncated to Forest Hills–71st Avenue. Additional GG service was briefly provided for the 1964 New York World's Fair, running nonstop between Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station and Roosevelt Avenue every 30 minutes between 10 a.m. and 3:30 pm. It took 23 minutes for trains to travel between the two stations.

1960s to 1990s On August 19, 1968, service was extended to Church Avenue during rush hours to allow for the introduction of express service on the IND Culver Line. Since riders at local stations complained about the loss of direct service to Manhattan, F trains to and from Kings Highway began making local stops. All peak-direction F trains began running local on January 19, 1976. On August 30, 1976, due to budget cuts, remaining F express service north of Church Avenue was eliminated and GG service was cut back to Smith–Ninth Streets. On January 24, 1977, as part of a series of NYCTA service cuts to save $13 million, many subway lines began running shorter trains again during middays. As part of the change, GG trains began running with four cars between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 pm. On August 27, 1977, GG service was cut back to Queens Plaza during late nights, and local service along Queens Boulevard was provided by the . Effective May 6, 1985, use of double letters to indicate local service was discontinued, so the GG was relabeled G.

Afterwards, as part of the New York City Transit Authority's proposed service plan to serve the new Archer Avenue Line upper level, the G would have been extended to Jamaica Center during weekends and evenings when N trains terminated at 71st Avenue or 57th Street–Seventh Avenue. During late nights, a G train shuttle would have run between Jamaica Center and Van Wyck Boulevard. On weekdays, the extension would have been served by N trains. This service plan would have allowed E and F trains to remain on the Queens Boulevard mainline toward 179th Street. The final service plan, which took effect on December 11, 1988, had the extension served by E trains, with R trains extended to 179th Street.

On May 24, 1987, the and services switched terminals in Queens. As part of the reroute plan, Queens Plaza became the northern terminal for the G train on evenings, weekends, and late nights. Three years later, on September 30, 1990, G service was extended to 179th Street during late nights to replace the , which terminated at 36th Street and Fourth Avenue. On April 14, 1991, weekend service was extended from Queens Plaza to 71st Avenue. Weekend G service was cut back to Queens Plaza on July 26, 1992.

In January 1991, F express service was proposed to speed service during the height of rush hours which would have reduced travel time by up to five minutes. Alternate F trains would operate express in both directions between Jay Street and Church Avenue, stopping at Seventh Avenue; as a result of this service change, G trains would be cut back from its southern terminal at Smith–Ninth Streets and originate and terminate at Bergen Street to prevent delays in express service. This service change would have been implemented in October 1991, pending approval from the MTA board. An alternate version was implemented in September 2019 when limited rush hour F trains (designated as a diamond <F>) began running express between Jay Street and Church Avenue, stopping at Seventh Avenue.

Late 1990s to present

On March 23, 1997, G trains started terminating at Court Square on weekends. On August 30, overnight service was permanently cut back from 179th Street to Court Square, with F trains making all stops east of Queens Plaza to replace the G, meaning that the G only ran along the Queens Boulevard Line on weekdays. Evening service between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. was cut back from Queens Plaza to Court Square.

On December 16, 2001, the 63rd Street Connector opened and the G was removed from Queens Boulevard during weekday rush hours and middays; Court Square became the northern terminal for the G train during this time. Service was extended beyond Court Square to and from 71st Avenue at all other times, which represented the reverse of the previous pattern. Service along the IND Queens Boulevard Line was replaced by the new train on weekdays during the day. This service change was supposed to go in effect on November 11, but was delayed due to the September 11 attacks. The G was to be truncated to Court Square 24 hours to make room for the V, but due to rider opposition, it was cut back only on weekdays until 8:30 pm. To determine if existing G service along Queens Boulevard could be maintained along with V trains simultaneously, weekday rush hour service was simulated on Saturday, April 14, 2001 from 9:45 to 11:30 AM. G trains operated on a ten-minute frequency, terminated at 179th Street in the northbound direction and originated at 71st Avenue in the southbound direction. V trains operated on a six-minute frequency between 71st Avenue and 57th Street–Seventh Avenue via 63rd Street and made all stops. Another weekday simulation took place during the daytime hours on Saturday, September 8, adapting the service pattern that would be implemented when the V would debut, but without the G operating along Queens Boulevard during weekday rush hours and middays. Some trips were extended beyond Smith–Ninth Streets and originated and terminated at Church Avenue. Frequencies for weekday evening service decreased from every 12 minutes to every 15 minutes, while frequencies for weekday rush hour and Saturday morning and afternoon service increased from every 10 minutes to every 8 minutes.

On April 27, 2003, Saturday morning and afternoon G service was decreased, with service running every 12 minutes instead of every 8 minutes, and Sunday afternoon service was decreased to run every 12 minutes instead of every 10 minutes. In addition, Saturday morning and afternoon G trains turned out of service at Fourth Avenue instead of Church Avenue.

On July 5, 2009, the G was once again extended south at all times to Church Avenue. This was required for overhaul of the Culver Viaduct, which caused the express tracks at Smith–Ninth Streets and Fourth Avenue/Ninth Street—used to switch G trains between tracks after they terminated at Smith–Ninth Streets—to be temporarily taken out of service. This had several benefits. First, five stations previously served by only the F train had more frequent service. Additionally, riders from northern Brooklyn and Long Island City had a direct route to Kensington. Finally, since the Church Avenue terminal had four tracks to store terminating G trains, as opposed to only one storage track at Smith–9th Streets, this reduced delays on both services because terminating G trains could switch to the storage tracks without having to wait in the station for another train to leave, as had occurred at Smith–Ninth Street. On July 19, 2012, MTA officials made this extension permanent. This reduced the need for riders from Park Slope and Kensington to make multiple train transfers to get to northern Brooklyn and Long Island City.

Due to the MTA's financial crisis in the late 2000s, as well as continued capacity issues on the IND Queens Boulevard Line, the G was to be cut back from Forest Hills–71st Avenue to Court Square permanently beginning June 27, 2010. However, due to planned track repairs during the times the G normally ran on the Queens Boulevard Line, service along the line last ran on April 19. In addition, train frequencies were decreased, which inconvenienced about 201,000 weekly commuters since they had to wait longer for G trains.

Flood waters from Hurricane Sandy caused significant damage to the Greenpoint Tubes under the Newtown Creek. Although the G was back in service days after the hurricane, the tube needed permanent repairs. To allow for these repairs, G service ran only between Nassau Avenue and Church Avenue for twelve weekends between July and December 2013. This schedule was also in effect daily between July 25 and September 2, 2014. Service was also suspended on parts of the G route from June 28 to September 3, 2024, as part of a project to automate the Crosstown and Culver lines.

Issues

In the 21st century, the G suffered from a wide range of issues that has resulted in complaints by people living along the route. Historically, it has connected only Brooklyn and Queens, resulting in many people thinking of the G as the subway system's "outcast" and the "unwanted drunk uncle everyone has." One reporter wrote of the G, "[Riders] need it because it goes where no other train does, but they hate that they need it." Compounding to the G "outcast" reputation, some of the G stations along the Crosstown Line are in bad shape. Since 2001, a series of service cuts and missing connections to other lines has worsened public opinion of the G.