Buckle up, Brooklyn commuters: it’s going to be a longer, warmer and more expensive ride for some this summer.
The infamous G train summer shutdown slated to modernize Depression-era signals and speed up train service has, in the meantime, spurred even longer travel times, as well as sometimes costly alternative modes of transit for its 160,000 daily riders, several straphangers told The Post.
“It took me an hour to get where I needed to be when it would normally take me about 25 to 30 minutes,” Terrell T., a Bedford-Nostrand Avenue, commuter told The Post last Sunday.
The “inconvenience, the time, and the double fare” were his biggest gripes, he said, adding that unpredictable street traffic was another major concern for shuttle bus users.
The shutdown, which started June 28, will run in three phases: G trains are currently not running between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand Avenues until Aug. 12. Then, trains won’t run between Bedford-Nostrand and Church Avenues through Sept. 3.
Previously, G trains didn’t run between Court Square and Nassau Av from June 28 to July 5. Free shuttle buses are running between stations undergoing repairs.
“I can’t get to work how I used to,” said Veneta D., one G train regular – waiting at the Bedford-Nostrand Ave. station in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Sunday – who must now take the B38 instead.
“The shuttle buses aren’t working … [and] take too long,” she said, noting her five minute ride to work has since tripled to 15 minutes.
Shane Ferro, a public defender who works in Kew Gardens, said her commute isn’t any longer – but she will be spending “a few hundred dollars” more in the next six weeks to travel from her home in Bed Stuy.
“It’s stressful for me to bring my bike on the train during rush hour, and I don’t want to do that to other people, so I have just chosen to inconvenience myself by paying extra money to take the LIRR,” Ferro told The Post Tuesday. “But I know that financially, that’s not an option for everyone.”
City Council Member Lincoln Restler, who represents District 33 in Brooklyn, told The Post that, while buses “don’t move as fast as subways,” the free shuttle service along the G line has been meeting the MTA’s goals so far.
Shuttle buses are running nearly four minutes apart during rush hour, Restler said, compared to the typical six to eight minute wait time between rush hour G trains “on good days.”
“It’s somewhat better,” Restler said, noting turn restrictions onto Manhattan Avenue have limited the amount of traffic along the shuttle bus route.
Extra NYPD and MTA personnel have also been deployed to curb double-parked cars that pose the threat of slowing buses down.
“I think we’re trying to make the best out of a challenging situation,” the council member said.
Restler told said he pushed for further enhancements from the MTA to help commuters get from point A to point B during the shutdown – but to no avail.
The council member said he once advocated for a dedicated busway that would reserve traffic lanes for shuttle buses during the shutdown; he also said he has championed added ferry service, as well as increasing fleets and reducing fees for Citi Bike – though none of those plans have come to fruition.
To add insult to injury for G train commuters, Citi Bike riders will now be shelling out 20% more for rides starting Wednesday — if they can find a bike to use.
Some Brooklynites have reported difficulties finding an available dock for Citi Bikes near subway stations since the shutdown began, Restler said.
Ferro told The Post she will typically walk about 15 minutes from her home to the Nostrand Ave. Long Island Rail Road station as part of her shutdown commute, but has recently resorted to using a Citi Bike to get to the LIRR due to the unforgiving heat that has overwhelmed commuters this week.
“When I walk it’s been super hot,” she said. “Then with the LIRR, you’re standing outside at the Nostrand Av. station: [that’s] more heat, and that has been, quite frankly, really hard.”
Ferro noted the city missed its chance to make infrastructure improvements akin to ones added during the pre-pandemic L train reconstruction, which famously added bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets and a dedicated busway on 14th Street in Manhattan.
The public defender said she would’ve liked to see protected bike lanes and dedicated bus corridors along the G route to help commuters safely get to and from work during the summer shutdown.
“There are no new bike lanes in Greenpoint or Williamsburg,” Ferro said. “I have tried biking, but on Bedford Avenue in Bed Stuy at rush hour, it’s taking your life into your hands.”
“This was a good opportunity for the city to improve this part of the city’s infrastructure, she added, “and they didn’t take the opportunity.”
