The G train never crosses the East River, but its importance in the city’s subway system cannot be overstated.
Every day, tens of thousands of riders in Brooklyn and northern Queens rely upon this train to connect with jobs, businesses, family, friends and numerous subway lines linked to Manhattan. Yet in recent years, people who live along the G line have been enormously frustrated dealing with shutdowns of much of the line for necessary MTA upgrades.
The most recent major project took place in the summers of 2024 and 2025, when the MTA closed much of the G line on weekends to install Communications-Based Train Control, an upgraded signal system that allows the MTA to operate more trains at faster speeds. That work is still ongoing, and there have been periodic service disruptions in recent months to allow the project to progress toward completion.
But this week, those who rely upon the G train were dealt yet another heap of bad news: The MTA plans a new round of weekend-long closures of the line in western Queens and northern Brooklyn this summer and fall. This is necessary, according to MTA Chair Janno Lieber, to make further repairs to the tube under the Newtown Creek between Long Island City and Greenpoint.
Residents in Greenpoint and neighboring Williamsburg, however, don’t want to hear that. They seethed over the news because of the additional inconvenience that awaits them — slower shuttle buses instead of train service, lost time spent traveling, and lost business in the impacted communities.
The MTA needs to get the work done, so the repairs must move forward, along with the realities of additional shutdowns on the G line. But once all this work is completed, the MTA needs to do something to give back to the communities immediately impacted by the service disruptions, while also encouraging more New Yorkers to visit them.
We can think of no better way for the MTA to do that than by extending the G line itself on Saturdays and Sundays to more of Queens and Brooklyn.
The G line used to run further west in Queens than its current terminus in Long Island City. It’s time to bring it back to Forest Hills-71st Avenue, where only one local train line (the R) currently operates on weekends along with the E and F express trains.
In the summer, the MTA can also extend the G train further south on weekends, all the way to Coney Island via the F line. This would give Brooklyn and Queens residents a one-seat ride to and from the “People’s Playground” without having to travel through Manhattan.
We imagine an extended G train on weekends will become a very popular transit option for New Yorkers looking to get around and explore more of their city, and help give an economic boost to businesses in neighborhoods that have endured regular service disruptions on the line over the years.
You can’t spell give, after all, without G.