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State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and other annoyed Greenpoint leaders need more than just slow shuttle buses during G train shutdowns. Dave Colon<\/p>\nThey need a rescue from Rudolph the Red-Painted Bus Lane.<\/p>\n
The MTA\u2019s plan to shut down the G train this holiday season should motivate the city to clear the way for bus lanes or even a busway in Greenpoint, the neighborhood\u2019s state senator said on Thursday during a press conference where she implored the MTA to delay the closure until January.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are urging the MTA to move their December dates to another time to January because we know that December is another set of peak weekends for these small businesses,\u201d said State Senator Kristen Gonzalez (D-Greenpoint).<\/p>\n
Whenever the shutdown happens, though, the state legislator also urged the city to make more room for the shuttle buses that run instead of the train.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d love to see more bus lanes, more protected bike lanes in this neighborhood as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Elected officials and local shop owners in Greenpoint gathered on Thursday in front of a local ceramics shop to decry an MTA plan to shut down the G train in the north Brooklyn neighborhood for the first three weekends in December, during the busy Christmas shopping season \u2014 a schedule they say will severely damage their bottom line when they can least afford it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery closure hurts,\u201d said Perri Salka, the owner of the store Wonder Mart and and the lead organizer at Shop Small Greenpoint. \u201cBut today we are specifically advocating for changes to the MTA\u2019s proposed December shutdown schedule: three back-to-back weekend shutdowns during the very month that keep small businesses afloat all year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the Wonder Mart alone,\u201d she continued, \u201choliday shopping in the month of December brings in a quarter of my annual revenue, enough to cover four to six months\u2019 worth of rent. That is not revenue I can afford to lose this year or really ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and other annoyed Greenpoint leaders need more than just slow shuttle buses during G train shutdowns. Dave Colon<\/p>\n
The MTA\u2019s weekend-long G train shutdowns, when the G train doesn\u2019t doesn\u2019t run north of Bedford-Nostrand Avenue, have become a sore spot for neighborhood merchants. The G is the only train that provides direct service to Greenpoint. The MTA originally asked the neighborhood to deal with summer weekend G train shutdowns in 2024 and 2025 as the agency upgraded old fixed block signals to modern CBTC signals, which will allow the MTA to run more frequent and reliable service on the line.<\/p>\n
But this year the MTA added more weekend shutdowns to the schedule because the agency said it had to repair leaks<\/a> in the train tunnel under Newtown Creek that were improperly plugged after Hurricane Sandy damaged the passageway.<\/p>\n The MTA replaces G service with free bus shuttles. But those buses simply hold fewer people than trains, and they must contend with weekend traffic on narrow streets.<\/p>\n In much the same way that the MTA sent shudders through Williamsburg when the agency announced his plans to shut down the L train in 2018, the G train shutdowns have inspired an apocalyptic mood in its crunchier neighbor to the north. Salka said that a survey of small business owners in Greenpoint reported sales dropping by an average of 20 percent during weekends without G trains.<\/p>\n But there are important differences between how the city and state handled the looming shutdown in 2018 and how they\u2019ve handled the rolling G train shutdowns. Eight years ago, the MTA and DOT spent a great deal of time and resources planning how to move people<\/a> who otherwise relied on the train between Brooklyn and Manhattan \u2014 all before then-Governor Andrew Cuomo cancelled<\/a> the shutdown altogether. No such plans exist for the G train shutdowns. The MTA and DOT expect Greenpointers to figure it out for themselves.<\/p>\n In response, neighborhood residents have called for better logistics<\/a> to give shuttle bus riders a better trip since the subway repairs started in 2024, but DOT has so far not engaged with the idea during any of the shutdowns. Those same residents and visitors have also had no luck getting around with Citi Bike: people biking into the neighborhood consistently encounter docks that are completely full on weekends<\/a>, leaving them nowhere to actually end their rides.<\/p>\n \t\t\tRecommended<\/p>\n
![\"Citi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GP-Citi-Bike-e1786477907214.jpeg\")