Pol: Use old cars to help the poor G train

A Brooklyn Assemblyman has come up with a novel idea for the mad dash to catch the G train—add more cars.

Assemblyman Joe Lentol, (D-Brooklyn), wants the MTA to expand the four-car G line by using old cars to be abandoned by the doomed V line once it stops running in June.

“Year after year the G train is treated as the step child of the MTA,” Lentol wrote to MTA top brass in a letter released Tuesday . “It is cut, prodded, trimmed, and at this point it is extremely difficult to get even get a seat in the middle of the night because there are only
four cars!’

The G train is the shortest of the subway lines that is not a shuttle train. It carries about 100,000 riders on weekdays, and catching the train often forces riders to run for it along the platform.

“G line commuters in North Brooklyn desperately need to have a full length train restored to ease their commute and peace of mind,” Lentol wrote.

NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said that while they appreciated Lentol “thinking outside of the box,” they won’t have any “spare" cars that will be lying around gathering rust” once the V and W lines are eliminated this summer as part of cost-saving measures.

“Those cars will be used elsewhere, replacing older cars … that have outlived their useful lives,” Fleuranges said.

In a bonus to riders, transit is increasing the frequency of G trains in the evenings to every 10 minutes once the service changes are fully implemented on June 27, Fleuranges said.