The Joy of the G Train
The G train gets a bad rap. It is far more useful than people will give it credit for - that, or everyone bitching about it hasn't been in NYC long enough to develop creative subway riding skills - Not sure which. People refuse to even entertain living in Greenpoint because of the G train, insisting on immediate proximity to the L train - which to me is far more of a nightmare. At least I'm not waiting three trains in the morning before I can squeeze myself onto one.
Earlier this year, when I was working at 50th and Madison, I would take the G to Court Square and transfer to the E or the V, which left me three blocks from work. (When the weather was nice, I would take the B61 to the first stop after the Pulaski Bridge and get on the 7 at Vernon-Jackson, get off at GCT, and then walk uptown. In my opinion, the B61-7 train connection is the most under-rated connection in Brooklyn. I would say "don't tell anybody" but it doesn't matter. People are too myopic.
I work in Tribeca and take the G train to the IND at Hoyt-Schermerhorn and get off at Canal St. It's a cross-platform transfer and I have a seat for most of my commute. Most people in this area would walk or take the bus to the L at Bedford, squeeze onto a train, and then make the lengthy connection at 8th Avenue, and not even consider the G.
But, this was supposed to be a bitch about the G. Tonight we took in one of the free River to River shows downtown, and then got on the IND at Chambers St. When we got on the G at Hoyt-Schermerhorn, the conductor informed us that the next stop would be Bedford-Nostrand. It ran all stops from Bedford-Nostrand to Metropolitan Ave. - where we were then informed the next stop would be 21st St. in Queens! There was no service notice posted, nor any indication by the conductor that this was a skip-stop train, nor any reason given for the skip-stop. There's no express track, so I'm really not sure what purpose this served. The MTA couldn't pull that crap with any mainline train in Manhattan, but they have to realize the G is no longer a poor country cousin.
Who remembers when it was the GG (and the LL)?