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| Re: G Train Hearing at City Hall (598412) | |||
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Re: G Train Hearing at City Hall |
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Posted by checkthedoorlight on Thu Apr 10 00:25:40 2008, in response to G Train Hearing at City Hall, posted by KLCS on Wed Apr 9 00:24:08 2008. Just to chime in my opinion, as a daily G rider.The #1 priority for improvement on the G line is BETTER HEADWAYS. It is unacceptable that this line never gets better than 8 minute headways, aside from a couple of shorter headways during the morning rush, which balance back out to 8 minutes after getting held at 21 St for a slot to get into Court Square (more on that in a minute). Outside of rush hours, the line runs at 10 minutes, and is also one of the earliest lines to get into the 15 and 20 minute headways at night. If they run more trains (4 or 5 minute headways during rush hour, and 8 minute headways to replace the 10 minute headways on off-peak hours) then the only issue of running 4 cars is going to be having to run 300 feet down the platform at some stations (i.e. entering at Norman Ave at the Nassau St station), and even THAT becomes less of a run-for-your-life situation if you know that you're not going to have to wait 8-10 minutes for the next one. The G line is the ONLY line in the system where I really feel bummed out by just missing a train, no matter what hour of the day, because the wait for the next one can be an eternity, and odds are, at one of the most dilapidated stations in the system. In order to have better headways, something needs to be done about the terminals. You'd think that with tail tracks, Court Square would be a more efficient terminal. However, this is not the case, due to the stupid layout of it. Rather than just having a regular diamond crossover, there is a center track which has a 10mph speed restriction, which means that every other train must enter Court Square at a restricted speed, and every other train must leave it at a restricted speed. Usage of the center track also holds up trains entering or leaving the station half of the time (the ideal situation is a train arriving on the Queens-bound platform while the other train is leaving from the Brooklyn-bound platform, but when the opposite occurs, you're gonna be spending an extra 2-3 minutes waiting). Now, I'm no expert on track structure or construction, but it can't be THAT expensive in the long-run to improve the flow of this station, by one of three means - 1. upgrade the center track and switches so that trains may use it at a faster speed. 2. install new switches that allow a crossover to the right track directly at the station - most of the IRT Bronx terminals have a layout like this in place. 3. install a diamond crossover north of the station, and run it the same way that 205 St is - with all trains entering and leaving the station on the right track, and relaying north of it. Since the Church Ave terminal change is already set in stone, I'm not going to discuss how to improve Smith-9 St. We already know that Church is going to be more effective, so there shouldn't be any issues at that end. Yes, having shorter trains (and thus oversized platforms and overcrowded cars) is an issue. Yes, not having direct access to Queens Blvd is an issue. Yes, not having very many transfers to other lines (Lorimer J/M, Atlantic-Pacific) is an issue. But the goddamn headways is what kills that line the most. It doesn't matter how many transfers you get if it takes you forever to get to them! We all know that riders want a way to Manhattan, and this is true for me about 90% of the time, and the best way to provide that with us is to get us in and out of the crosstown line as fast as possible. |
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