After 15 years running on a shortened weekend route, the G train should once again extend to Forest Hills on Saturdays and Sundays, a group of advocacy organizations and the New York Mets told the MTA and elected officials this week.
In the Feb. 5 missive addressed to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and MTA Chair Janno Lieber, the coalition of over 30 groups say they want the G train should be extended from its northern terminus at Court Sq-23rd St to Forest Hills-71st Av — a station the line has not served in more than 15 years. The letter’s signatories include the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Riders Alliance, and the Flushing-based Mets.
The authors say the weekend extension would be an immediate, cost-effective way for Brooklyn and Queens residents to more easily traverse the two boroughs without having to venture into Manhattan and make multiple transfers, or rely on buses.
“Traveling between Brooklyn and Queens remains unnecessarily difficult. This inefficiency wastes New Yorkers’ time and money,” the coalition wrote. “Restoring weekend G service to Forest Hills represents an opportunity to fundamentally change New York City’s transportation landscape by prioritizing the direct connections that outer borough residents desperately need.”
The G train currently runs between Church Av in Brooklyn and Court Sq-23rd St in Queens. Prior to 2010, the G went past Court Square along the Queens Boulevard line and terminated in Forest Hills.
The MTA discontinued G train service north of Court Square in 2010 due to financial issues and low capacity on the crowded Queens Boulevard line.
However, the coalition says that areas along the line have changed significantly over the past 15 years, leading to a surge in ridership to 166,000 per day.
“This growth reflects increased housing, employment, and activity along the corridor between Court Square and Church Avenue, driven in part by remote work patterns that have shifted more trips within Brooklyn and Queens,” the letter reads.
The groups say extending the line on weekends would make it easier for New Yorkers to reach Queens destinations, including LaGuardia Community College, the Museum of the Moving Image, Elmhurst Hospital, and Forest Hills Stadium.
Additionally, they say it would make it easier for shift workers to get to their jobs when other train lines are running on modified weekend schedules and could improve air quality by reducing car usage.
MTA says G train return to Forest Hills isn’t that easy
When reached for comment, MTA spokespeople referred amNewYork to comments Lieber made on the subject during a state legislative budget hearing earlier this week.
Lieber, responding to a question from Assembly Member and Congressional candidate Claire Valdez (D-Queens), said there are two main issues standing in the way of restoring weekend G service.
The MTA chair said the first issue is that the Queens Boulevard line is already quite crowded on weekends with existing E, F, and R train service. The problem is compounded, he said, by the agency doing some kind of work on at least one of those lines each weekend.
Prior to 2010, Lieber said, the G train could not run on 80% of the weekends due to maintenance work.
The second issue Lieber identified is that only 3% of riders are traveling between destinations in Queens, while most are heading to and from Manhattan.
“I understand there’s a lot of enthusiasm. We got the message, and we’re never going to say never, never, never,” Lieber said. “But at the moment, those are the issues that are pushing us against not taking this action.”
An MTA official also told amNewYork that sections of the G train are closed most weekends in the immediate term as the agency works to install a new, modern signal system on the line.
