G is for, “Give us a break!”
Straphangers who rely on the Brooklyn-Queens crosstown G train line in hipster neighborhoods from Long Island City to Greenpoint could be hit with more service shutdowns during what would be their third straight summer of hell.
The MTA is seriously “looking” at plans for G trains to halt each weekend in June as well as two weekends in August and one weekend in May, as heavily delayed work on the key line continues to slowly modernize its century-old signal system, state Assemblymember Emily Gallagher said Sunday.
Future shutdowns of the outer-borough line — which bounces between Court Square in Long Island City, Queens, and Church Avenue in Kensington, Brooklyn — are already planned each weekend in December and for one week in September, the pol said.
An MTA rep told The Post on Monday that the potential disruptions are just that — potential — and that any updates will be posted on the agency’s website.
But Gallagher, who represents North Brooklyn, fumed on X that even the thought of disrupting service again “is unacceptable.
“These shutdowns have disastrous impacts on our community. Small businesses lose customers in their busiest months,” she wrote.
“These shutdowns impact social connections, weekend work shifts, and our wallets. They punish people for choosing to live in Greenpoint.”
The bad news comes after commuters affected by previous line work — and given the lose-lose alternatives of slowpoke shuttle buses or pricey bike-share memberships — were told the 2025 summer shutdown would be the last, Gallagher said.
The pol said her office is working to organize a town hall “so we can discuss these issues.”
The infamous G train summer shutdowns — a bane for riders since 2024 — are designed to update the line’s signals to a “state-of-the-art” system that is projected to cost $368 million.
“The nearly century-old signals needing replacement on the line have been a frequent source of service disruptions and delays,” the MTA has said.
The transit agency previously estimated the signal update will be completed by 2027, but a report published last year from an independent engineering consulting firm found the project is two years behind schedule.
“I’m not happy. The G train is down so frequently,” said Kensington resident Mitchell Highbam, who estimated it took him 2.5 hours — an otherwise 50-minute journey — to get home from Greenpoint during a previous G train suspension.
The 36-year-old said he is even looking to move neighborhoods because of the frequent shutdowns.
The same train line was out of service most weekends from Dec. 12 to March, Greenpointers reported.
“I’ve taken Ubers, buses, the shuttle bus, and all of that takes me longer to where I need to go,” Highbam said. “I’m so frustrated with the G and its unreliability. All of the things I have to do, my job, is up in that area.”
Another Brooklynite, Will P., said, “It’s not great, but it’s what’s happening.
“You would think it would get it done by last summer or the summer before, but here we are again,” he said.
The 31-year-old accountant said he anticipates another “summer of discontent.”
He also questioned how many businesses in the trendy areas would be permanently rocked by the ongoing weekend closures.
“Sometimes it’s between taking the bus or not going to Williamsburg” during a shutdown, and I just don’t go to Williamsburg,” he said.
“It’s not worth it.”
