De Facto Termination!

This will interest only about five people who go to Target on the weekends, but G apologists are openly speculating that the MTA is quietly implementing a “de facto termination” of G service into Queens:

The G train has been called the “stepchild” of the MTA.

It is the only line that doesn’t pass through Manhattan. It runs with just four often-crowded cars per train between Brooklyn and Queens. The trains lack a conductor. Portions stink from sewage that leaks from pipes onto the tracks. It runs its full route only after sunset and on weekends — when it’s not shut for track work.

Sometimes, it even runs in two segments, forcing a transfer.

Still, thousands of people, especially in booming Williamsburg and Greenpoint, depend on it. But the MTA is calling for unspecified subway service cuts in 2007, and G-train riders fear the 13-station Queens Boulevard segment will get axed.

“At this time, we do not know which lines will be affected by cuts,” said MTA New York City Transit spokesman James Anyansi. Specific cuts, if any, will be announced by the end of the year.

Advocates say that the MTA should consider adding train service, given the population boom in the neighborhoods the G serves.

“It really shows a lack of foresight on the part of the MTA,” said Assemb. Joe Lentol (D-Brooklyn). “Greenpoint is becoming a major site of redevelopment on the waterfront.”

Some MTA board members suggested that might be possible, but that’s not reassuring enough for Teresa Toro of rider advocacy group Save The G.

“They’ve already done a de facto termination,” she said.

She was referring to ongoing work to replace Queens tunnel road beds on the G, which runs from Red Hook to Forest Hills. That work has meant no weekend G service between Long Island City and Forest Hills since January. Disruptions will continue until at least Aug. 14, MTA officials say.

On weekdays, the G travels from the Smith-9th streets stop in Red Hook, to Court Square in Long Island City. On weekends and weeknights, it is supposed to continue to the last stop at 71st-Continental in Forest Hills.

There is, however, apparently movement towards extending the G deeper into Brooklyn:

Even though there’s a chance of a partial line closure, there’s actually talk of expanding the G by five stops in Brooklyn, some MTA board members said.

The southernmost G stop is Smith-9th streets in Red Hook. But after the last passenger departs the train, it has to pass five stations, down the F line tunnel to Church Avenue, where there’s enough room to turn the train around. Some MTA board members and rider advocates have suggested that the G simply keep picking up and dropping off passengers since it is going to Church Avenue anyway.

Backstory: G Love (And That Special Sprint); The Little Train That Couldn’t Get Any Respect; Ironic, Because Everyone Knows The G Never Comes.