Yes, that’s Woody Allen throwing Stallone off the subway. Here’s the rest, via Gothamist: (more…)

Everyone knows the G Train sucks. But is it keeping people from getting together? The above video by Brooklyn Date is hilarious and, well, pretty spot-on. From DNA:

“I’d never like to ride the G train.”

Walsh and some other Brooklynites say the G train’s slow and unpredictable service has sabotaged relationships — and some have even sworn off G-train dating altogether.

“I had to make a rule that was, literally, if you live off the G you’re not for me,” said Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Mutale Nkonde, 26, who lives off the A and C trains, and said getting anywhere off the G involved a nightmarish array of transfers and usually getting lost. “To get to the G is such a monumental hike, it’s two buses plus a long walk.”

“The thing about the G is it comes middle of platform so if you’re dressed in high heels you have to run what feels like 7 miles to catch the train,” she said of the line’s short length. “When you get there [to the Myrtle-Willoughby station] it looks ‘Law and Order’-ish.

“It looks like a crime scene.”

A representative for the MTA declined to comment for the story.

The strong sentiment of straphangers like Nkonde has even prompted a local comedian to make a video about a young man’s horror when he learns his date lives off the G train.

“The Brooklyn Date,” which Tyler Fischer created after “hearing people talk badly about the G train all the time,” follows a couple on their first magical date — which comes crashing to a halt when the woman asks the man back to her apartment.

“I did date somebody who lived off the G and I was worried, but I have a car so I always just drove there,” Fischer said. “I’ve just been afraid of [the train].”
As for Clinton Hill resident Alexis Saba, she and her boyfriend do rely on the subway since he lives in Greenpoint, she said — but the G has prevented them from having “casual get-togethers.”

And this just keeps happening.

A man was fatally struck by an L train last night in Brooklyn. According to police, the incident happened around 9:15 p.m. at the DeKalb Avenue station near Wyckoff Avenue, on the northbound L train tracks. The man was found about 200 feet past the station on the tracks, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neither police nor FDNY could confirm how the man ended up so far away from the station. Last month, an intoxicated man who had crawled under the platform to “sleep it off” had his leg amputated after he was struck by a train in Queens. This is the seventh subway fatality of the year so far.
At least one person claimed the victim had jumped in front of the train, which the NYPD could not confirm. They took the Vine below of the scene last night.

Grassroots group Riders Alliance and State Senators Martin Dilan and Daniel Squadron are holding a rally at the Metropolitan G stop at 1pm this Sunday to increase G train frequency. From DNAinfo:

“As the neighborhoods surrounding the G train continue to grow, it’s vital that their lifeline grow with them,” Squadron said of the cross-Brooklyn train, which connects Greenpoint, Queens, Williamsburg, Cobble Hill and Park Slope.
He noted that the G train push followed several other successful campaigns for Brooklyn public transit improvements, including more frequent and consistent service on the L and F lines.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to work together with the MTA, advocates like the Riders Alliance, my colleagues, and our community to improve service,” Squadron said. “And I hope G train riders will come out on Sunday to make their voices heard!”

via

A long-requested bus route connecting the Williamsburg waterfront with Greenpoint and Long Island City is on track, MTA representatives said.

The route would begin underneath the Williamsburg Bridge by the Marcy Avenue J train station and extend to the G, 7, E and M train stations in Long Island City, according to a presentation the authority shared Monday. The MTA, which proposed the route this July along with four other new routes in the city, plans to meet with local community boards this winter to discuss the details of the plan, the presentation noted. “The creation of these new routes is a work in progress,” MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said. “We are discussing various options with various parties, and also looking at our budget.” The proposed route runs from the Williamsburg bridge along Kent Avenue to Franklin Street in Greenpoint, and then on Green Street to McGuiness Boulevard before crossing the Pulaski Bridge and running up 11th Street in Long Island City.

The L train is back, according to MTA CEO and Chairman Joe Lhota’s personal Twitter feed. The line had been closed for more than a week due to Hurricane Sandy. Trains are running once every ten minutes according to @MTAInsider.

Service resumed on the G train yesterday morning.

And just when you were starting to love your 45 minute wait on the L and G lines.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled on Monday four proposals for a scheduled fare increase next March, introducing the possibility of raising the base fare on subways and buses to $2.50 from $2.25 or increasing the cost of a 30-day MetroCard by as much as $21.

Some of the proposals put more burden on travelers who buy their rides one at a time. Others extract more blood from those who buy rides in bulk or spring for an unlimited card. Which do you think is the fairest? Which would you rather see the transit agency implement (which is not necessarily the same question)?

Here are the four proposals.

Image c/o The New York Times

Thursday seven art installations were unveiled at various Brooklyn subway stations along the D line. According to the New York Times,

Almost all of the new works…are laminated glass windscreens that edge subway platforms above ground.”

To see these “laminated glass windscreens”, check out all of the beautiful art exhibitions in this slide show, c/o the New York Times: Beautifying the D Line. Seriously, take a look.

Amongst these installations includes a very cool gate created by Christopher Russell, a Manhattan sculptor:

Mr. Russell was entrusted with designing bronze gates, 7 feet high and 6 feet wide, at the Ninth Avenue Station in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The gates depict honeybees crawling on hives, and the posts of adjacent fences will have honeybees resting on 17 finials shaped like flower heads.

The gates are expected to be presented in the fall after the station, an Arts and Crafts-style copper-roofed structure built in 1916, has been fully renovated. Although the gates are operable, riders will not pass through them, but will simply admire them (or tremble in their presence).”

For more on this story, including the inspiration and process behind Russell’s work, visit the New York Times article in its entirety here: A Sculptor Creates a Stop on the Bee Train.

If you happen to hop on the D train and pass one of these installations, comment below!

To RT @mattlemay, “You can tell that the L train is from Williamsburg because it doesn’t work.”

image c/o Village Voice

Riiighhht?  Here’s this weekend’s breakdown (ha. pun):

Starting at 11:30pm Friday, June 17 to 5am Monday, June 20…

(1) There are NO L trains between 8th Av and 14 St-Union Sq. Free shuttle buses will be provided.

(2) Working L trains run in two sections:

Between Bedford Ave and Rockaway Pkwy
Between Bedford Ave and 14 St-Union Sq

This means everyone must transfer at Bedford Ave.

(3) L trains skip 3 Av in both directions.

(4) L trains run every 16 minutes in both directions.

Just in time for the Northside commute. Nice.

This could prove useful, especially considering how the L train’s weekend “service” has seriously made us question the MTA’s sanity of late: the new East River Ferry, with three pickups in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area (India St. in Greenpoint, N. 6th St. in N. Williamsburg, Schaefer Landing in S. Williamsburg) will be offering FREE ferry service for its first few days of operation – from June 13-24.

The ferry operates from 7am-8:30pm, with pickups every 20-30 minutes. It also offers a free connecting bus service from the East 34th St. terminal and into east midtown.  No word yet on how much the ferry will cost Edit: from a helpful commenter: After the 24th, 1 way trips will be $4, all-day hop-on hop-off passes will be $12, a monthly unlimited pass will be $140, and monthly unlimited with bike $170.

Check out the service map below for more info, or visit the ferry’s website.

Image courtesy nywaterway.com.