The MTA has announced its plans to close the R Train tunnel for 14 months and the G Train tunnel for 12 weekends and 5 consecutive weeks.
John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, released the following statement today:
“Even before today’s construction plans were announced, we were pushing for better R and G service because those trains are notoriously crowded and infrequent.
“We understand that the MTA has to do what’s necessary to rebuild from Sandy, we know it will be painful, and we support the MTA doing this much-needed construction. But shutting down a whole train line is an extraordinary move, and we want to guarantee the MTA is making extraordinary accommodations to serve riders while the tunnels are under repair.
“That could mean running extra trains on nearby lines or adding more buses in the affected neighborhoods. Whatever it takes, we should do it; hundreds of thousands of commuters should not experience Sandy-like conditions every day for more than a year.”
The Riders Alliance is a grassroots organization of subway and bus riders, working neighborhood by neighborhood to win better service.