Killing the G train extension is an assault on romance that will push many straphanging couples into long distance mode, and might even break them up, lovebirds say.
Busy couples that depend on the at-risk G train extension — which provides one-seat service between North and Brownstone Brooklyns — worry that chopping the subway line will make cross-borough relationships the third rail of dating.
“It would be almost impossible to see each other,” said Amber Van Natten, a Greenwood Heights resident whose boyfriend resides in Greenpoint. “It’s a huge disservice to relationships.”
Her beau, Christopher Moessner, lives near the Nassau Avenue station — a seven-mile, 50-minute trek from her home that involves planning ahead and packing a bag.
If the Metropolitan Transportation Authority cuts service at the five stops in Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington — dating would become much tougher for the couple.
And they’re not alone.
Other Brooklynites proclaim, only half-jokingly, that they might have to split if the city nixes G service at Fourth Avenue–Ninth Street, Seventh Avenue, 15th Street–Prospect Park, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Avenue.
“My girlfriend lives in Park Slope and we’ll have to break up if the G line extension stops,” James Botha wrote while signing a petition to maintain the train service.
The extension of the G only began two and a half years ago when the MTA started a lengthy overhaul of the Culver Viaduct that prevented the agency from turning the train around at Smith–Ninth Street — a fortunate mishap that connected Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvessant, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint with Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, and Kensington.
But the added service is now inching closer to a last stop due to a soon-to-expire contract, which wraps up when work on the F and G lines concludes next winter.
A transfer between the F and the G might not seem like a big deal, but minutes count in the game of love.
Lovelorn antidotes abound, but a recent Swedish study backs up the stranphangers’ concerns: researchers found that couples who commute more than 45 minutes are 40 percent more likely to split.
G train boosting politician Lincoln Restler, who is circulating a petition to save the service, took to Twitter to make sure the MTA doesn’t let the doors close on Brooklyn lovers.
“Relationships are statistically less likely to withstand multiple train transfers,” he said. “Save the Brooklyn Local!”
Reach reporter Natalie O'Neill at noneill@cnglocal.com or by calling her at (718) 260-4505.
