And now it’s getting blamed for ruining riders’ relationships.

According to a piece by Meredith Hoffman of DNAinfo, the G train's unreliable service and limited route is negatively impacting Brooklynites’ dating lives.

"I had to make a rule that was, literally, if you live off the G you're not for me," said one Bed-Stuy resident, Mutale Nkonde, who lives near the A and C trains. “To get to the G is such a monumental hike, it's two buses plus a long walk."

The piece quotes a number of Brooklynites who have ended relationships due to the G train commute, or have even sworn off G Train dating altogether.

Add to this a bit of a sketchy aesthetic, and the G train hardly puts riders in the mood for consensual lovin’.

"When you get there [to the Myrtle-Willoughby station] it looks Law and Order-ish. It looks like a crime scene,” added Ms. Nkonde.

An MTA spokesperson allegedly declined to comment, presumably because the MTA has better things to do than speculate wildly on their riders’ dating lives. Like, oh, I don’t know, FIX THE GODDAMN G-TRAIN!?

Clinton Hill resident Alex Saba takes the G to visit her boyfriend who lives in Greenpoint, but told DNAinfo that the train has impeded the possibility of “casual get-togethers.”

"He lives 3 miles away and it takes 45 minutes, at a minimum, to get there," said Ms. Saba. “I'm glad it's there but it's still a huge pain."

If you were doubting that the testimonies of a couple of random Brooklynites points to a larger dating trend, then doubt no more: there are even viral videos (2,466 views!) to support the cause. Specifically, a YouTube video Called “The Brooklyn Date,” created by Tyler Fischer, depicts a couple’s magical date reaching a bitter end when the woman asks the man back to her G train apartment.

Poor, poor G train. Hopefully the MTA will make good on their vague chatter about fixing G service and, subsequently, enhance  romantic prospects for vast un-dateable swaths of the borough's population.

For now, Brooklynites, if you’re looking for your Sliding Doors romance, stick to the L train.

Train drain on the L-line. (MTA/Fickr)

Update, 11/6 11:42 a.m.: The MTA just announced that the L-train tube under 14th Street has been pumped out and "damage is currently being assessed."

Original post: Since we have become your defacto North Brooklyn subway depot—just take a look at the Popular Stories box right now—here is the latest from those skinny-pants filled lines. According to the MTA's evening service advisory, the Newtown Creek tunnel on the G-train has been pumped out while pumping work remains for the L.

As we previously reported, no tunnel saw more flooding than the L, which is among the reasons the MTA left it until the end of its recovery operations to pump out, because the more water, the longer it takes. Among the reasons the 4/5/6 and 2/3 were up and running so quickly is they needed minimal pumping. They also carry more people, making them, arguably a greater priority. Just don't tell that to the people living in North Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, the G-train may be clear of water, but signals still need to be repaired from what rushed in, which was salt water, remember, and thus more severe. Once repaired, the signals need to be tested. It does not appear that there will be G service tomorrow morning as a result, but the MTA has surprised us before, so keep those fingers cross.

In the meantime, remember, the B43 gets you pretty darn close to the bridge into Queens, and thus the No. 7 train to Midtown, so don't get stuck relying on the B62 to get you to work tomorrow. The MTA did say it will be running extra B62 buses to compensate for the absent subway service, as well.

The agency also reiterated the importance of getting these lines up and running again. "The top subway priority is now restoring service on the G and L trains through northwest Brooklyn, where alternate service on the J and M trains was extremely crowded," the statement read.

Meanwhile, service has expanded on the A/C lines, with the A-train running once again to 207th Street in Inwood, the last stop on the line. The C-train will start running to 168th Street in Harlem once again as a result. The B-line will also begin running, from Bedford Park in the Bronx all the way down to Kings Highway in Brooklyn, though neither that or the Q yet reaches Coney Island, which was hard-hit by the storm.

The MTA is also trying to figure out how to increase 1-train service through signal adjustments in order to allow for more riders on the West Side, where there was considerable crowding on the Seventh Avenue line during this morning's commute.

The line for the B62, about the only G-train life line. (Heidi Metcalfe/Twitter)

The people of North Brooklyn can be an entitled bunch (as a local, this reporter can personally testify to this). After all, the lights, even the Internet stayed on through most of the storm, and property damage was minimal, even for those condos cum punching bags on the waterfront. Still, standing outside in the freezing cold while one packed B62 after another blows by your stop is not a very comforting feeling. Forget getting to work, what about the hypothermia concerns the mayor has been preaching?

But fear not, now that the MTA has gotten to all the other subway lines—which to be totally fair had less flooding and/or carried more riders into the city—the L and the G are now its primary recovery focus, according to MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg.

"The MTA is very much aware of the difficult commute for our customers who usually take the G and L trains, as well as the crowding at the Marcy Avenue station," Mr. Lisberg said in an email. "Getting the G and L running again is our highest priority, and crews are working around the clock on both."

Part of the reason it may still be a few days before service returns is because the damage in the flooded lines remains unknown. "Pumping the water from those flooded tunnels is only the first step," Mr. Lisberg said. "Signals must be fixed or replaced and then tested, among other restorations, before we can safely start service again. We know this is an inconvenience for our customers in the affected neighborhoods, and the entire agency is focused on getting those lines running again."

He also said  that the logistics of setting up shuttles for these lines is complicated even when the system is not hamstrung as it currently is, and it would only carry a fraction of the passengers the trains could. And by the time the shuttle is up and running, the trains could be back in some capacity, so better to wait for that, though the agency continues to explore all options to restore service as quickly as possible.

For those in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, The Observer has hit upon at least one possible route into Manhattan that bypasses the B62, which is currently suffering from long lines and overcrowding. Take the B43 to the last stop at Box Street, walk over the Pulaski Bridge, and catch the No. 7 at Vernon/Jackson. You may have to wade through crowds there, too, but at least you'll be inside.

Down and out of service. (lesterhead/Flickr)

Update 11/3 3:30:The MTA just provided an explanation for not even the partial restoration of G service. It essentially amounts to low ridership.

Update 11/1 8:09: We finally sort of found out how it is the G train flooded even though it does not go under the East River. Currently, the section of the train running under Newtown Creek is full of water (between the oil, the Superfund sites, and now this, that creek is just the worst).

It was not clear how the water got there, whether it came in due to flooding along the creek in Greenpoint and Long Island City or elsewhere in the system. Water flows downhill, after all, and this is the lowest point in the system, so it could have been flooding anywhere, through the air vents or entrances or other entry points, and this is simply where the water wound up.

It has yet to be decided when the tunnel will be pumped out--after all, this is one of the lowest-density lines, and thus less of a priority, especially since it does not travel into the central business districts in Manhattan. It was also not clear whether the line would begin to run in sections or see a partial restoration of service, as has happened with other subway lines thus far.

Original Post: It's a question we've been getting a lot lately (but we're biased North Brooklynites, so...). All anyone has been hearing and thinking about, quite understandably, is the flooded East River tunnels, which the G does not touch. Meanwhile, the F and N in Queens are running fine into Manhattan, so there are tunnels that have remained dry, though other outer borough lines are also out of commission, like the No. 7. Not that that means this is an issue with elevated lines, because the J is running, albeit only to Hewes Street.

So far, the only explanation the MTA has been able to give is that there is flooding in the G tubes. A spokesman could not say where, or how the water got in, but as soon as we know that, we will update you.

Until then, Brooklynites could turn to the East River Ferries, which are up and running again under a modified schedule starting this morning, though the connection is mainly to Manhattan, not within Brooklyn—for that, you will probably have to rely on buses, which have been taking hours to get most places, but that is quite understandable given the extraordinary circumstances.

Per New York Waterway, the ferry's operator:

The ferries will run on two modified routes: a northern loop, making stops at North Williamsburg, Long Island City, and East 34th Street; and a southern loop, making stops at North Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bridge Park in DUMBO, and Wall Street/Pier 11. There will be free transfers at North Williamsburg. In addition, NY Waterway will continue to operate its free bus service from E34thStreet on a limited schedule throughout the day.

The ferries running on the northern loop will carry 149 passengers and arrive at each stop in 15-minute intervals, while the ferries on the southern loop will carry 399 passengers and arrive at each stop in 30-minute intervals. This schedule will allow the ferries to carry the greatest number of passengers.

The first ferries, for both routes, will leave from North Williamsburg at approximately 7 a.m., and the last ferries will leave from E 34th Street and Wall Street/Pier 11 at approximately 6 p.m.

Ferry stops in Greenpoint and South Williamsburg will remain closed until further notice, as damage from Hurricane Sandy continues to be assessed.

Due to damage to ticketing equipment, NY Waterway will be selling tickets on-board the ferry, available for purchase by cash only.

Correction: A previous version of this post said the Q was running from Queens. We meant the N train, from Astoria. The Observer regrets the error. Also, to clarify, the F is not running into Manhattan from Brooklyn, only Queens

Sing a song about the G, get sent to Sweden! (Brooklyn Brewery)

The G train gets a bad rap sometimes. Residents of Brooklyn and Queens often grumble about the train's sporadic service, long waits, lack of weekend service, and its general uselessness. But there's at least one champion of the G out there (which will be extending its service thanks to the MTA's new budget allotment), and they want you to show your love as well.

The Williamsburg beer factory/garden Brooklyn Brewery is holding a contest for songsmiths to pen a tune about their experience riding the green rails, which, as they point out, is statistically a pretty decent train. The winning band will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Sweden, where the hops palace has teamed up with Debaser to hold the first ever Brooklyn music festival in Stockholm. (Why? Who knows.)

The official deadline for entry was July 24th (sorry!), but you can still vote on the ten finalists over on the Brewery's Facebook page. Tomorrow is the last day to pick your favorite, so get on this: the songs range from like Matthew Meyer's indie ballad "G Ode," which chronicles the trials of commuting "from a train to a bus," to the auto-tuned "I'll Wait For You" (Get it? Because the train is so slow?)

But our personal favorite is Teen Commandments' "No Burning Headlights," which took a time machine to steal the glam-rock vocals from David Bowie and coupled it with the synth  guy from Echo and the Bunnymen.

http://youtu.be/kP4qNsJLP9E

Finally, reason to celebrate the G-train. (Free Williamsburg)

They'll be celebrating in Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kennsington tonight.

Never heard of these neighborhoods? Clearly, you are not a G-train rider (nor lover of shockingly affordable and spacious apartments), for this is the land the G almost forgot. The MTA was poised to stop the G-Train at Smith and 9th Street station, as it had been for years, until construction on the Culver viaduct necessitated an extension of the line a further five stops.

South Brooklyn straphangers have been lobbying the MTA to keep the extension in place for months, as the reopening the under-repair stations loomed (and was inevitably pushed back). In an unexpected move, the decision to keep the extension, reported in the Daily News today, was lumped in with the agency's plans to resume another of other bus and train routes cancelled during budget woes two years ago.

The list wasn’t finalized as of Friday, but one of the winners will likely be Red Hook, the underserved neighborhood where the subway isn’t an option and where community activists and Transport Workers Union Local 100 have been active in organizing for improvements.

Red Hook was stripped of two bus routes — the B77 and the B75 — and the B61 that survived either runs too infrequently or is too crowded to board. “I walk 20 blocks every day to get to the subway, rather than wait a half-hour to get on a bus,” Robert Berrios, 44, a clerk from Red Hook, complained to the MTA board last month.

Another top candidate for a service boost is Bay Ridge, where part of the B64 was erased from the map, another source said.

Lines in Brooklyn and the Bronx are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries, yet further proof on how the two boroughs are so similar and yet so different.

The sculptor had spent 12 years moving around the borough after arriving from Philadelphia: Greenpoint, Williamsburg, back to Clinton Hill. But Mr. Eide, now 37, never strayed far from the G train, the only subway line in the city that doesn't travel through Manhattan. And he never stopped thinking of that idea he had: to connect his neighborhood G train stop, Fulton Street, to the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street transit hub, effectively linking the line to almost a dozen other routes.

The fantastical part? A 660-foot tunnel buried under Fort Greene.

"It just didn't make sense to me that it wasn't there," he said of the tunnel. "And this was a while ago. This was before these neighborhoods changed as drastically as they've changed."

The Atlantic Avenue station services the B, Q, 2, 3, 4, 5, D, M, N and R lines. On average, over 30,000 commuters cross through its turnstiles every weekday, making it the second most trafficked hub in Brooklyn and the 29th busiest station in all of the M.T.A. But the G? Transit advocates call it the system's "forgotten stepchild." Most recently, M.T.A. CEO Elliot Sander announced the line would not receive the service enhancements that the transit agency had promised riders last February, due to budget constraints.

But Mr. Eide is not sympathetic to the M.T.A.'s financial woes.

"I live here in the city, and if they're going to increase my fares, they need to do certain things," he said. "If they want to have a successful mass transit system, I think they need to have [a tunnel]. They do make improvements to their lines, and they can make one here."

When we met for coffee at a local cafe, Mr. Eide arrived in a rumpled button-down shirt, with a weekend's worth of stubble on his chin. But he's no slacker artist. Mr. Eide was involved in the campaign to halt the construction of a 15-story luxury condominium tower at 163 Washington Avenue. Community members formed a coalition, Building Too Tall, to fight the developer, the GLC Group, over the course of three hearings before the Board of Standards and Appeals. The BSA approved construction of the tower last March.

During the course of the hearings, Mr. Eide met City Councilwoman Letitia James of Fort Greene. In February, the M.T.A. had promised Ms. James that it would conduct a study to determine the costs associated with digging a passageway between Fulton and Atlantic. (Ms. James declined to be interviewed for this story.)

It was her efforts that convinced Mr. Eide that his long ago tunnel idea was more than a pipe dream. He created an online petition to the M.T.A., publicizing it through the Brooklyn blogs, such as Brownstoner and Save the G.

Since February, over 1,200 people have signed, including James Surowiecki, The New Yorker writer and author of The Wisdom of Crowds, and Eric Demby, the cofounder and curator of the Brooklyn Flea Market. Not that Mr. Eide could tell you that -- he hasn't combed the names for notables. He's just happy that the petition has a space where riders can comment, testifying to their experiences with the G.

"I can make anonymous comments on blogs about the M.T.A. as much as I want," he said, "but it's not going to affect anything. But maybe the petition will."

Riders from as far away as Canada and the U.K. have affixed their names and observations to the petition.

"My husband and I have long considered a move to Clinton Hill," wrote Pamela Remickof Brooklyn last April, "but always hesitate when we consider that the G train is the primary train service. If it were connected to Atlantic, our fears would be erased!" Another, Kristine Ganancial, wrote, "my entire NY life, I've based my living situation entirely on how far and how much I can avoid the G Train."

Others called the tunnel a "no-brainer," and a few even suggested that the developers behind the Atlantic Yards should pay for its construction.

Cate Contino, of the transit advocacy group the Straphangers Campaign, wrote, "This line serves one of the fastest growing populations in NYC. It's time transit reflected the vibrancy of G-dependent communities. Why not add a few more cars while we're at it? If you build it, the riders will come."

But New York City Transit is not convinced that they will. When NYCT looked into the viability of creating a free passageway between the stations, it found that only 1,000 to 5,000 commuters would use it daily.

"The prohibitive cost would not be justified," said Deirdre Parker, deputy director of NYCT's public affairs, in an e-mail. Ms. James, the councilwoman, told the Brooklyn Paper in February that it would most likely take 5 to 10 years to complete but would be "the biggest shaft in the subway system."

Of course, many G riders think they've already gotten the shaft. "The G train suffers from neglect," said Mr. Eide. "Part of that neglect is engineered." In other words, the M.T.A. has created a vicious cycle: low ridership numbers lead to service cuts, which lead to a decrease in ridership.

"If they did make some of these critical connections that they could make, then ridership would increase," Mr. Eide continued, "and they'd be forced to do something. I think regardless they're going to be forced to do something at some point soon."

However, the feasibility study that the M.T.A. promised Ms. James died along with congestion pricing. To go ahead, the study would have to be a part of the agency's capital budget, she said in an e-mail.

Many G train riders wonder why the M.T.A. couldn't at least allow for a street transfer between Fulton and Atlantic, allowing commuters to transfer aboveground for the cost of a single fare. (This is already in place between the G and the 7 lines at Court Square in Queens and between the F at 63rd Street; and the E, V and 6 lines at 53rd Street in Manhattan.)

If such a system were in place, Peter Eide, for one, would use it. He currently rides the bus to Atlantic, transferring to the Q train on his way to Rockefeller Center, where he works part-time in the graphics department of a financial advisory firm. Although the ultimate goal of his campaign is to build the tunnel, Mr. Eide believes that any kind of improvement to the G line -- increased frequency of service, street transfers, a longer train -- would benefit the community.

The petition will close in December, but until then, the signatures and the comments -- what Mr. Eide calls "the motor of the petition" -- will continue to accumulate.

"It's sort of like power to the people," he explains. "The great thing about it is that there's weight in numbers."

"The M.T.A. has done a grave injustice to G train riders and commuters in Brooklyn if it fails to enact service enhancements," said State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn. In May, Mr. Jeffries and others launched a campaign to pressure the M.T.A. to increase the G's frequency and to restore its four-car trains to six cars.

"The M.T.A. seems to be primarily in the business of broken promises," Teresa Toro of Save the G said today. "Naturally, they should only make promises they can keep."

Ms. Toro, whose organization represents civic groups in Brooklyn and Queens, expressed concern over the unpredictable financial health of the transit agency. "I do worry that the M.T.A.'s fortunes seem to rise and fall very dramatically. ... It really erodes rider confidence and taxpayers' confidence."

The planned G train upgrades included reducing wait times by up to seven minutes on weekday evenings. But Ms. Toro was reluctant to characterize these changes as improvements, since they would have meant terminating the line at Court Square in Queens. "A little more frequent service on half the route is not what Save the G sees as service enhancements. Period." She preferred to see a greater number of street transfers implemented.

M.T.A. officials have long maintained that the G's ridership is too low to warrant more frequent service, while riders in Brooklyn and Queens point to the boroughs' economic and population growth as evidence that something must be done for the line.

"If you look at the G train in terms of overall ridership, it paints an inaccurate picture," said Mr. Jeffries. "It clearly is not one of the most active subway lines in the city. However, when you look at ridership during key points in the day, such as the evening rush, there is overcrowding and there is insufficient service."

More than a dozen other trains will receive or benefit from improvements in the upcoming months, The New York Times reported today.

Although Mr. Jeffries has yet to speak with anyone at the M.T.A., he said he and other local elected officials will continue to lobby for a better G train.

The M.T.A.'s decision will, of course, annoy many G Train riders, not least those who kicked off a campaign in May to improve service.

Almost 100 G riders kicked off a monthlong campaign to increase service on the "forgotten stepchild" of the New York subway system, as Mr. Jeffries and others have called it.

"It's important to increase the intensity of the public campaign," Mr. Jeffries said, "to stress to the M.T.A. that G train service enhancements are absolutely necessary."

On June 25, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board will meet to discuss systemwide service improvements. Mr. Jeffries, who organized the rally, intends to make sure the G is a top priority. In the coming weeks, G advocates will be writing letters, sending e-mails and corralling the support of elected officials in an effort to "convince the M.T.A. to do the right thing," as Mr. Jeffries put it.

In February, the agency announced a plan to increase the frequency of G service during off-peak hours, but these additions have been put on hold indefinitely.

"The M.T.A. is aware of these problems [on the G] but sometimes they just need to be reminded," said Cate Contino of the Straphangers Campaign.

Ms. Contino was one of a number of speakers who illuminated the unique woes of the G: truncated four-car trains, a lack of street transfers, long waits and a history of service reductions. Cuts to the G have occurred despite the route's expanding ridership, especially in the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant. In a recent rider report card survey, the G received a D+.

Joe Chan, of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a nonprofit local development corporation, spoke of the need to grow downtown Brooklyn as one of the city's financial hubs—a project he says is hindered by the inadequacies of the G line.

The capacity crowd also included the president of the Pratt Institute, Thomas Schutte, as well as a representative from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's office, City Council members, community leaders and residents of Brooklyn and Queens. It was Mr. Jeffries' rousing call and answer that received the audience's loudest response:

"What do we want?" he chanted.

"More G service!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"