Enraged Chinatown community leaders rallied in front of the MTA headquarters on Madison Avenue during a Thursday NYC Transit board meeting to protest the near-total closure of the Grand Street Station during renovations to the Manhattan Bridge. Later that day, more than 100 Brooklyn and Queens G-train riders gathered at the line's Court Street station to speak out against the permanent cropping of 13 stops of the only line directly connecting the two boroughs. The change is due to the service plan for using the new 63rd St. Tunnel-Queens Boulevard connector (MTR #296).

In comments to the NYC Transit board, Chinatown community leaders did not deny rail lines on the Manhattan Bridge must be repaired, but argued for supplementary services so community and area businesses can weather the process likely to take at least four years.

Their requests include expansion of a planned shuttle subway between Broadway-Lafayette and Grand Street north to 34th Street, shuttle buses between Brooklyn's DeKalb St. station and Grand Street and expanded M-train service from Brooklyn. The measures have the support of a wide swath of politicians including Congressman Jerold Nadler, Public Advocate Mark Green and City Councilwoman Kathryn Freed. So far, however, NYC Transit has refused to do more than a two-stop shuttle and intra-Chinatown bus service between Canal and Grand Streets.

City Council members from Brooklyn and Queens harshly criticized NYC Transit on G-train cuts at a Thursday public hearing, according to the Daily News. G ridership has increased by 20% in the past five years due to the revitalization of north Brooklyn neighborhoods like Fort Greene, Williamsburg and Greenpoint. NYC Transit officials pulled approval of the cuts at last month's board meeting and say they are studying the possibility of maintaining current service on the line when Queens-Manhattan V-train service begins.