Thursday’s Headlines: All Aboard the Triboro Edition

All hail The Triboro!

MTA officials announced on Wednesday that they will formally study turning 16 miles of underused freight railway from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Astoria, Queens into new transit service. The MTA calls it “the Bay Ridge branch.” The Regional Plan Association, which has been pushing it for years, calls it “The Triboro” (for its potential to eventually connect to the Bronx).

The study, the MTA said, “will evaluate the potential for subway, commuter rail, light rail or bus service,” but all you need to do is look at a map to see how valuable this route could be: southern Brooklyn badly needs more east-west rail service, western Queens and LIRR customers need more north-south connecting lines, and everyone would benefit from more service that crosses four LIRR branches and something like 17 subway lines. (amNY also covered it.)

Where do we sign?

OK, so it’ll be a few years before the Triboro becomes a reality, so let’s slow down and relax with today’s headlines:

• The city is appealing a judge’s rejection of a proposed “empty cruising cap” for Uber, Lyft and other app-based cabs (NYDN). But readers of Streetsblog know there’s a better way: an empty-car fee.
• Drunk-driving mayhem in Manhattan. (NYDN, NY Post)
• The Post got a third day of coverage out of the Eric Adams “Go back to Iowa!” rant, with Council Speaker Corey Johnson inviting Iowans to come here.
• There’s something unbelievable about this Post story about the maggot-covered subway corpse.
• The Post followed the Journal’s piece from the other day about how the MTA poaches NYPD cops.
• The Post also followed our piece about Gov. Cuomo’s bid to legalize e-bikes — but of course the Tabloid of Record made 25-mile-per-hour bikes sound far more dangerous than 50-mile-per-hour cars.
• You know the fight to reform curbside access — i.e. The War on Free Parking — has hit the mainstream when the Riverdale Press not only covers it, but offers a fairly sympathetic look at how free parking ruins cities.
• Tell us again why we’re supposed to be happy that the MTA is putting ads on our MetroCards (even if the ad features Patrick Stewart in his signature role)? (NY Post)
• Gov. Cuomo wants to invent an entirely new crime — transit trespass — to crack down on serial sex offenders on the subway. But the Daily News story reveals a raft of possible legal issues.
• In case you missed it, Friend of Streetsblog Doug Gordon (of the War on Cars podcast) had a letter to the editor printed in Gridlock Sam’s weekly Daily News column referring to our recent story about how teachers had stolen public property from Park Slope kids.
• And also in case you missed it, let’s clear the air about why cities are so much better than the suburbs: the clearer air: