Wednesday’s Headlines: One Billion Reasons for Optimism Edition

The big photo op of the day was the MTA’s celebration of its one-billionth subway rider of the year.

It’s a bit of a meaningless statistic, considering that before the pandemic, the billion rides threshold would have been crossed months ago.

Indeed, as the Daily News put it, “By passing the 1 billion mark on Tuesday, the MTA has grown ridership by about 32 percent this year. But that figure is still 41 percent below the pre-pandemic 2019 ridership count.” (amNY also covered.)

Still, it was nice to see some reason for good cheer, so we salute you, o billionth rider, Sasha Salazar!

In other news:

• First, let’s thank the donors who contributed yesterday to our annual fundraising drive: Thanks, Paul (and we will pass along your concerns about our old man editor’s health)! Thanks, Ben and Cathy! Thanks, Daniel! Thanks, Jonathan! Anyone else want to give? Click the icon above.
• We couldn’t believe New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s lame answer last week to a reporter’s question last week about his $10-billion-with-a-b Turnpike-widening plan, so we were pleased that Gothamist followed up and showed just how lame it was!
• Mayor Adams gave himself a B+ for his debut in office. Too bad Katie Honan’s excellent interview didn’t address transportation. (The City)
• Just the worst: A man piled his kids into his SUV … then used it to run down his wife. (NYDN, NY Post)
• Gothamist followed our earlier scoop about the failure of electric garbage trucks to handle the snow.
• And, finally, don’t forget there’s still time to vote for the best DOT project of the year in our roundup from yesterday.