Thursday’s Headlines: The Busway Is The Right Way Edition

The big story for anyone who cares about working people was Mayor Mamdani’s ribbon-cutting yesterday for a busway on Tremont Avenue in the Bronx that his predecessor stalled.

As Streetsblog previously reported, the car-free bus lane — between Third Avenue and Southern Boulevard — will speed up commutes for 40,000 people. There will also be a new offset bus lane in the stretch that competes with cars, plus safety improvements along the entire corridor. It’s the latest example of Hizzoner making good on the “fast” part of his “fast and free” bus promise.

On Wednesday, right-minded outlets (amNY, NY1, Secret NY), covered the news fairly, but the Post’s social media team worked overtime to find the right way suggest that faster buses aren’t worth bothering about. Really? “Faster” in ironic quotes? (The headline on the story in question was even worse: “Drivers slam Mamdani’s ‘crazy’ plan to kick cars off major NYC street.” Rupert, you should know better — that’s strictly dog bites man.)

Streetsblog obviously played the event perfectly, retweeting its own video from March featuring a Bronx resident named Parker who was sick and tired of slow buses:

The DOT did its own video, but our antiquated CMS can’t handle Instagram Reels. So click here to see it.

In other news:

• E-bike sales in New Jersey are crashing, thanks to heavy-handed and poorly thought-out legislation in the Garden State that did nothing to crack down on the real problem: illegal, high-speed vehicles. (NJ.com)
• Speaking of bikes, Gothamist followed our story about how Citi Bike rides are too damn expensive.
• Publicly owned private spaces are increasingly a scam. (PIX11)
• There was an awful crash in Boro Park that involved cops. (PIX11, Patch)
• If a tree falls in global warming and the politicians don’t care, did it even make a sound? (Gothamist)
• The West Side Rag spotted a “beautiful” bike rack.
• The good news is that Puppetworks, the venerable marionette theater that is being evicted from its decades-old Park Slope location will reopen in September in Industry City, Gothamist reported. The bad news? The grand re-opening production is “Hansel and Gretel,” which once prompted one of the greatest takedowns ever from puppetry critic Thurston Dooley III in The Brooklyn Paper. The headline — “Hansel and Regretal” — kinda tells it all.
• A car driver drove into a building in a crash in Boerum Hill. (News12)
• Meanwhile, a Long Island man got a 25-year sentence for a drunken crash that happened to kill an NYPD cop. (NYDN, NY Post)
• Mayor Mamdani is stating the obvious: Upstate New York is lovely this time of year. Have a great vacation, mayor. (NYDN)
• Hey, WMSBG, this is not an “accident.” It is a driver operating a vehicle willfully recklessly:

• Bad news for the mayor’s supposed crackdown on online sales of illegal e-motos. You can still get a 1,200-watt death machine or the same illegal vehicle that Gabriel Nacato was riding for $200 on Facebook. Somebody needs to subpoena Mark Zuckerberg.
• And, finally, Council members, they’re just like US! Here’s Council Member Chris Marte (D-Chinatown) showing off the best way to get around his district: