What if there were a way to pay for desperately needed repairs to New York’s subways, while also funding big ideas and new lines to create additional capacity to the aging, overwhelmed system? A New York Times editorial over the weekend backed a bill before the New York State Assembly that would use congestion pricing and other means to raise revenue for the MTA’s capital plan and future projects. One idea that should be among those future projects, the NYT said, is the Triboro Line, a RPA proposal that would provide sorely needed transit access for residents outside Manhattan.

“The Triboro RX would serve many fast-growing neighborhoods, some of which have limited or no train service now. The Regional Plan Association, which first proposed the line in the 1990s, estimates it could cost $1 billion to $2 billion, serve an additiona daily ridership of 100,000 people and help reduce the time it takes to get from the Bronx to Brooklyn by as much as half an hour, a big help to many lower-income residents.”

It is one of many improvements to the region’s transit network that RPA intends to include in the Fourth Regional Plan, due out in 2017.

Photo: New York Times

Read the full article in The New York Times, and learn more about the proposed Triboro Line at www.rpa.org/triboro.