First look: “Has New York City’s Subway System Improved?” In short: some, but not enough.

That’s the bottom-line conclusion from a report coming today by the Manhattan Institute’s Nicole Gelinas.

Based on data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the subways have made gains from their nadir a few years ago, but the system is hardly adequate, she writes.

Riders “are not experiencing a radical turnaround on the M.T.A.,” Ms. Gelinas concludes. “The M.T.A. has not yet proved that it can keep up with today’s record residential population, record daytime (working) population, and record tourist population.”

Meanwhile the subways’ head, Andy Byford, proposed budget cuts yesterday that will lead trains to be more crowded, cleaned half as often, and hotter in the summer, all to stave off “doomsday” service cuts. Oh well.

Straphanger stories: After Monday's epic delay on the F and G trains, the Riders Alliance released a compilation of the Worst Commutes of 2018.