EDITORIAL MTA UNBOUND.

IT will be more than a little ironic if the MTA is able to better serve its neediest riders only after it's freed from the yoke of the consent decree.

Yet that very likely will happen, as the court-ordered consent decree is set to expire next month, with only limited improvement in service for many who travel the farthest and rely on public transit the most.

Only afterward will the Metropolitan Transportation Authority be free to be innovative and change routes and schedules to respond to real needs of riders, rather than political ones. The first step is Metro Connections, a plan to be more sensible about getting people to places, which is set to begin in December.

Maybe this plan will inconvenience some riders, as critics worry. But a temporary inconvenience is a more than reasonable trade-off for making a public transportation system that works for the transit-dependent.