New York's Subway Boss Quit: Will Commutes Get Worse?

But on Thursday Byford announced his resignation, ending a two-year tenure marked by a rocky relationship with the man who hired him: Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who controls the state authority that runs the subway.

His departure has raised questions about the future of the nation’s largest subway, including the fate of his long-term plan to modernize the antiquated system and whether the subway can maintain the strides it has made in recent months.

While some transportation experts expressed pessimism Friday, others said that the short-term fixes and the long-term blueprint developed under Byford were well established, and that the transit agency had the leadership to continue making significant changes.

Cuomo has also made the subway a top priority and through the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the subway, has committed to investing tens of billions of dollars in the system.

Still, challenges remain. The transit authority is facing a growing budget crisis and on Friday, an official whom Byford had hired to oversee upgrading the system’s vital but outdated signal network also quit.

Here’s a look at what it all means:

Byford arrived with the subway at a low point.

The subway was in free fall. After years of disinvestment, the subway’s on-time rate had plunged to 58% in 2018, down from nearly 97% in 2003.

The situation was so dire that Cuomo declared a state of emergency in 2017 and then unveiled an $800 million plan to rescue the system, including accelerating repairs to subway signals and increasing the number of train cars that were overhauled to improve their reliability.

In an effort to promote transparency, the MTA created a public dashboard, which shows how the system is performing.

Cuomo then lured Byford, a widely respected transportation expert from Britain who had experience running major transit systems around the world.

Byford was equal parts train nerd, fluent in transportation technology, and engaging leader, known for his ability to inspire executives, transit workers and riders.

He focused on the basics.

Byford sought to improve reliability by focusing on the nuts and bolts, like maintaining equipment and targeting signals, which direct train traffic, that were most prone to slowing down service.

He also instituted a program to recalibrate signals and increase subway speeds.

Slowly, the system started rebounding. The on-time rate climbed to over 80%, and Byford said his goal was to drive it to over 90%.

Five months into his tenure, Byford also laid out his own ambitious, and expensive, long-term plan to purchase hundreds of new train cars and upgrade the system’s dilapidated signals, the source of many of the subway’s problems.

So far, the agency has installed modern signals on two lines — the L train and the 7 train — which now have on-time rates of over 90%, the best in the system.

The subway might finally be moving in the right direction.

Many experts and riders expressed disappointment over Byford’s departure, but his vision for the future is already in place.

In December, the MTA approved a $54 billion spending plan — the largest ever — that, beside new signals, includes extending the Second Avenue line from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to East Harlem, as well as adding elevators to 70 stations to make the system more accessible.

Now state, city and federal leaders must agree to finance the plan, which will be overseen by a respected transit official, Janno Lieber, the head of the authority’s capital construction.

The transit authority will also receive a hefty financial boost after congestion pricing, a plan to charge drivers fees to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan, goes into effect next year.

Officials want to keep the progress going.

A key challenge, officials said, was not to overlook the importance of basic maintenance.

“You don’t want to lose the momentum that was gained in the last two years,” said Andrew Albert, an MTA board member. “The momentum is palpable.”

On Friday, Pete Tomlin, an expert on signals who worked with Byford in London, resigned from the MTA, raising concerns about the signal modernization effort. But Lieber had already taken on much of that responsibility as part of a reorganization plan embraced by Cuomo.

“The departure was expected as Pete was hired by Andy a little over a year ago,” said Abbey Collins, a spokeswoman for the MTA.

Now the MTA will need to fill Byford’s shoes.

Byford not only was popular with many commuters — he became known as the “train daddy” — but also was widely supported inside the MTA, a bureaucracy that has been battered by years of scorn from angry riders and frustrated elected officials.

His departure has already dealt a blow to morale, some workers said Friday, prompting fears that other leaders that he brought into the agency, including an official charged with making the system more accessible, might also leave.

“For some, this may be the catalyst to move outside the MTA,” said Veronica Vanterpool, a former MTA board member.

Other experts and officials worried that the clashes between Byford and Cuomo would make it challenging to find someone to take on the job of running the subway.

Still, they said, the transit agency could rely on the lure of leading a major transit system in a global capital to attract a new leader.

“Running the MTA and running New York City Transit are two of the most sought-after jobs in the transportation industry, not just in the country but in the world,” said Sarah Feinberg, an MTA board member.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .