Streetsblog New York City

“In London, you carry nearly twice as many people in the bus system as you do on the Underground.” In New York, the opposite is true. “We must close the gap and make more of the bus system.”

-- Jay Walder, MTA chairman, as quoted in the New York Times

In the transit landscape inherited by Jay Walder, the MTA’s new chairman, buses are a rare potential bright spot amidst an otherwise dismal world of funding shortages, fare hikes, labor unrest, stalled mega-projects, and feckless politicians. Judging from recent remarks, Walder seems to recognize this and is poised to make better bus service a major focus.

While it may seem obvious that the chair of the MTA should devote considerable energy to buses, this is rarely the case. The head of the MTA is typically consumed by planning, funding, and managing mega-projects and the capital plan. Historically, the MTA has been heavily oriented toward subways and commuter rail. On the average weekday, the agency's subways carry 5.2 million trips and its buses 2.4 million.

But these are not normal times at the MTA. Walder has one year to make a big impression. After that he will almost certainly have a new boss as governor, who will have two options: fire Walder or rehire him. Bus improvements can be done relatively quickly and cheaply, and by reducing delays can actually save money while resulting in better service and higher ridership.

Buses are also attractive to Walder because the mayor and DOT are already aggressively pushing bus corridor improvements. DOT and the MTA have launched a successful Select Bus Service route on Fordham Road in the Bronx, with new routes planned and funded for First and Second Avenues in 2010. The mayor is a good friend to have. He controls streets, parking enforcement and seats on the MTA board.

But Select Bus Service only helps a handful of the MTA's 250 bus routes. Also needed are system-wide improvements. Walder has identified three of these as priorities.

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Jimmy Vielkind at the Politicker files a dispatch from the first State Senate hearing about MTA chair nominee Jay Walder's severance package (yes, there will be more than one).

At today's hearing, in Mineola on Long Island, Regional Plan Association President Bob Yaro said that Walder's pay is fair (and low, if you compare it based on ridership) and the severance package is justified "given the volatility that is unfortunately associated with the position."

"We are also aware that some have questioned the extra compensation Mr. Walder would receive in the event that his contract were terminated prematurely," Yaro testified. "We would argue that this provision reflects the risk Mr. Walder is taking in coming to the MTA at this time, with little more than a year to go in the current governor's term, and given the volatility that is unfortunately associated with the position. It will also encourage the MTA Board and the governor to think twice before discharging Mr. Walder for frivolous or purely political reasons. Keeping him in place for his whole contract would provide the continuity of leadership that this important agency urgently needs."

If Albany weren't such a cesspool of cronyism, in other words, we wouldn't need to slip such a big hedge into the chair's contract to attract top-tier talent. Meanwhile, is the State Senate even aware that the MTA released its draft capital plan a few weeks ago? There's a $10 billion hole, and the agency is still rudderless. If we're going to have a confirmation hearing, you'd think something like the future of the transit system would figure into it at some point, but I suppose that doesn't have anything to do with "transparency and accountability".

Only a handful of people on the planet have the chops to steer an agency as large and complex as the MTA, and Jay Walder is one of them, by all accounts. We'll know if the State Senate is satisfied on September 10, when they render their final decision.

David Paterson has nominated Jay Walder to the top post at the MTA, a selection welcomed by transportation advocates who hailed his expertise and accomplishments today. Walder brings to the job several years of executive experience at large transit agencies, including 12 years at the MTA spanning the 80s and 90s, and a recent six-year stint at Transport for London. Walder still needs to be confirmed by the State Senate, which is slated to meet in an extraordinary session tomorrow.

While in London, Walder earned praise for putting the transit system on sound financial footing. (Note that the city's congestion charge took effect in 2003, while he was finance director at TfL.) To do the same for the MTA, he has his work cut out for him. He assumes the chairmanship at a perilous time for the agency's finances. The state legislature's latest transit funding package left a huge hole in the MTA's capital program, a shortfall of at least $20 billion which Albany will have to address very soon.

"Jay Walder has the experience and credibility that the MTA will require to survive these challenging fiscal times," said RPA President Robert Yaro in a statement. "He'll need all of his many skills to navigate the roiled political waters in Albany."

Transit riders will be well-served if Walder can manage to drive the media narrative about the MTA more successfully than his predecessor, Lee Sander. It's a tall order. Casting aspersions on the MTA is a favored tactic for legislators looking to deflect blame for their own lack of leadership on transit policy, and the press corps often appears to serve as a willing accomplice. The riding public needs someone who not only manages the agency capably, but also shapes the MTA's public image as deftly as possible.