NEW YORK — Patrick Foye’s first public event as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a Monday news conference, provided the first insight into how he will run the MTA and previewed significant changes ahead.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo named Foye on Friday to replace acting chairman Fernando Ferrer, who had been in charge since previous chairman Joe Lhota quit in November 2018 over potential conflicts of interest. Foye was previously MTA president and executive director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
The half-hour event touched on topics ranging from the congestion pricing plan that will fund MTA improvements [see “State budget will boost New York City transit funding through congestion pricing, other taxes,” Trains News Wire, April 1, 2019] to the forthcoming reconstruction of the New York subway L Train and his lifelong ridership of the subway system.
Foye, an attorney, said the six members of the newly appointed Mobility Review Board would deliver to him a set of recommendations on how the congestion tolling plan should work by June 30. to him by June 30, advising exactly how the new tolling plan should work. He indicated its passage could generate adequate funding for the 2020 MTA five-year capital plan to improve the New York City Subways.
He also said that, based on a February event examining tolling technology with worldwide vendors, he felt currently available tools were much improved over those installed previously in other countries. He noted 95 percent of drivers using the seven bridges and two tunnels of the MTA’s Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, which will administer the tolling, already have the EZ Pass that will be required when congestion pricing begins in 2021. He vowed to make it easy for those without them to be able to obtain them.
He stressed the MTA’s need to consolidate its back-office operations as part of cost cutting at the authority, which he noted is in significant financial distress. And in general, he wants the agency to do better. He said the MTA has lost credibility with its customers and those responsible for funding in both Albany and New York City. His stewardship will need to change that dynamic.
“As a lifelong rider — and a daily customer — of the MTA, I can think of no higher honor or more important challenge than serving at the helm of an agency that connects millions of people each day to their jobs, schools, families, and friends,” Foye said in a statement. “There is no question that we have a great deal of work ahead of us, to bring truly innovative and meaningful reform to the agency and provide the service and system New Yorkers deserve.”
