Andy Byford quit his job with the MTA

Business Insider


Andy Byford, a globally renowned transit expert hired in 2017 to help reinvigorate New York CIty's aging subway system, has resigned.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency responsible for city subways, buses, and commuter rails, confirmed his departure in a statement. 

"Andy Byford will be departing New York City Transit after a successful two years of service and we thank him for his work," Pat Foye MTA chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "Andy was instrumental in moving the system forward, enacting the successful Subway Action Plan and securing record capital funding with the Governor and the Legislature, and we wish him well in his next chapter."

Before New York, Byford previously worked in London, Toronto, and Australia. His arrival in New York largely signaled a seismic shift for the aging subway system following decades of underinvestment.

During his tenure as transit chief, New Yorkers were treated to improvements in subway communication as well as several high-profile projects designed to speed up commutes and replace aging parts of track, signals, and more.

Byford also became a popular figure among New York transit aficionados, earning the nickname 
"Train Daddy" after an anonymous resident began posting stickers of Byford's face superimposed on a subway car with the text "Train Daddy loves you very much." A photo of the sticker quickly spread on Twitter, and the moniker became widely used across social media. The MTA seemingly embraced the term for its subway chief, with Byford himself joking about the title.

 I don't have time to write about what I saw coming two years ago, so enjoy my prophecy from Impunity City for now.

 Andy Byford may have just realized he is in way over his head and out of his league in his well-paid state service leadership position (yeah it’s redundant, I’m writing about the MTA again so fuck off).
 
President Byford is trying really hard though. He did come up with that budget study assessing that it would take $37 billion dollars to overhaul the mega-shitshow mass transit system, despite having no current idea or plan how to pay for it. I mean, he is not a bad bloke, he kind of resembles a mixture of Moby and Thom Yorke and he is a big fan of legendary new wave band The Smiths, so big that he thought it was prudent to mention and discuss fave tracks by them during a live social media style town hall with frustrated commuters complaining about consistent shitty service a while back (my personal fave by the way, is the WLIR extended remix of “This Charming Man”), but at least he has been apparently honest and straightforward.

It didn't take long for Mr. Byford to realize that the worst fucking transit system in the universe couldn't be fixed with that moron tyrant Governor Cuomo up his ass.

Just walk away, Train Daddy

MTA holds first Queens bus route redesign proposal hearing in a basement and commuters are pissed

PIX 11 News

 Changing bus routes is a guaranteed way to draw a crowd in the city.
MTA New York City Transit is in the process of a complete redesign of all the routes in the city.

The proposal for Queens was released two weeks ago. Elected officials and riders calledfor a meeting with transit officials to discuss the plan.

Additional sessions will be held over the. next month. Comments can be made on line.

Read about the Queens proposals here .

The entire plan for all five boroughs can be found here . 

Looks like commuter rage resonated with Byford and his entourage. Those links are now 404's.

Governor Cuomo looking to take a two billion dollar bite from MTA budget

NY Daily News

 Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday threatened to take the air out of NYC Transit President Andy Byford’s plan to save the city’s subway system.

The governor told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s next five-year capital program that runs from 2020 through 2024 will receive $30 billion in funding, a sharp cut from the $33.2 billion put up for the current five-year capital program, which expires at the end of the year.

“It’s not what Byford wanted, it’s not what [LIRR President Phil] Eng wanted, it’s not what [Metro-North Railroad President Catherine] Rinaldi wanted,” Cuomo said of the funding. “They wanted more money, more money, more money.”

Cuomo’s budget director Robert Mujica said in March that the MTA’s next capital plan is expected to need $40 billion. A major chunk of that money would pay for the first half of Byford’s “Fast Forward” plan to overhaul the city’s transit system. Byford’s plan is expected to cost at least $40 billion on its own over the next 10 years.

7 transit line automated upgrades are done

LIC Post


The MTA announced yesterday that it has completed another technological upgrade to the 7 line that it believes will result in faster and more reliable service.

The latest upgrade, called “Automatic Train Operation,” will see trains programmed to a provide optimal cruising speeds, acceleration and braking that will lead to evenly spaced service and smoother, faster trips, according to the MTA.

Operators will continue to instruct the train to depart a station, make sure that tracks are clear throughout the ride, and control emergency braking in the case of obstacles.

The 7 line is now the second train line to have the technology, after the L. All other lines rely on operators to control a train’s acceleration, cruising speed and braking.

“I am tremendously proud and excited to announce that New York City Transit train operators are now running the entire Flushing Line using automatic train operation, which will make trips smoother and faster for all our customers on that line” said NYC Transit President Andy Byford in a statement.

The latest 7-train upgrade comes just months after the completion of the signaling system called Communications Based Train Control (CBTC), which the MTA says has already led to dramatic increases in on-time performance and other metrics associated with good service.

$20B transit signal upgrade is needed

From Metro:

In the coming days it has been reported that New York City Transit Chief Andy Byford will unveil a new project to revamp the subway’s outdated signal system.

The subway signal system project could cost up to $20 billion to revamp as it is has not seen updates since the 1930s. Byford plans to install the signal system at all 472 stations.

The decision to update the system comes after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency last year after a slew of delays and train derailments that caused injuries to dozens of commuters.