Results tagged “jaywalder”

New MTA Chairman Jay Walder was given a true New York welcome at his first transit authority board meeting today, when he and fellow board members were referred to as "a bunch of doody-heads" by a frustrated union leader.

The new MTA chief is pushing a plan to offer discounts for bus and subway riders on weekends and late nights. MTA CEO Jay Walder has been making a big splash since taking over the job earlier this month, talking to the media about a number of big ideas, such as installing cameras on buses to bust bus lane blockers and introducing a no-swipe MetroCard that would double as a debit card. In an exclusive interview with the Times yesterday, he revealed his latest crazy scheme.

New Yorkers fed up with the city's overcrowded, snail's-pace buses can perhaps indulge in some guarded optimism now that new MTA "czar" Jay Walder is promising to improve the system. Walder was formerly the transit guru in London, where, he says, "You carry nearly twice as many people in the bus system as you do on the Underground." In New York, the opposite is true, and Walder wants to change that while simultaneously reducing bus overcrowding. Is this guy crazy?

During his first day on the job, new MTA CEO Jay Walder announced a plan to install cameras on the front of city buses to take photos of any vehicles obstructing bus lanes. Like the city's red-light cameras, tickets will be issued automatically. Walder insists the innovation drastically improved the on-time performance of buses in London, where Walder worked before taking over the MTA. In February, the DOT began video surveillance of the "high-visibility" terra cotta-colored express-bus lanes on 34th Streets, but this would be the first time buses were used for enforcement.

Yesterday was first day on the job for new MTA Chairman and CEO Jay Walder, who decided to meet and greet subway riders at the Main Street subway station in Queens after meeting with MTA workers at the Corona Subway Maintenance Shop and the Casey Stengel Bus Depot. He spoke of "partnership with the MTA's hard-working men and women" to meet customers' expectations, promised an action plan the end of his first 100 days, and added, "New Yorkers should be able to expect the same type of customer experience riders enjoy in London"—whose transportation system he worked for between 2001-2006—"with accurate arrival information and modern fare technology." Hear that, New Yorkers—no more Underground envy!

While Jay Walder was confirmed as the MTA's new CEO and chairman last week, his big-time pay—$350,000/year, not to mention up to $850,000 in severance and housing and retirement— is an issue with Mayor Bloomberg. His pay package needs to approved by the MTA board and the NY Times reports, "At the urging of City Hall, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s representatives at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are set to abstain from supporting a generous compensation package for" Walder." Even though Bloomberg likes Walder, apparently the mayor "considered the package to be outsize for a state employee, particularly given the current financial climate, two people familiar with his view said. They said the mayor also believed that if Gov. David A. Paterson was not re-elected, the severance award would limit the ability of a new governor to install a director." Paterson's office has positioned the generous pay as "in line with that of his predecessor and those who lead large transit systems across the country and around the world." Walder, who worked with the MTA in the 1980s, recently ran London's transit system before leaving for Kinsey.

Czar alert! Yesterday the state Senate confirmed Jay Walder for the position of chairman and CEO of the MTA. That's equivalent to rank of czar, according to the Post, which reports that Walder told lawmakers he "will be back" to try and wrest $10 billion from Albany for the MTA's five-year plan, which includes finishing the fabled Second Avenue Subway. The Senate's 47-13 vote was preceded by some debate, during which Democratic Staten Island Senator Diane J. Savino spoke for her constituents: "There is a level of discontent that exists between the M.T.A. and the people in this room, the people who should be your partner."

Nominated by Governor Paterson to lead the MTA, Jay Walder, who grew up in Queens and took the A train, said at a press conference yesterday, "The taxpayers and riding public need to understand and believe they are getting value for money in the way we operate the trains, buses, bridges and tunnels, and in the way we undertake the massive capital investments that are underway... That has to be an immediate focus. We must restore the public trust and confidence in this organization." The former MTA executive director and, more recently, Transport for London planning and finance director also admitted he'll have "to make difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions." Walder didn't indicate whether he'll bring a London Underground's Oyster-type swipeless smart card to the MTA (here's a comparison from the Times) but he's previously said NYC Transit would be ready for some kind of smart card. State Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) said there would be a long confirmation hearing process, "This is just not a game warden at the Adirondack Park. It's the MTA's chief operating office."

Governor David Paterson is expected to nominate Jay Walder to head the MTA. (Former executive director Eliot Sander resigned in May.) The Daily News calls him a "transit executive who has held high-level posts in London and New York" and City College's Robert Paaswell, director of the University Transportation Research Center at City College, says, "His knowledge of both the MTA and how to bring a large system well-planned into this century are without peer."