NEW YORK CITY-Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder formerly resigned from the MTA’s top post on Thursday afternoon. Walder, who began his career at the MTA in 1983, will be joining the MTR Corp. in Hong Kong as CEO and a member of the board of directors there. His resignation is effective on October 21, 2011.
In a MTA statement announcing his resignation, Walder says the city is “fortunate to have thousands of dedicated men and women who work so hard to provide these critically important transportation services to millions of people” everyday. “I believe that we have accomplished quite a lot in a short period, with the support of two Governors, the Mayor, a hard-working board and many others,” he says.
During his time at the authority, Walder headed the MTA’s capital program budget office, later serving as chief of staff and then chief financial officer, playing a major role in the advent of the MetroCard and subway countdown clocks. He became CEO and chairman in 2009.
In response to Walder’s departure, Richard Barone, director of transportation programs at the Regional Plan Association, tells GlobeSt.com that Walder was “an excellent advocate” for transit. “Jay has done a great job of managing the MTA and trying to streamline its operations to make it a more efficient organization,” Barone says. “But the capital plan will go on with or without Jay,” he adds, describing that work on expanding Second Avenue subway access and East Side bus service will continue as planned.
Walder will begin his new position at MTR Corp. effective January 12, 2012. In that role, he will focus on rail services in Asia and Europe, as well as consulting and property development. In his resignation statement, Walder describes the new role “as an exciting opportunity to lead a publicly-traded, multi-national corporation.”
Walder received a large vote of support from Governor Andrew Cuomo after being sworn-into office at the beginning of the year. And while critics of Walder’s agenda say he raised transit fares and reduced bus and subway service, Barone explains that the MTA needed to reposition its critical capital needs while balancing an operating budget that works for the entire metropolitan area. “Performance will improve again,” he says. “And some of that relies on real estate transactions as well. The actions they took obviously are not always popular with the public, but it was done as a means to balance their budget. It was a combination of trying to cut back and be more efficient.”
Walder was nominated by former Governor David A. Paterson; his term was set to expire on June 30, 2015. The MTA Board and Gov. Cuomo will play a role in the selection of an interim chairman and CEO within the coming weeks.
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