In the statement distributed to the media, Lhota said, “When I agreed to return to the MTA it was with the understanding that I would maintain my private sector positions and delegate day-to-day responsibility to a new team. Accordingly, I created the Office of the Chairman for the purpose of managing the MTA. This office includes the managing director, president, chief development officer and chief financial officer. In addition, during my tenure I have appointed new leadership at the operating agencies by selecting new presidents at NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad, a new general counsel and a new MTA chief safety officer.”

The New York Times described Lhota's resignation as a surprise. It stated his term would have lasted to 2021 and that last month he had told reports he was not leaving the agency.

Lhota's statement said following a well-documented period of deterioration of transit services, he volunteered to become the MTA chairman with the sole purpose of halting the decline in services and stabilizing the system. Referencing the subway action plan developed in his first month at the MTA, Lhota listed certain improvement such as in September 2018 the number of total train delays decreased to its the lowest point since February 2016. However, he acknowledged, “There is still a long way to go to achieve the performance that New Yorkers demand and deserve.”

Andy Byford, the president of the New York City Transit Authority, arriving in December 2017, announced the Fast Forward plan, a multi-billion-dollar plan to modernize the transit system.

Including riders on subways, buses, and the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, the MTA's public transit system moves more than 9 million people each day.