Is Andy Byford, the new TTC GM, the leader we've been waiting for?

[DSC]

I vaguely recall David Gunn having a very prickly persona who was constantly warring with politicians, and was not an advocate for system expansion, which would make him a poor CEO in my opinion. Or am I thinking of someone else?

I think his top priority was the boring old SOGR stuff while the politicians prefer the glitzy ribbon cutting opportunity expansion projects. I think SOGR must come first too!

 

[jje1000]

I think his top priority was the boring old SOGR stuff while the politicians prefer the glitzy ribbon cutting opportunity expansion projects. I think SOGR must come first too!

Definitely an unfortunate fact.

Strange thing to consider- I wonder if there's any way of dressing up SOGR to seem more glitzy than it really is?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Someone on Twitter has reported that one possibility is commissioner of TfL (the current one will be departing in May)

AoD

Makes sense. Bring your family home and hopefully run for a decade before retirement. Ever since my parents died, I‘ve been thinking myself I have more family in Britain than in Canada. That place tugs on me. I’ll be in York and the Dales this August for three weeks.

 

[gabe]

Byford has a huge ego. No wonder he quit again. He doesn't last long in any city.

 

[Johnny Au]

Byford has a huge ego. No wonder he quit again. He doesn't last long in any city.

He was there to deal with an actual transit crisis.

What we have is peanuts (for now). The TTC may be far from perfect, but we don't have a full-blown transit crisis with its own in-depth Wikipedia article yet.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Byford has a huge ego. No wonder he quit again. He doesn't last long in any city.

He’d lost the confidence of his political master. If it can‘t be recovered there’s no point spinning your wheels and losing valuable career years.

 

[DSC]

He’d lost the confidence of (and in) his political master. If it can‘t be recovered there’s no point spinning your wheels and losing valuable career years.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

He’d lost the confidence of his political master. If it can‘t be recovered there’s no point spinning your wheels and losing valuable career years.

Yeah, but I think he also made an error - threatening to quit instead of just quitting, which would have made Cuomo wear it.

Byford has a huge ego. No wonder he quit again. He doesn't last long in any city.

He was in Toronto for 6 years - and not being pushed out.

AoD

 

[W. K. Lis]

From http://secondavenuesagas.com at this link.




New York City Transit
Andy Byford to depart NYC Transit, for good this time
written by Benjamin Kabak

After rescinding a resignation letter in October and nearly walking away from New York City Transit over a tense relationship with Governor Andrew Cuomo, Andy Byford has officially resigned as the President of New York City Transit after a little over two years on the job, the MTA announced today. In comments following Thursday’s MTA Board meetings, agency Chair and CEO Pat Foye cited “personal reasons” as driving Byford’s departure. But Byford had felt sidelined by the recent MTA Transformation process, especially as his roles changed, and he clashed frequently with the governor. Byford, in his resignation letter, cited transformation as a concern and said his last day will be February 21. The MTA has not yet named an interim president to replace the popular Byford.

Byford’s resignation letter hit the Internet this afternoon, and he clearly pointed to the MTA’s ongoing reorganization as a driving factor. “The Alix Partners MTA Transformation plan called for the centralization of projects and an expanded HQ, leaving Agency Presidents to focus solely on the day-to-day of running service. I have built an excellent team and there are many capable individuals in Transit and others within the MTA family, who could perform this important, but reduced, service delivery role,” Byford wrote to new MTA COO Mario Peloquin.

According to senior MTA officials, Byford felt as though the rug had been pulled out from under him as he was brought to New York City to lead the supposed renaissance of the subways and buses but was instead being siphoned into a service delivery role for which he was overqualified. It will be interesting to see how this impacts potential recruiting for Byford’s replacement as the NYC Transit President role doesn’t carry nearly the same cachet as it used to. I’ve embedded the resignation letter below.

The news first broke in the middle of the monthly board meeting when Dana Rubinstein published her bombshell report at Politico New York, and the MTA quickly sent out a brief press release acknowledging the news with the following statements from Foye and Byford.

“Andy Byford will be departing New York City Transit after a successful two years of service and we thank him for his work,” Foye said. “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.”

“I’m very proud of what we have achieved as a team over the past two years and I believe New York City Transit is well-placed to continue its forward progress now that the MTA has a record breaking $51.5 billion Capital Program in place,” Byford said. “I’m very grateful to Governor Cuomo, Chairman Foye and members of the Board for giving me the opportunity to serve New York and to head up North America’s largest transit system.”

Reactions have flown in fast and furious with local city officials bemoaning the loss of Byford, and the impact it’ll have on the city, its transit network and potential for the future. “DEVASTATED,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said via Twitter (though he later stopped short of blaming the governor). I’ll round up more of these comments and reactions from transit advocates later.

While local politicials did not specifically blame the tense relationship between Cuomo and Byford as the main driver of his departure, recent reporting from Emma Fitzsimmons at The Times did just that. She writes:

Mr. Byford had considered quitting since last spring and struggled to get along with Mr. Cuomo, who controls the subway and the flow of money to the system.
Mr. Cuomo was angry after Mr. Byford tried to resign in October, according to officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The governor signaled to state officials that the tense relationship had reached its end point and that he expected Mr. Byford to be gone by the first quarter of 2020, the officials said.
By December, Mr. Byford made up his mind that he would leave after completing his second year, those officials said. Another likely departure, officials say, is Pete Tomlin, who was brought in by Mr. Byford to run a multibillion dollar overhaul of the signal system.

When asked at a separate appearance on Thursday touting a legislative compromise on legalizing e-bikes if Cuomo was happy with Byford’s departure, the governor said, “No, I thought he was a good man.” The governor had previously praised Byford during the same appearance. “He’s a good man and I wish him well and I think he did great work,” Cuomo said, before launching into a critique of Byford’s plan to re-signal the subways, a cornerstone of Fast Forward and the five-year capital plan, on the grounds that it would have taken too long. (MTA insiders believe Pete Tomlin, the signals guru Byford brought in to oversee CBTC installation will depart at some point in the near future as well.)

Byford too stressed that his departure was his own decision. “This was 100 percent my decision. There was no external pressure for me to go. This is something I’ve given careful thought to,” he said to Fitzsimmons.

Still, by all accounts, that Byford and Cuomo clashed behind the scenes and personality-wise did not help smooth over any problems with their relationship, despite their public comments. And for now, yet again, New York City Transit is looking for yet another head, leaving New Yorkers to ponder what comes next for the subways and their improvements after the so-called Train Daddy departs.

Some of the comments in the article:

Peter L January 23, 2020 - 12:49 pm​

Finally had enough of Cuomo-the-Dumber’s garbage, eh? Hope he stays on this side of the pond. I’d suggest he might want to go back to the TTC but if he had had enough of the not-so-dearly departed #RoFo, he’d probably not be interested in dealing with his brother #DoFo.​

​

​

Larry Penner January 23, 2020 - 4:06 pm​

The departure of NYC Transit President Andy Byford should come as no surprise. Out of town MTA executive managers come and go. They usually end up with a golden parachute which includes a very generous severance package. Byford will land on his feet with a well paid position at another transit agency or consulting firm. Credit must also be given to Governor Cuomo who enjoys micro managing the MTA, NYC Transit, LIRR & Metro North. Just how much could anyone put up with Cuomo’s interference? Cuomo continues to portray himself as the second coming of President Franklin Roosevelt and Master Builder Robert Moses. He is not an engineer, business person, transportation expert or daily commuter. He has never built a business from scratch or created a significant number of new good paying jobs on his own. If Cuomo believes he could have done a better job than Byford, there is a simple solution. In his last act, appoint himself NYC Transit President and resign as Governor.​

It will continue to be disappointing for MTA employees, along with riders, advocates, taxpayers and other funding agency partners if the MTA continues this pattern of bringing in out of town talent. There are many experienced internal MTA candidates who are qualified to fill the vacancy of NYC Transit President.​

Any successful organization, grooms, trains and promotes from within their own company​

(Larry Penner — transportation historian, advocate and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for grants supporting billions in capital projects and programs on behalf of the MTA .​

 

[W. K. Lis]

A day after losing Andy Byford as head of NYC Transit, the MTA loses another top officer

From link.

MTA's signal guru Peter Tomlin, photographed at the 34th Street Hudson Yards Station. February, 2019. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

The MTA’s subway signals expert is joining NYC Transit head Andy Byford in an exodus from the agency.

Pete Tomlin, who Byford poached from Toronto last year to modernize the subway’s outdated signals, told transit officials he intends to leave, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Ken Lovett said Friday.

Tomlin and Byford worked together at the Toronto Transportation Commission.

Tomlin’s resignation letter was not immediately available. Byford announced his resignation Thursday during an MTA board meeting.

“The departure was expected as Pete was hired by Andy a little over a year ago. We thank Pete for his service and wish him well in the future," said MTA spokeswoman Abbey Collins.

Tomlin changed course from Thursday, when he told reporters and other MTA officials that he had no plans to leave the agency. He made those comments hours after Byford announced his resignation at an MTA board meeting.

“We’ve got the plan, we’ve now got the man,” Byford said of Tomlin’s hiring last year. “Now we need the money.”

The money came through the passage of the MTA’s $51.5 billion 2020-2024 capital plan — but the pair never got the opportunity to spend it.

Byford and Tomlin were poised to oversee $7 billion worth of construction efforts to upgrade the signals on six key stretches of the subway over the next five years.

Oversight of those projects was initially taken away from the duo as a part of a transformation plan pushed forward by Gov. Cuomo last year, but they regained control of the work after Byford issued another letter of resignation in October, which he quickly rescinded.

It’s unclear how long two other key members of Byford’s team will remain at the MTA.

Alex Elegudin, an accessibility advisor brought on by Byford in 2018 told MTA officials he has no plans to leave, said a source at the agency. Sarah Meyer, NYC Transit’s chief customer officer hired by Byford in 2017, also told officials she will remain at her post, the source said.

 

[dowlingm]

I can’t see Byford coming back here. He strikes me as a guy who thinks you can’t step into the same river twice. He needs to go somewhere where the “customers” have never seen an identifiable manager, or a YouTube explainer, and are beset with handwritten signs. Does he really want to come back and fight with John Tory’s office, or with Metrolinx over Presto compensation, or with Bombardier North America again?

 

[mickael]

I can’t see Byford coming back here. He strikes me as a guy who thinks you can’t step into the same river twice. He needs to go somewhere where the “customers” have never seen an identifiable manager, or a YouTube explainer, and are beset with handwritten signs. Does he really want to come back and fight with John Tory’s office, or with Metrolinx over Presto compensation, or with Bombardier North America again?

I could see him leading up MX after the next election, if it wasn't so far away.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I can’t see Byford coming back here. He strikes me as a guy who thinks you can’t step into the same river twice. He needs to go somewhere where the “customers” have never seen an identifiable manager, or a YouTube explainer, and are beset with handwritten signs. Does he really want to come back and fight with John Tory’s office, or with Metrolinx over Presto compensation, or with Bombardier North America again?

Are there any US cities that are building mass railed transit from scratch? That would appeal to Byford, who heretofore has only worked to fix and update existing systems - and never staying long enough to see the job done.

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

He was there to deal with an actual transit crisis.

What we have is peanuts (for now). The TTC may be far from perfect, but we don't have a full-blown transit crisis with its own in-depth Wikipedia article yet.

The current CEO is disliked by a lot of us, but if Andy does make a return here, he will have a lot on his hands here. As others have said, Metrolinx could use him more though.

 

[dowlingm]

Are there any US cities that are building mass railed transit from scratch? That would appeal to Byford, who heretofore has only worked to fix and update existing systems - and never staying long enough to see the job done.

I think Transport for London could tempt him - but they have their own major delayed project drama (Crossrail/Elizabeth Line)

Weather wise perhaps Los Angeles would be appealing. They have some big investments going on.