Andy Byford ran NYC's subways and buses from 2018 to 2020.
Taidgh Barron/NY Publish
New York Metropolis’s “Practice Daddy” is able to begin chugging alongside within the US once more.
Former MTA NYC Transit President Andy Byford is again within the nation and on the lookout for work within the transit business, The Publish has realized — although the cheery Brit is tight-lipped about the place he could also be headed.
“We arrived at JFK per week in the past yesterday, Sunday October 30,” Byford advised The Publish on Monday. “I immigrated on a Inexperienced Card that entitles me to reside and work wherever within the US inside my space of experience, particularly transportation.”
The ex-transit boss of Sydney, Toronto, New York and London left NYC on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, saying he had had sufficient of “interference” from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In the meantime, Byford — whom New Yorkers dubbed “Practice Daddy” — returned to his hometown of London to function its prime transportation official.
Over 27 months, the 33-year railroad vet oversaw the completion of a long-delayed and over-budget Elizabeth Line mission, which he toured earlier this 12 months with the late Queen Elizabeth II in considered one of her ultimate public appearances.
The MTA didn't decide on a everlasting substitute for Byford till this previous Could — Massachusetts’ former prime transportation official, Richard Davey.
Byford on Monday declined to share particulars about the place within the US he could find yourself — or if New York and the MTA are even on the quick record.
Within the meantime, he and his Canadian spouse are taking a street journey by Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, he mentioned.
“Whether or not I select to work for a public transit system right here would depend upon being given the leeway to do what must be completed — conscious of why I left NYCT, particularly within the face of fixed undermining and interference,” Byford mentioned.
“I'm in discussions with a variety of potential employers inside the transit sector, one specifically.”
Giant US transportation techniques searching for new, everlasting transit management embrace Austin and Boston. Different roles might open up after Tuesday’s midterm elections — together with in New York, the place Gov. Kathy Hochul faces a problem from Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin.
One individual aware of Byford’s stint in New York prompt his time to make an influence on the MTA had handed.
London, like New York, confronted a large drop in fare income because of COVID-19. Byford’s ultimate act there was to safe an settlement with the UK authorities “to keep away from massive scale cuts” by March 2024.
However whereas Byford’s New York tenure centered on operations, right this moment’s MTA faces the existential problem of changing fare income amid distant work and issues about transit crime, the supply mentioned.
“The issues of the post-pandemic are very totally different from when he left. He’d be returning to a really totally different group than the one he left,” the supply mentioned.
“I don’t assume anybody desires to return to the drama of the Cuomo-era MTA.”
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