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: