Walder took over the leadership of the problem-wrought MTA in October 2009. Throughout his reign, the agency’s deficit has fluctuated between $600 million and nearly $1 billion.
“Jay Walder steered the MTA through its toughest challenges since the bad old days of the 70s,” declared Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, in a statement on Wednesday. “Facing a daunting fiscal situation brought on by the governor and state Legislature’s repeated budget raids, Walder kept our trains and buses serving millions of New Yorkers 24 hours every day.”
Walder had to make some deep cuts in May 2010. He discontinued the V and W train service, replacing it with the M-line running from Manhattan into Queens. More than 20 bus lines got the axe, and more than 1,000 station agents and other MTA employees lost their jobs.
Gene Russianoff from Straphangers Campaign mourned the cuts in a press release at the time, but recognized some of the successes of the year, given the dismal fiscal situation: “Student MetroCards were saved; faster Select Bus Service arrived on First and Second avenues; and working ‘countdown clocks’ were installed throughout several subway lines.”
Walder spearheaded the extension of the No. 7 train west into Manhattan and the Second Avenue subway construction, a massive infrastructure project.
He will continue to work in the transportation industry, but will branch out to other fields in his new position as CEO and member of the Board of the Directors at MTR Corporation, which operates rail services in Asia and Europe. The company’s scope extends beyond the rails to consulting, property development, and a range of other business activities.
“This is an exciting opportunity for me to lead a publicly traded, multinational corporation with a broad set of business activities,” Walder said, according to an MTA press release. He thanked both of the governors he has worked under, former Gov. David Paterson and current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and remarked, “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.”
Walder began his career with the MTA in 1983, heading its capital program budget office. He left the MTA in 1995, teaching public policy at Harvard University and working for Transportation for London before returning to the MTA two years ago.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed the highest praise for Walder, as did nonprofit transportation policy group Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TTC). The group lauded Walder’s innovative leadership, his credibility, and the acumen he has had in finding savings.
TTC wonders what will happen to the transit system without Walder. “His departure comes at an inopportune time. New York’s regional transit system faces a capital funding gap that could be as large as $9 billion, which needs to be addressed in the coming months,” warned Kate Slevin, TTC’s executive director.
