at a time of crisis, he took on a larger-than-life persona (the “Train Daddy”) as the face of the effort to fix the subway. Many hoped he could push upgrades to finally modernize the system’s antiquated infrastructure and bring subway performance up from all-time lows that prompted Governor Cuomo to declare a state of emergency in 2017. Mr. Byford has been widely credited for pushing the on-time performance for trains from 58 percent, when he took over in 2018, to over 80 percent through operational changes that focused on the basics, like upgrading subway signals. It has been reported that there were tensions between Mr. Byford and Mr. Cuomo. is a highly politicized environment, and one of the trickiest parts of the subway chief job is that it is influenced by the whims of elected officials, like Mr. Cuomo, who controls the authority.

Source: New York Times January 24, 2020 08:14 UTC