Judging Jay: The Chairman’s final day

For two years, Jay Walder served as the center of attention at the MTA. (Benjamin Kabak/Second Ave. Sagas)

For the MTA, today is the end of a tumultuous four-year era during which its Executive Director has been known more for his transit background than anything. Today is Jay Walder’s last day as the MTA CEO and Executive Director, and after two years of Lee Sander followed by two years of Walder, the authority will soon welcome Joe Lhota, a leader some have called a “fiscally prudent and seasoned manager,” into the fold. I’ve heard rumors of a $70-a-head going-away party for Walder, but I’m much more concerned with this transportation legacy and lasting impact on New York City.

When then-Gov. David Paterson nominated Walder back in July of 2009, the nominee said all the right things. His top priority — and one he never realized — was a fully funded capital plan, but he knew he had to deliver more.

“There’s no question,” he said, “the taxpayer and the riding public need to understand, need to demonstrate, need to see and need to believe that they’re getting value for the money in the way we operate the trains and the buses and the bridges and tunnels, in the way that we undertake the massive capital investments that are underway. And that has to be an immediate focus. We must restore the public trust and confidence to this organization. We won’t have the credibility to argue for the capital program that this system needs unless we restore the accountability of public trust and public confidence. I believe we can do that. I’m certain we can achieve that.”

At the time, I offered up my own list of the challenges that awaited Walder. Before we knew the depths of the MTA’s fiscal crisis and the ways in which Albany would repeatedly twist the knife into the wounded authority, we thought Walder would lead an MTA renaissance. He would see stalled technology projects through to completion while earning Albany’s trust through a convincing PR battle. He would add service in exchange for fare hikes and find a way to work out a funding plan for the five-year capital project.

So how did he do? Due in part to circumstances beyond his control and those very much under his control, Walder’s tenure atop the MTA has been a rocky one. On the bright side, the MTA has indeed entered the 21st Century. Perhaps it’s still trying to catch up with the rest of city, but the authority has embraced technological innovation like never before. We have countdown clocks, touch-screen info centers, Help Point intercoms and a real-time bus-tracking program in the works. While Walder may not have created these programs, he pushed through to completion. It was supposed to be his crowning achievement, and for that he deserves praise.

Yet, technology is not the only barometer. Jay Walder is leaving a system that has less service than we he began and costs more. In the eyes of the public, that’s his final legacy. Trains are more crowded and they run less frequently. Stations are dirtier and staffed with fewer people. Crime — thanks to gadget theft — is on the rise, and subway fares went up in 2009 and 2010. They will go up again in 2013 and 2015, if not sooner.

As far as the capital program is concerned, Walder’s approach was the best the MTA could do, but it’s far from perfect or complete. The MTA is proposing another round of debt-based funding that will lead to higher debt service payments and more pressure on the operating budget. Furthermore, while Walder pledged in 2009 to focus on capital budget funding, he has not succeeded in securing that funding as he heads to Hong Kong.

Finally, with union negotiations set to begin in January, the relationship between management and labor hasn’t been this frigid since 2005. Walder, who earned $350,000 a year as MTA head and took a lot of grief for it, was unsympathetic toward labor and cut numerous jobs. Meanwhile, departments like the Business Service Center continue to serve as magnets for charges of bloat in the bureaucracy. Thanks to Walder’s focus on making every dollar count, the MTA is more efficient today than it was two years ago, but it’s hardly a model of lean operations.

As with most outgoing MTA heads, then, Walder leaves behind a mixed legacy and one I believe to be unfinished. He’s departing before the job is through. We don’t know what the future holds for the MTA’s capital budget or its union negotiations. We may or may not see a MetroCard replacement plan see the light of day by 2015. We hope the Second Ave. Subway and East Side Access will continue apace. Everything, though, is very open-ended.

And so two years after taking the reins and riding in as a potential savior, Jay Walder will depart this afternoon. He likely was the most qualified transit guy to head up the MTA in recent years, but his tenure is over, a fleeting and incomplete one. So I leave you then with a question: Did he leave the MTA better off than when he started? I think so, but it’s not as good as it could have been.