It’s been nearly six months since Joe Lhota resigned as MTA Chairman and CEO, and after waiting out a slow nomination process and an even slower confirmation process, the MTA finally has a new permanent leader. This evening, the New York State Senate voted to confirm Tom Prendergast as the Chairman and Chief Executive Office of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Prendergast, the former president of New York City Transit, had been serving as the interim executive director since Lhota stepped down to run for mayor on January 1, but the Senate waited until the final day of their legislative session to confirm the nomination.

“Tom Prendergast has a proven track record of leadership and transportation expertise, especially when it comes to the managing the vast transportation network of the MTA,” Governor Cuomo said. “As Interim Executive Director, Tom was vital to the recovery of the MTA after Superstorm Sandy and he will continue to play a crucial role in making the MTA more modern, efficient and storm ready. I look forward to Tom’s continued success in running the nation’s largest transportation system.”

Cuomo’s statement nearly undersells the point. Prendergast had, by many accounts, been responsible for the MTA’s immediate response to Sandy and had helped implement storm preparedness measures that minimized damage to the MTA’s rolling stock and infrastructure in the aftermath of the Hurricane Irene. He had fallen just short of the nomination in 2011, and as a career transit official with experience at the Chicago Transit Authority, the U.S. Department of Transportation, New York City Transit, the LIRR and a short tenure as CEO of Vancouver’s TransLink, comes highly recommended for the job.

After his confirmation, Prendergast issued a statement — almost too glowing — expressing his interest in the job and his praise for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “I am grateful that Governor Cuomo has entrusted me with the responsibility of leading the largest transportation agency in North America,” he said. “The MTA faces enormous challenges to continue improving service while cutting costs and rebuilding stronger after Superstorm Sandy. Leading the MTA through these challenges is critical to the lives of millions of New Yorkers and the future of the New York economy. Governor Cuomo has repeatedly demonstrated his strong support for the MTA, and I deeply appreciate this opportunity.”

For a few months, transit advocates have been awaiting Prendergast’s confirmation. Cuomo named Prendergast to the position in early April, but State Senators stalled. According to recente reports, the Senate Transportation Committee had failed to act over concerns surrounding the LIRR’s Penn Station future. Influential Long Island state senators were reportedly requesting assurances from Prendergast that LIRR service to Penn would not be impacted by post-East Side Access plans to bring Metro-North to Manhattan’s West Side.

With his confirmation, Prendergast becomes the next in a long line of officials to head up the MTA. Turnover has been rapid, but during his sessions with Senate committees, Prendergast vowed to stay on the job. When asked how long he planned to remain as CEO and Chair of the MTA, the candidate replied, “I’m not gonna run for Mayor of the City of New York.” This line was, of course, a clear jab at Lhota who is currently seeking the Republican spot on this November’s mayoral ballot.

After the hearings and subsequent Senate vote, Prendergast side-stepped any reports of a targeted delay in these hearings, and Long Island Senator Charles Fuschillo, chair of the Transportation Committee, denied them as well. “They wanted to make sure the candidate who is going to be in the job understands it and that I have an opportunity to hear their concerns,” Prendergast said in a brief press conference after the 9:20 p.m. vote.

For his part, Fuschillo issued perfunctory praise. “Mr. Prendergast’s extensive professional experience, both within the MTA and in other public and private sector transportation positions, will serve him well as he addresses the numerous issues and challenges facing the MTA,” he said.

Those issues and challenges include, as always, a shaky budget, an unsettled relationship with the Transport Workers Union Local 100, a new five-year capital campaign, and the ongoing efforts to rebuild and protect the system in he aftermath of last October’s hurricane. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Now, the MTA has its permanent head and, hopefully, a clear direction of the path forward.

Oh wow! More buses!

The motley crew of New York politicos and business men running for the chance to serve as our next mayor gathered yesterday at a transportation forum, and boy, do they love buses. For a few hours, they opined on everything relating to the city’s transportation policies. They railed on the Taxi & Limousine Commission as being too secretive; they bemoaned bike lanes for no valid reasons whatsoever; and one — John Catsimatidis, who’s running on the platform that Gristedes is somehow an acceptable grocery store — called upon the city to build a monorail. But over and over again, buses were a major theme.

I didn’t have the opportunity to attend the forum yesterday, but I was able to follow along via Twitter updates. Both Streetsblog and Transportation Nation have write-ups that capture the essences of the various discussions, but the broad contours are out there for all to see. Somehow, someway, despite the fact that New Yorkers don’t readily embrace buses, that they’re slow with routing that can be more challenging to interpret than the Talmud, the mayoral candidates all want more and more buses.

Buses, you see, are easy. In a sense, the city has more control over its buses than anything else, and control too has been a major theme of the mayoral campaign. During the Democratic forum, everyone there called for more city control of the MTA. Without establishing how New York City would compensate for the state’s substantial funding obligations, both Anthony Weiner and John Liu called for city control of the MTA. During the Republican half of the discussion, Joe Lhota noted that such a scenario is unlikely but urged the next mayor to try to gain more control, whether through Board appointments, more subsidies or bus routing.

As the MTA controls the subways, so too does it control the buses, but NYC DOT and the MTA have worked together to develop Select Bus Service. DOT controls the allocation of space on the streets, and the mayor controls DOT. Thus, mayoral candidates know they can talk about buses and, by and large, deliver on their promises. But what are we getting in return?

So far, we’re getting promises that basically amount to a pledge to continue on our current path. The City is already expanding Select Bus Service, and while that expansion is painfully slow and drawn out and prone to rollbacks if any politicians raise a mere peep, it’s happening. Even if “better” doesn’t necessarily mean “good” or even “adquate,” we’ll have better bus service along certain high-volume corridors soon enough. The mayoral candidates never mention off-set dedicated bus lanes with signal prioritization. They don’t mention a sweeping pre-board fare payment system or a way to clear cars out of bus lanes. They’re not promising anything we wouldn’t otherwise be getting.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers aren’t exactly clamoring for more buses. Buses are ideal for short-range trips that can’t be taken by foot or via the subway. Maybe some people would benefit from, say, a Flatbush Ave. bus lane or a connection from Coney Island to JFK, but buses aren’t going to be truly transformative. Buses are buses, and the mayoral candidates are fixating far too much on them because they can’t do as much with the subways.