The mayor should take a seat at the MTA table

At the Lexington Ave.-59th St. subway station, commuters pass a colorful piece of art by Elizabeth Murray bearing this quote from WB Yeats: “In dreams begin responsibility.” » It’s hard to imagine a better epigraph for New York’s mass transit system – built on ambition and hobbled by an institution – the Metropolitan Transportation Authority – designed to protect our elected officials from accountability.

For decades, mayors kept the MTA at arm’s length. The reason is simple: the authority is not under the direct control of the mayor. Its finances are heavily dependent on state funding. This financial dependence is accompanied by governor conditions.

Mayor Mamdani can change all that.

He campaigned to make buses free (and faster), arguing that public transportation should be an economic relief tool, not a financial burden. Voters embraced this view – it’s no exaggeration to claim that’s why he won, and it’s no coincidence that he chose to take the oath of office in the abandoned subway station beneath City Hall.

The question now is whether the town hall will accept real responsibility for its implementation.

I want to be clear: As a former MTA president, I do not agree with Mamdani’s proposal to make buses free. Still, some version of this project is likely to move forward, and I hope it achieves something I haven’t been able to do: make New York City’s bus system finally work for the millions of people who rely on it every day.

Mamdani should start by doing something no mayor has done: offer himself as one of the city’s representatives on the MTA board.

Unlike the underground oath of office, this would not be a symbolic gesture. Serving on the board would mean the city’s transit system is a core responsibility of the mayor.

There is precedent for this type of leadership. Twenty-five years ago, London faced a similar dilemma. The British government funded and managed London’s declining transport system with little local control. This changed in 2000, when Ken Livingstone became the first directly elected mayor of London and took on the role of chairman of Transport for London.

I worked at TfL during this time and saw Livingstone view transport as a defining responsibility of city leaders. He campaigned to expand what the system could offer and accepted political responsibility for the consequences.

This property imposed discipline. That forced difficult compromises, including support for fare increases he had long opposed, resulting in reinvestment in the subway, a transformed bus network and safer streets.

New York should learn from London’s success. Clear political ownership is important. Having Mamdani himself on the MTA board would move the region closer to a model in which the city’s top elected official owns and advocates for public transportation.

Critics may worry that a mayor serving on the MTA board would politicize the agency or blur lines of authority. But the MTA already operates within a political framework shaped by state and regional appointments.

Mamdani’s direct participation at the MTA board table would help reassure the public that his free fare proposal is feasible within the authority’s broader financial reality and that its effects on the entire transit network are being taken seriously. Regardless, free fares are the easiest part of its bus program.

It is much more difficult to speed up buses. We know what works: dedicated lanes, signal priority, curb rules enforced, route redesign and faster boarding. The success of the 14th St. Busway proves it. Select Bus Service is expected to continue to grow, but it cannot form the backbone of a citywide solution when only 20 of the more than 300 bus lines benefit.

The real barrier to faster buses is our collective tolerance for the behaviors that cripple the streets: “just for a minute” double-parking, blocking bus stops, and rushing through intersections. These actions seem normal, even harmless, but multiplied thousands of times a day, they paralyze the city.

Here, the mayor can shape street design, traffic control, parking policy and interagency coordination to keep buses running. The mayor can elevate bus speeds to a top priority in an authority historically dominated by subway concerns. This change would be truly important, particularly for the most vulnerable and dependent riders on our bus system.

The buck cannot stop with the buses. Metro security, including police and social services, also depends heavily on decisions made at City Hall. The mayor’s focus on buses should reinforce, not distract from, the city’s broader responsibility for the entire transit system.

The 59th Street artwork offers a quiet reminder. Dreams are easy. Accountability is more difficult. By serving on the MTA board, the mayor can show New Yorkers that he is a leader willing to embrace both.

Walder is a former chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and a former senior executive at Transport for London.