“As a lifelong rider—and a daily customer—of the MTA, I can think of no higher honor or more important challenge than serving at the helm of an agency that connects millions of people each day to their jobs, schools, families, and friends,” Foye said in a statement released by the agency.
Foye had been serving as president of the MTA since August 2017. His appointment, confirmed by the State Senate on April 1, comes as the MTA is under public and political pressure to modernize the New York City subway system.
It also coincides with state lawmakers’ approval of a groundbreaking plan to help pay for the upgrades.
The state’s recently approved budget authorizes the MTA to work with the city to devise and implement a congestion pricing plan—the first of its kind in the U.S.—that will require drivers to pay tolls to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. The program, scheduled to take effect in 2021, is expected to reduce vehicular traffic and raise billions of dollars for public transit.
“There is no question that we have a great deal of work ahead of us, to bring truly innovative and meaningful reform to the agency and provide the service and system New Yorkers deserve,” Foye said in his statement.
The MTA serves 8.6 million people each weekday on average, accounting for one-third of the nation’s mass transit users and two-thirds of its commuter rail passengers. In addition to the city’s subways and buses, its network includes Metro-North Railroad, the Long Island Railroad, seven tunnels, and two bridges.
Before joining the MTA in 2017, Foye was executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for six years. In 2013, he played a key role in bringing to light what later came to be known as the Bridgegate scandal, the politically motivated closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.
In addition to appointing Foye to lead the MTA, Governor Cuomo named four people to serve on the agency’s board, including Fordham alumna Haeda Mihaltses, FCRH ’86, GSAS ’94.
Since 2014, Mihaltses has worked for the New York Mets, where she is currently vice president of external affairs and community engagement. She previously served for 12 years as the director of intergovernmental affairs for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In September 2016, Mihaltses and Foye returned to Fordham to take part in “Fordham University: Made in New York,” a panel discussion that was part of the University’s yearlong 175th anniversary celebrations.
