Background The subway system today is composed of what once were three separate systems in competition with one another. Two of them were built and operated by private companies:
August Belmont's
Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). The third, the public
Independent Subway System (IND) was owned and operated by the City of New York. The IRT and BMT systems were acquired by the city on June 1, 1940, for $317,000,000 and consolidated with the IND into the
New York City Board of Transportation (NYCBOT). The buses on Staten Island had been operated by a private company operating under a franchise that expired in 1946. When it became known that the company would not renew its franchise, a group of residents in the borough organized the Isle Transportation Company, to continue operation. This group ran into financial difficulties and the city took over the company on February 23, 1947. The city then controlled all of the bus routes on Staten Island. On March 30, 1947, the City took over the bus lines of the
North Shore Bus Company, which comprised half of the privately owned lines in Queens, after that company went into financial troubles. On September 24, 1948, the City acquired five bus lines in Manhattan for similar reasons. The surface operation of the BOT was a costly operation, resulting from the various equipment that was required, including trolley cars, trolley coaches, gasoline and diesel buses, of which many were obsolete and in need of replacement. The NYCTA formally succeeded the BOT on June 15, 1953, being composed of five unsalaried members. Hugh Casey was elected as the agency's chairman at the authority's first meeting. The new Transit Authority was modeled after the existing Port of New York Authority which now calls itself the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, the latter of which is also now part of the MTA. At this time, the city government leased the IRT, BMT, and IND subway lines and the surface system (buses and, until 1956 street cars). A major goal of the formation of the NYCTA was to remove transit policy, and especially the setting of the transit fare, from City politics. The fare was increased to fifteen cents on July 25, 1953, and a token was introduced for paying subway and elevated fares. Bus and trolley fares continued to be paid by cash only. Historically, the TA's capital requirements were met by the city and state jointly, but this support was withdrawn, primarily by Governor Rockefeller, in the 1960s. In 1965, mayoral candidate John Lindsay pledged to use the toll revenues from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) to offset the NYCTA's deficits. In January 1966, New York State, with the help of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, purchased the Long Island Rail Road from its corporate parent, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and it became part of the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA). Rockefeller saw the difficulty that John Lindsay, who had since won the mayoral election, had in his plan to use the TBTA surpluses for the NYCTA, and decided to expand the MCTA to give it oversight to the NYCTA and the TBTA. The MCTA would be renamed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Tied to a bill with the creation of the MTA was a $2.5billion bond issue that would be approved or disapproved by voters in November 1967. A majority of the bonds would go to the state's mass transit systems, with a majority going to New York City, and to Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, and Orange Counties. The day prior to the election, two brand new R40 cars were displayed on the IND Sixth Avenue Line at Herald Square. The bond issue passed, and the MTA was set to take over the NYCTA in 1968. The night before December 31, 1967, the NYCTA and the TWU made an agreement to avoid a strike. The deal gave NYCTA workers the ability to retire with about half-pay after twenty years if the employee was over fifty years old. This would later cause problems, as large numbers of transit workers would retire to take advantage of these benefits. On March 1, 1968, the NYCTA, and its subsidiary, the
Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA), were placed under the control of, and are now affiliates of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). To resolve these issues, a "Subway Action Plan" was revealed, as well as a "Bus Action Plan".
COVID-19 pandemic Beginning March 25, 2020, service on buses and subways was reduced due to decreased ridership during the first wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. In late March, NYCTA interim president
Sarah Feinberg stated that a shutdown "feels misguided to me" and was "not on the table". Feinberg also spoke in favor of hazard pay for front-line workers. Also that April, Feinberg called the MTA "the most aggressive transit agency in the country in acting quickly and decisively to protect our workforce". By April 22, 2020,
COVID-19 had killed 83 agency employees; the agency announced that their families would be eligible for $500,000 in death benefits. Starting in May 2020, stations were closed overnight for cleaning; the overnight closures were announced as a temporary measure that would be ended once the pandemic was over. Trains and stations were cleaned more than usual. 24-hour subway service was restored on May 17, 2021. ==Presidents==