Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and former Federal Aviation Administration chief Jane Garvey will chair an advisory commission that will study the challenges of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The 22-member Transportation Reinvention Commission follows a call in May by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to consider changes in customer expectations, commuting trends and extreme weather patterns as it develops rolling capital plans.
Members include Kathryn Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City business group; Toronto Transit Commission CEO Andy Byford; New York Building Congress president Richard Anderson; Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association; and David Waboso, director of capital programs for the London Underground.
"We can never be satisfied with what we have done so far," MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast said in a June 24 statement. Moody's Investors Service rates its primary credit, transportation revenue bonds, A2, while Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's assign A and AA-minus ratings, respectively.
The MTA is one of the largest municipal issuers with roughly $34 billion of debt as of May 30.
The commission, which will include five subcommittees, will host public input sessions and provide its recommendations before the MTA submits its capital plan to the capital program review board by Oct. 1.Short-term recommendations will grasp the MTA's 2015-2019 capital plan, while mid- and long-term recommendations will look at investment plans beyond that.
