Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running an independent campaign for mayor, proposed on Tuesday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, yield control of the subway system’s capital construction and station maintenance to New York City.
Under Mr. Cuomo’s plan, the mayor would lead a “construction management team” that would oversee major building projects at subway stations, the purchase of new train cars and repairs and upgrades to critical infrastructure like the aging signal system. The transportation authority would continue to run the subway’s day-to-day operations.
“Let New York City do the capital construction on the New York City transit system,” Mr. Cuomo said at a breakfast hosted by the Association for a Better New York, a civic group.
Mr. Cuomo’s proposal may face long odds if he is elected. The transportation authority’s board is effectively controlled by Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose relationship with Mr. Cuomo is strained, making her cooperation unlikely.
The proposal might also strike many transit advocates as ironic. Mr. Cuomo’s leadership of the agency as governor was at times contentious, and he was criticized for focusing on large-scale projects rather than less-flashy maintenance initiatives that might have kept service running more smoothly.
Mr. Cuomo’s plan would need approval from the transportation authority’s board, which typically has 17 voting members, including six chosen by the governor and just four by New York’s mayor. The governor also selects the board’s chairman and chief executive, currently Janno Lieber, who has significant influence over its capital improvement plan.
State leaders have controlled the subway since 1968 and have resisted past calls for mayoral control of the transit system. Mr. Cuomo’s plan, part of his closing pitch in a mayor’s race where he has trailed Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, in polls, would be narrower in scope and focus just on capital projects.
In his announcement, Mr. Cuomo argued that putting the mayor in charge would improve coordination with city agencies and ensure accountability on projects that were delayed or over budget.
As he argued that New Yorkers, particularly business leaders, had lost faith in the city, Mr. Cuomo said that improving the subway system would be a major way to boost confidence. “If you want to talk about one thing that changes people’s minds and attitudes quickly, is it that subway system,” he said.
During his decade as governor, Mr. Cuomo exerted significant influence over the M.T.A. while at times minimizing his responsibility to address its failures.
Mr. Cuomo delighted in the state’s control over the city’s subway system when it was politically beneficial. He often highlighted his role in splashy projects, like the opening of the Second Avenue subway. He also intervened and called off a full 15-month shutdown of the L train between Brooklyn and Manhattan, instead pushing for a less disruptive approach.
And when ridership cratered during the pandemic, Mr. Cuomo ordered the transit agency to disinfect subway cars overnight to help restore confidence in the system.
Yet Mr. Cuomo was frequently criticized by subway advocates for valuing aesthetic changes to things like lighting or signs over routine maintenance to the subway’s aging infrastructure.
In 2017, as delays mounted because of the transit system’s failure to properly maintain its tracks and trains, Mr. Cuomo at first kept his distance, sparring with Mayor Bill de Blasio over who bore responsibility.
As the crisis spiraled into what became known as the “Summer of Hell,” Mr. Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the subway, pledged $1 billion for improvements and released a plan to help facilitate repairs.
After initially resisting, Mr. Cuomo also oversaw the approval of congestion pricing, a plan to toll drivers entering Manhattan to pay for the kinds of subway system upgrades that he now proposes to oversee. (Though he suggested last year that congestion pricing be shelved, he has more recently voiced his support.)
Mr. Cuomo’s plan calls for bundling contracts, using technology to speed up construction and shutting down parts of the system for short periods to do work rather than partially closing subway lines for weeks on end.
Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the Riders Alliance, a transit-advocacy group that has endorsed Mr. Mamdani, criticized Mr. Cuomo’s plan in a statement, saying it was “irresponsible and absurd.”
“The disgraced former governor decries mismanagement of the transit system that he recently controlled for 11 years, ignoring service as train delays quadrupled,” Mr. Pearlstein said in a statement.
Though more than 3 million people ride the subway daily and the system’s conditions are one of the main metrics by which many New Yorkers judge their local government, the mayor has generally had limited control over its operations.
Some experts have argued that it makes sense for the state to oversee New York’s subway because it is part of a much bigger regional transit network. The transportation authority also oversees the city’s buses, commuter railroads and key bridges and tunnels, and it issues bonds to fund capital projects.
Buses have emerged as a key issue in the mayor’s race this year. Mr. Mamdani, the front-runner, has proposed eliminating bus fares. Mr. Cuomo has proposed making buses and subways free for low-income riders by expanding the scope of an existing transit program, Fair Fares, that offers half-price fares to the poorest New Yorkers.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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