M.T.A.’s Goal Now: Make Sure ‘System Doesn’t Fall Apart’

The chief executive of the state agency that runs New York City’s subway and bus network said on Monday that the agency’s priority would be keeping the aging transit system operating safely now that an ambitious plan to improve it confronts a $15 billion shortfall.

The chief executive, Janno Lieber, said the agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, would emphasize “basic stuff to make sure the system doesn’t fall apart” after Gov. Kathy Hochul’s abrupt move last week to halt a congestion-pricing plan that was to finance capital projects.

The reason, Mr. Lieber said, was simple: “For New Yorkers, mass transit is like air and water. We need it to survive. New York City and our 23-million-population region only works because we can move millions of people.”

Mr. Lieber, speaking at a news conference where he was joined by a group of grim-faced authority executives, said Ms. Hochul’s decision would force the M.T.A. to shrink its current capital budget, and could potentially affect its next budget and even ripple into day-to-day operations.

Mr. Lieber, who is also the chairman of the authority’s board, said he had asked Thomas Prendergast, who led the M.T.A. from 2013 to 2017, to help ensure the system is operating safely.

Among the future projects at risk was the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway line, he said. The authority will now have to scramble to hold onto a $3.4 billion federal grant it had secured to help pay for extending the line.