The MTA’s subways chief is retiring Friday, the transit agency confirmed.
Joseph Leader is ending his three-decade career with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority after holding the top subway operations post since October 2013.
His last major initiative was an attempt to get trains moving more smoothly through the overcrowded and problem-plagued system.
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Leader put his plan to speed up service to the test on the chronically congested No. 6, No. 7 and F lines, with modest improvements.
The plan added subway station platform workers to move riders in and out of trains faster and boosted maintenance and inspections.
During his time at the MTA, Leader held positions managing tracks, elevators and escalators, and electrical equipment.
With Leader’s departure, the new acting subways chief is Wynton Habersham, who was a vice president and chief officer at the NYC Transit service delivery division. The MTA declined to say if he will hold his new position permanently.
The retirement comes amid a leadership shake up at NYC Transit.
The agency, which runs the city’s subways and buses, will get a new president — Veronique Hakim, former head of NJTransit — at the end of the year.
Leader had applied to be president of NYC Transit, but the job ultimately went to Hakim. MTA reps declined to give a reason for Leader’s retirement.
“We thank Joe for his 30 years of dedicated service to New York City Transit where he played a vital role in transforming a system in a state of decay back in the 1980s to a system that now moves 6 million customers on a regular basis,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in a statement.
