Interim MTA Executive Director Ronnie Hakim on Feb. 2 named Darryl C. Irick Acting President of MTA New York City Transit (NYCT).
Irick, the current NYCT Senior Vice President-Department of Buses and President of MTA Bus Company, steps in for Hakim at NYCT while a nationwide search takes place for a permanent MTA Chairman and CEO. Current MTA Vice-Chairman Fernando Ferrer is serving as Interim Board Chairman. Thomas F. Prendergast, Railway Age’s 2017 Railroader of the Year, retired Feb. 1 after 25 years at the MTA. A seven-member committee is tasked with finding and recommending candidates to New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to replace Prendergast.
Irick joined the MTA in 1986 as a bus operator at the Kingsbridge Depot in Manhattan, moving to progressively senior positions in operations and planning. His father also was a NYCT bus operator and maintainer. He was named to his current post in 2011.
The MTA said Irick “views the delivery of services as a business model and has overseen improvements such as Select Bus Service, security cameras on buses and the rollout of MTA Bus Time and GPS tracking, which provides real-time bus location information. As part of the MTA’s ongoing commitment to improving safety across all agencies, he is currently overseeing the installation and testing of pedestrian turn warning and collision avoidance systems. Under his leadership, his team devised new approaches to winter storm response with the creation of an Incident Command Center resulting in a much improved, coordinated and efficient delivery of service and customer information during inclement weather.”
“I rely daily on Darryl for his judgment, advice and incredible depth of knowledge,” Hakim said. A”I know with Darryl leading NYCT, I can focus on the broad mission at hand: assuring the entire MTA network provides the service our customers deserve while we search for a permanent Chairman.”
“It is a great honor to be asked to lead New York City Transit, an agency that has been part of my family and my life for as long as I can remember,” Irick said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues at NYCT to face the challenges ahead as we work together to provide our customers with safe, reliable service.”