NEW YORK CITY (TIP): Joe Lhota was confirmed late Wednesday, June 21 night by the New York Senate to run the MTA as chairman. Gov. Cuomo had nominated Lhota earlier in the day on Wednesday, transit sources told NBC 4 New York.

The sources said although he will be the chairman of the MTA, he will not be the CEO, since the governor plans to split those positions. It’s not yet who the CEO would be.

Lhota will return to the post he held before leaving to run for mayor in 2013.

Lhota was widely credited with cleaning up dirty stations and responding quickly to Sandy-damaged tunnels in the fall of 2012.

The nomination — at the very end of the legislative session in Albany — blunts criticism of Gov. Cuomo that he has left the authority rudderless since Tom Prendergast left after the opening of the Second Avenue subway line.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement on June 22, has commended the Governor for his choice. Blasio said, “The MTA is at an important crossroads in its mission to serve the millions of New Yorkers who deserve safe, reliable transportation every day. There are few public servants more capable of helping navigate this critical evolution than Joe Lhota. I commend the Governor for his choice and I pledge my administration’s cooperation in helping the Governor, Chairman Lhota and the MTA meet the needs of New York City subway and bus riders.”

Lhota’s nomination comes at a messy time for the MTA, which is dealing with an aging subway system.

The stress of a crumbling system with more passengers than ever — 5.6 million weekly in 2016 — has caused the number of train delays to triple during the past five years, to 70,000 per month.

Much of the signal system is more than 80 years old, and 30 percent was installed before 1965. The subway system took a big hit in 2012, when Superstorm Sandy washed out tracks and flooded tunnels. Equipment, from the trains themselves to the ancient signaling system, hasn’t been replaced because of the enormous cost and pressure to keep fares from rising. A single ride now costs $2.75.

The MTA promised in May to roll out a $20 million plan to help ease extensive delays around the subway by deploying a rapid response team to fix signals and switches when they break.

The MTA board is made up of 14 voting seats: New York state controls 6; New York City has 4; and Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Putnam have one seat each (the latter four split one vote each on the board, however).

(Source: NBC)