Power team for subways

THE NEW MTA BOSS has his team.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Joe Lhota announced Thursday that former Port Authority chief Patrick Foye will join the agency as president.

He’ll answer to Lhota and work with Ronnie Hakim, the MTA exec who will now be managing director.

The two seasoned transit executives will work in a new three-person Office of the Chairman.

Foye will work on modernizing the transit system. Hakim will manage day-to-day operations. They’ll both implement Lhota’s $836 million subway rescue plan.

A third executive in the chairman’s new office — Janno Lieber, the World Trade Center developer who is currently the MTA’s chief development officer — will oversee the agency’s multibillion-dollar projects.

“Pat and Ronnie are veteran transportation professionals who together with Janno form the dynamic team the MTA needs at this moment,” Lhota said. “The plan I recently introduced is ambitious, aggressive, and requires dedicated leadership ensuring operational excellence and long-term innovation — which is exactly what the team in the Office of the Chairman will provide."

Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, said the new leadership “demonstrates the MTA’s renewed commitment to improving service, ensuring a reliable modern subway system for riders, and transforming the culture of the MTA into a less bureaucratic and more entrepreneurial agency.”

MTA board member and rider advocate Andrew Albert said he thought Lhota was right to set up the new three-person office because he still works as an executive at NYU Langone Medical Center.

“When we’re in the shape that we’re in and you want to fix this, having too many good people there is not a problem,” Albert said. “I don’t think it’s too many especially because Joe is part-time.”

While at the Port Authority, Foye testified during the Bridgegate trial, which ended with aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie being convicted over the politically motivated closure of lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge.

Foye also secured funding for Gov. Cuomo’s infrastructure initiatives such as the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport.