To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Walder unveiled a report of his first 100 days on the job in a breakfast speech to the Association for a Better New York in Midtown Manhattan, highlighting ways to revamp the agency.

The MTA chairman and chief executive officer is looking to make affordable service improvements despite the recession. But he says his main goal is to ensure the agency uses its money wisely.

"I cannot tell you that the MTA is spending every dollar that it receives as effectively as possible and I believe that fixing that, fixing that needs to be my top priority right now,” he said.

He said the MTA spends more than $500 million in overtime yearly and has 92 separate phone lines for customer information.

Layoffs in the agency are to be expected, some express buses will be elimated and Walder also said the fate of free student MetroCards is still far from certain.

"What we need to do right now is to find a way so that the students and their parents have comfort in this situation, not just for 2010 but on a going-forward basis," said Walder.

The MTA will also launch a pilot program that will create an all-electronic toll system that will allow drivers taking the Henry Hudson Bridge to pay without stopping.

As for buses, the plan is to focus on improving bus lane markings and enforcement in six congested areas in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The plan is expected to improve service along 50 bus lines.

"The notion is that we will bring enhanced enforcement to those areas,” said Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “We'll have much better markings, much better signage."

"I think the riding public shares his view,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. “They want bus service. They want easier ways of paying the fare. They want real-time information delays and my hope is he'll be able to deliver on those even though we're in a tough fiscal climate."

A report from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office finds there were 75 million fewer trips on the MTA system in 2009 than in 2008.

The decline has cost the MTA more than $100 million in revenue.

Walder's full report is available online at mta.info.