A day after unveiling his massive plan to improve the subway, Andy Byford, the new head of New York City Transit, began selling it to the public.

"I like a challenge, and this is the daddy of the challenges," he said.

Byford spoke to business and civic leaders at a breakfast convened by the Regional Plan Association. Building support for the $17 billion plan is crucial in order to convince politicians to finance it.

The heart of Byford's blueprint would accelerate the the upgrading of signals throughout the system to increase capacity and cut delays.

"I'm very confident that we will find funding to deliver this plan," he said. "I think everyone in New York knows that doing nothing is not an option." 

The initial response from Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, though, was chilly.

The transit blogger known as Second Avenue Sagas even suggested that Byford "should quit publicly and immediately" if he was brought in to save the subways, only to be told by the governor that it's too pricey a job.

"I certainly wasn't expecting people just overnight to say, 'Yeah, we love it.' But the good news is the debate is underway," Byford said. "So I look forward now to working with anyone, all stakeholders to now get this thing funded."

Though he's in a post that's supposed to be outside of the political fray, Byford is no stranger to wacky political scenes, having been in top jobs at the Toronto Transit Commission when Rob Ford was the mayor of that city.

"So I'm used to robust political debate," he said. "I think it's good that the politicians are interested in transit."

Perhaps not as much in funding it, a push that will now play out beyond Byford's pay grade.

"This is what everybody has been asking for," said Tom Wright, president and CEO of the Regional Plan Association. "We've needed the roadmap for how we fix this, and now we've got it."

"I think the mayor and the governor have to come together and support the MTA," said former MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot Sander. "New York doesn't live, doesn't survive, doesn't prosper, without a strong MTA."