The leader of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority acknowledged on Monday that the failing health of New York City’s subway system imperils not only the city’s financial future, but the well-being of the surrounding region.

Joseph J. Lhota, the chairman of the transportation authority, said in an interview on Monday, a day after an investigation by The New York Times outlined how years of neglect and poor decisions plunged the system into crisis, that his challenge was not only to tackle the long list of problems, but to instill wholesale change in how the agency manages the subway.

“There was a time when New York led the world in mass transportation,” Mr. Lhota said. “We need to get back to that position.”

He said he was not interested in assigning blame or focusing on what happened in the past, but he added that it was clear that New Yorkers had been failed and drastic measures needed to be taken to reverse the situation.