Last winter, as a storm descended on New York City, the authority shut down the entire subway system, the first time it had taken such action for a snowstorm. But the agency did not consult with City Hall, and that snub of Mayor Bill de Blasio, coupled with the storm’s modest impact, led to criticism of the agency and Mr. Cuomo.

Since then, the authority had been preparing plans for how to offer partial service during a storm like the one over the weekend that covered Central Park with more than 26 inches of snow, the second-largest snowfall on record in the city.

“It’s a plan we worked on over the past year in order to provide service where we could, and we will continue to fine-tune it,” Mr. Ortiz said. “We’ll look at how things worked during the storm and adjust it accordingly.”

As the full subway map began to come back to life on Sunday morning, transit advocates praised the decision to maintain underground service during the storm. The move also got a stamp of approval from Mr. de Blasio, who had bristled at how the closing was handled last year.