Cuomo's stance also represents a stark departure from his embrace of the system just a few months back. | AP Photo Cuomo distances himself from the state-run MTA

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, following weeks of service failures in New York City's subways, told reporters Thursday that his responsibility for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority merely consists of appointing a few people to its board, a responsibility shared by Mayor Bill de Blasio and county executives across the state. The state-run authority, he said, is a "regional transportation system."

"I have representation on the board,” the governor said. “The City of New York has representation on the board, so does Nassau, Suffolk, Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, other counties, okay?”


But in reality, the governor controls the MTA nominating process and has more board representatives than anyone else in the state. He appoints its chairman and CEO.

And, the Manhattan Institute's Nicole Gelinas says, “The governor is firmly in charge of the MTA’s day-to-day operations."

That Cuomo should want to distance himself from the increasingly problem-plagued system, which he referred to Thursday as the “city subway system,” is not surprising. De Blasio, who gets to recommend four members to the board — subject to Cuomo's forwarding the nominations to the Senate, for its approval — now routinely responds to every question about problems with the city's mass transit system by saying that the MTA is a state creature. (Cuomo effectively controls the board by appointing six of the 14 votes, including its chair and CEO.)

But Cuomo's stance also represents a stark departure from his embrace of the system just a few months back.

Six months ago, with the MTA preparing for the opening of the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway, Cuomo’s press office issued a deluge of releases touting the governor’s leadership role in the project:

December 19: "GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES ON-TIME OPENING OF SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY”.

On December 20 : “GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES SYSTEMWIDE INSTALLATION OF SUBWAY MAPS FEATURING NEW SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY”

December 22: "GOVERNOR CUOMO DEBUTS NEW SUBWAY STATION AT 96TH STREET AND INVITES NEW YORKERS TO OPEN HOUSE AHEAD OF ON-TIME OPENING OF THE SECOND AVENUE”.

It was the governor who concocted the idea for a New Year’s party celebrating the subway’s inaugural ride. It was he whom former MTA chairman and Cuomo appointee Tom Prendergast thanked for his leadership on the project; "We worked around-the-clock to meet Governor Cuomo’s deadline, and tomorrow the public will reap the benefits of this commitment," Prendergast said in late December.

It is Cuomo to whom legislators on Thursday addressed their complaints about the MTA’s substandard bus service.

And it was the governor who directed the MTA interim director to develop a $20 million plan of short-term subway fixes.

The program "really started with a series of conversations with Governor Cuomo, where he just clearly recognized that from his perspective, subway service is just not meeting the needs of New Yorkers, [it's] not satisfactory, " the interim director said in an interview with POLITICO New York this week.

Yet when asked about that plan on Thursday, Cuomo had this to say: “First, I didn’t propose short-term fixes. The MTA did.”