Council speaker: New York City must take control of subways

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - The speaker of the City Council wants New York City to take back control of what he calls the city's lifeblood—mass transit.

Speaker Corey Johnson's solution to fixing the subways and buses, which he said are in crisis, is for the state-run MTA to instead fall under mayoral control.

Johnson, who is weighing a run for mayor in 2021, said the city needs to "take control" of its destiny, rename the troubled agency "Big Apple Transit," and be in charge of its budgets, infrastructure, and capital projects.

The speaker's proposal isn't likely to succeed. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who already mostly controls the MTA, wants full control of the agency and is asking Albany to give it to him.