Interim MTA Executive Director Ronnie Hakim has named Darryl C. Irick acting president of MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) as a nationwide search is underway for a permanent MTA chairperson and CEO.

During the temporary post, Irick, the current NYCT senior VP Department of Buses and president of MTA Bus Co., will oversee the MTA agency that operates subways, buses, and paratransit services. He will serve as acting NYCT president while Hakim, the president of NYCT since 2015, serves as interim MTA executive director.

Current MTA Vice-Chairman Fernando Ferrer will serve as interim board chairman.  MTA Chairman/CEO Thomas F. Prendergast retired yesterday after 25 years at the MTA. A 7-member committee is tasked with finding and recommending candidates for a permanent MTA chairperson/CEO to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.

Irick joined the MTA in 1986 as a bus operator at the Kingsbridge Depot in Manhattan, moving to progressively senior positions in operations and planning. His father also was a NYCT bus operator and maintainer. Irick was named NYCT senior VP of Buses and president of MTA Bus Co. in 2011.

Irick views the delivery of services as a business model and has overseen improvements such as Select Bus Service, security cameras on buses and the rollout of MTA Bus Time and GPS tracking, which provides real-time bus location information.

As part of the MTA’s ongoing commitment to improving safety across all agencies, Irick is currently overseeing the installation and testing of pedestrian turn warning and collision avoidance systems and under his leadership, his team devised new approaches to winter storm response with the creation of an Incident Command Center resulting in a much improved, coordinated and efficient delivery of service and customer information during inclement weather.