New MTA Unit Will Oversee $12B Plan To Modernize Aging Train, Bus Fleet

NEW YORK CITY — The MTA unveiled a new unit that will spearhead a $12 billion plan to replace the agency's decades-old trains and update its existing bus fleet.

The agency’s new Rolling Stock Program will direct the MTA’s rolling stock strategy and will monitor the acquisition and lifetime costs for a number of strategic assets, including buses, subway cars, and commuter rail trains.

Jessie Lazarus, who led the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s shift from the MetroCard to the tap-and-go OMNY fare system, will lead the new unit.

“The subway cars, buses, and commuter trains that New York grew up on belong to a different era,” MTA Chief of Rolling Stock Jessie Lazarus said. “The new Rolling Stock Program will make sure the MTA’s multibillion-dollar commitment to the future of our transit system gives New Yorkers a smoother, greener, faster, more cost-efficient ride to explore the amazing places the MTA can take them for generations to come.”

Lazarus and her team — comprising about 10 members — will manage the $12 billion investment from the 2025-2029 Capital Plan to replace the MTA’s aging fleets.

Under its 2025–2029 capital program, the MTA plans to buy around 1,500 subway cars, more than 500 commuter-rail cars and 2,200 buses. The rolling stock program is expected to account for nearly 20 percent of the MTA’s $65.4 billion capital plan through 2029, officials said.

Many of the MTA's rail cars still in service date back to the 1980s and are at the end of their lifespan.

Lazarus joined the MTA in 2023 after working at CARMERA, an artificial intelligence company acquired by Toyota in 2021. Prior to joining CARMERA, Lazarus served as Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York. She is a graduate of Middlebury College and Harvard Business School.

“With billions of dollars set aside for new subway cars, commuter trains and buses in the new capital plan, we need strong leadership driving the decision-making,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said.“Jessie’s no stranger to big projects and complex commercial negotiations, and I have total confidence in her ability to deliver the best deal for the MTA and our millions of daily riders.”