The new MTR Corporation boss has moved to allay fears that he may take the aggressive slash-and-burn management techniques he used in his last job overhauling New York's subway and bus systems.
On his first day as head of the MTR, Jay Walder said there was a vast difference between the transport systems in Hong Kong and New York, where he was formerly the chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
'New York - when I arrived there - they were in financial crisis,' Walder said. 'The system did not have enough money to operate, the assets cannot be renewed, and the infrastructure was in terrible condition. What I did was to right that financial basis, and put the system back on [a] firm financial footing.
'We have a very different situation here. We have a first-class railway. We have a sustainable financial model that is supporting the railway. I don't think it's the same situation as what we had in New York.'
After becoming MTA's chief executive in October 2009, Walder installed electronic signs in the city's subway stations to inform passengers of approaching trains, slashed 3,500 jobs and cut overtime pay, reducing operating costs by US$525 million a year.
Before his departure in September, MTA said it planned two fare increases, in 2013 and 2015, and would cut its administrative payroll by 15 per cent to gain US$3.8 billion in cumulative savings by 2014.
