New York’s former “Train Daddy” Andy Byford has a new gig running London’s transportation system — but don’t call him “Tube Daddy.”
Byford — who oversaw the Big Apple’s subways before abruptly resigning in February — demurred when asked by the Evening Standard whether his nickname would live on in London, where the underground is known colloquially as “The Tube.”
“I want to just, behind the scenes, quietly get on with two main priorities which I’ve set myself,” Byford told the paper.
The popular New York City Transit Authority president was given the nickname “Train Daddy” last year after an offbeat piece of Brooklyn street art depicted his face superimposed on a subway car in the style of Thomas the Tank Engine, with the caption: “Train Daddy loves you very much.”
But the title won’t apply in London, Byford explained to the Standard, because his job there includes managing streets, buses, taxis and ferries along with trains.
“It caught on and I used to get people come up to me in the street in New York and say [adopts accent], ‘Hey, Train Daddy, how ya doin?'” he said.
“It was a bit of fun but now I’m here I’m not just looking after the trains, it’s buses, trams, bikes, the river. It’s the whole shebang.”
The affable Brit resigned after just 25 months on the job at the MTA, during which on-time subway performance hit its highest rate since 2013.
After his exit, Byford publicly criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the man who hired him, for making the role “intolerable” and cutting into his authority over the agency.
“I needed to be left to run the system,” Andy Byford told WCBS-TV in March.
“It got to a point where it was obvious … I was not going to be allowed to get on with what needed to be done.”