MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota will resign from his post on Friday to announce plans to run for mayor, a surprise development that comes a day before the agency greenlights fare hikes for next year, sources said.
Lhota will make current MTA board member and former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer the vice chairman of the board tomorrow at the panel’s monthly meeting, enabling Ferrer to succeed him as the acting agency chairman when Lhota steps down, sources said.
Thomas Prendergast, president of New York City Transit, is expected to take over as acting executive director of the agency, which is Lhota’s other title.
Prendergast took the helm when former MTA head Jay Walder left in 2011 to head the Hong Kong subway.
“He has tremendous railroad and transportation knowledge,” said the source.
Lhota, a Republican who worked as a deputy mayor under ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani, has been widely praised for his handling of the MTA during super storm Sandy.
The MTA refused to comment on his departure a little over a year after he took the job helming the nation’s largest mass transit system.
Lhota — drinking what appeared to be white wine at a holiday party at the Manhattan federal courthouse — declined to comment.
“I’m not discussing politics while I’m chairman of the MTA,” he said.
His resignation on Friday will enable him to begin campaigning for mayor.
The law currently forbids him from planning a run for public office while heading a state authority.
The MTA is expected to vote for hikes on tolls and fares at its monthly board meeting tomorrow.
As the Post reported, the price of a monthly MetroCard is expected to hit $112 a month, up from the current $104.
jennifer.fermino@nypost.com
MTA Chairman Lhota to resign, announce plans to run for mayor
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MTA Chairman Lhota to resign, announce plans to run for mayor
