MTA chief-to-be attends board meeting

Joseph J. Lhota, the MTA's presumptive next chief, got his first look Wednesday at the board he will lead.

Lhota, tapped last week by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to be the new chairman and chief operating officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, dropped by the MTA's monthly board meeting in Manhattan.

The former New York City deputy mayor and city budget director sat quietly among board members. He did not take questions from reporters.

"That Joe is here today as an observer just goes to show you how eager he is to get started," MTA vice chairman Andrew Saul said at the meeting.

Lhota is set to replace Jay Walder, who recently resigned from the post of MTA chairman and chief executive. Lhota's appointment to chairman of the MTA is pending confirmation by the State Senate, which is in recess and not scheduled to resume until January. Saul is serving as acting chairman until then.

Lhota will formally begin working as the agency's chief executive in mid-November. Until then, NYC Transit president Tom Prendergast will oversee the MTA's day-to-day operations, Saul announced at the meeting.

"He stepped right up when I asked him and I really do appreciate it," Saul said of Prendergast. "We have a lot to do . . . We all know how tight our finances and money are. We can't let our focus slip even for a minute."

Also at the meeting, Saul said it was too early for the agency to weigh in on a possible extension of the No. 7 subway line to New Jersey, an idea city officials have broached."I think that's something for the future and for the new chair to look into when he's here," he said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at a news conference Wednesday, said he's working on a proposal to extend the line to Secaucus. His endorsement of the plan comes a year after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pulled the plug on a separate project to bring extra commuter railroad service into Manhattan.

With Marc Beja