NEW YORK, NY October 23, 2009 —The MTA's new chairman is proposing to spend up to a half-million dollars for technological advice from his old employer - Transport for London. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman has more.

REPORTER: Jay Walder served as a top executive at London's transit agency until 2006. He's proposing a deal that would allow the MTA to use high-level employees from London as consultants for projects such as countdown clocks and a next-generation MetroCard.

London has installed both technologies but the MTA has foundered. The MTA says the British employees cost about half as much as private consultants.

An authority spokesman says the agreement doesn't pose a conflict of interest because Transport for London is a public agency and Walder left his position there more than two years ago. For WNYC, I'm Matthew Schuerman.