NEW YORK, NY November 06, 2009 —New York City Transit has a new president in Tom Prendergast. He'll be a familiar face to long-timers at the agency. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman has more.

REPORTER: Prendergast is a Chicago native who came to New York's transit agency in 1982. He worked his way up the ranks, ending up as president of the Long Island Rail Road. Along the way, he got to know Janette Sadik-Khan, who's now Mayor Bloomberg's Transportation Commissioner, and a big fan of Prendergast.

After a stint as a private consultant, he became head of Vancouver's transportation agency in July 2008. He's mainly been fighting budget battles there, and at one point even floated the idea of congestion pricing.

The new MTA Chairman, Jay Walder, says he chose Prendergast because Vancouver's known for technological innovation. Prendergast starts December 1st. He replaces Howard Roberts, whose departure was expected with the change in MTA leadership. For WNYC, I'm Matthew Schuerman.