Former MTA chairman E. Virgil Conway dies

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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E. Virgil Conway, who served as both Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) chairman and as a member of the MTA Board, died October 21, 2015, in Southampton, N.Y., at the age of 85.

 

After finding success as both an attorney and a banker, Conway began his tenure with the MTA Board as its Westchester representative. In 1995, he was asked by then-New York-Gov. George Pataki to take on the responsibility of chairman, continuing in that role until March 2001, serving as the seventh chairman of the MTA.

“Virgil was a hugely influential and effective chairman and many of the successes and accomplishments the MTA celebrates today are the result of his hard work and his heartfelt service to the region,” said MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Prendergast. “He remains a beloved member of the MTA family and he will be sorely missed.”

Virgil spearheaded the preparation and funding for the 2000-2004 Capital Program, which at the time was the most ambitious and far-reaching program in MTA history, the authority says. That effort launched several projects to expand the system and change the shape of the region’s public transit to fuel the economy and better serve MTA’s customers.

These projects include the Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access—bringing the Long Island Rail Road directly into Grand Central Terminal—and the recently-completed 7 Train extension to Manhattan’s Far West Side. MTA says that Conway’s efforts helped ensure these projects will transform the region, while at the same time improving service reliability by giving customers new ways to get where they’re going—to, from and within New York City.

Conway also oversaw the rollout of MTA’s iconic MetroCard. He implemented fare discounts and eliminated “two-fare zones”—dramatically reducing the average cost of a ride. He brought to fruition the restoration of Grand Central Terminal, which began under his predecessor, Peter Stangl. He was instrumental in bringing essential components of the system to a state of good repair, continuing the MTA’s decades-long work to rebuild from the graffiti, grime and overall disrepair of the 1970s and ’80s.

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