Joseph J. Smith

President, MTA Bus Company

Joseph J. Smith holds three executive leadership positions at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority:  President, MTA Bus Company; President, MTA Long Island Bus; and Senior Vice President, Department of Buses, MTA New York City Transit.  The first individual to lead all three MTA bus operations simultaneously, Joe was named to these posts in order to lead an historic merger and create a truly regional bus operation.  The goal of the merger is to provide a unified direction and seamless management for regional bus operations, thereby improving workforce development, customer service, and efficiency.

The combined MTA bus operations represent the largest bus service in North America, with an operating budget of $2.5 billion and over 20,000 employees.  With over 6,200 buses operating on 379 routes, the combined fleet has over 2,400 more buses than the second largest fleet in North America, and travels more than 240 million miles per year.  The bus operations serve 2.7 million customers on an average weekday, and over 896 million customers per year.  Joe’s extensive responsibilities include overseeing the ongoing operations of the bus services, with a significant emphasis on improving the overall quality, efficiency, safety and sustainability of daily operations. 

Joe first joined NYC Transit in 1977, and has since held a variety of increasingly high-level positions.  As a thirty-year veteran of bus operations, he brings invaluable perspective and expertise to his current position.  Over the last ten years alone, Joe has managed bus operations through record increases in bus ridership in New York as well as through extraordinary crises.  As the General Manager of the Manhattan Division, he led his team in providing critical bus service and assistance during the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks.  When the subways shut down on that day, his team helped organize the evacuation of lower Manhattan, and provided buses to carry firefighters, rescue, security, and construction workers in and out of “Ground Zero”.  In 2003, Joe led his team once again in providing the only public transportation available during a region-wide blackout that crippled subway service throughout the City.  In 2005, he headed an MTA team that traveled to New Orleans to provide emergency bus rescue and recovery services to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In 2004, Joe was chosen to lead an unprecedented effort to consolidate seven private bus companies, operating under franchises granted by the New York City Department of Transportation, into a single MTA Bus Company. As Senior Vice President of the MTA Bus Company, Joe successfully oversaw the seamless merger of these bus companies and their operations.  This work laid the foundation for the broader regional mission he is pursuing today.

Joe is passionate in his vision to create a regional, world-class, sustainable bus system.  He believes an integral part of this vision involves working closely with bus customers and developing the culture of the newly-merged operation by motivating its more than 20,000 men and women to think creatively and work as a team.  Recently, he attended an Executive Management Course at Harvard University that reinforced his belief in strong leadership and accountability at all levels of the organization. 

Joe is an avid gardener, even taking courses in architectural landscaping.  He resides in Long Island and has a wife, Ann, and four children, Krystin, Steven, Joann, and Grace.