MANHATTAN — The man in charge of the city's buses and subways has resigned, according to published reports.
Howard Roberts, top executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's bus and subway division, stepped down on Wednesday after two and a half years on the job.
Under contract terms hammered out in 2007, Roberts gets a severance worth about $300,000 in addition to full-year's salary, an MTA spokesman told the Daily News.
His departure was not a surprise to MTA officials who have apparently been speculating about Roberts’ fate for weeks, according to the New York Times.
Roberts had been blamed internally for allowing the Transport Workers Union to gain back ground during this year’s contract negotiations, sources told the Times.
But others rallied behind Roberts, saying the blame was unfairly put on a veteran manager who also led the Philadelphia transit system.
The Associated Press is reporting that Roberts will leave the job at the end of the month.
