It has been two years since New York City's so-called "Train Daddy" left the five boroughs to lead London's Underground.

While Andy Byford serves as the commissioner for Transport for London these days, he said he still stays on top of what's happening in New York City.

"Obviously, for personal reasons, I keep a close eye on what goes on in New York," he said in an interview with NY1's "Mornings On 1."

This week, Byford spoke with Pat Kiernan about his new role, London's pandemic recovery and the newly finished Elizabeth train line, the largest rail project in Europe that will connect eastern and western towns with Central London.

The project cost roughly $22 billion to complete, with construction beginning in 2009. It's slated to open to the public on May 24, and Byford said he hopes it encourages people to return to mass transit, which sits at around 70% of pre-pandemic levels in London.

"Weekday ridership…has plateaued at around 70%. So we still got a way to go," Byford said. "But we're certainly not passive to that. We're mounting a big campaign. The mayor's mounted a big campaign to get international tourists back - he was just in New York City last week and across the U.S. pitching the case for international travel so 70% I don't think it's the is the new normal."

He said there is much New York can learn from London, especially when looking at the new Elizabeth line, the city's effort to electrify its entire bus fleet and a newly proposed "Road User Charge" - which would toll drivers based on the types of vehicles they use. London currently has a congestion pricing system.

"We've got a lot of expertise here and I think these are discussions that certainly New York needs to be progressing," Byford said. "You've got to come up with a more enlightened way of charging people for road use by the type of vehicle they use, the width, the amount of emissions that it emits, the time of the day [and] the distance that people traveled."

Since Byford left in early 2020, there had not been a permanent president for New York City Transit until this month, when Richard Davey stepped into the role.

Davey, the former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, stepped into the role on May 2. Byford said Davey is already off to a good start.

"My only advice to him is doing exactly what he said he's going to do. He nailed it on day one. Focus on the basics: clean, safe, reliable, punctual service - that's what people want," Byford said.

"Look after the transit stars - 50,000 of them, they are absolute diamonds and they're very dear to my heart… and push on, get that subway re-signaled, get the bus service re-imagined and get people back riding the buses."