Longtime transit official Jay Walder is Governor Paterson's choice to run the Metropolitan Transit Authority, according to reports today. Walder will be both chairman of the board and the chief executive of the organization, as the roles were combined so that Paterson can take the MTA in "a different direction." Hopefully, he means that in the sense of "making things better" rather than the way people walking in a "different direction" on the stairs in the subway make regular commuters want to go on a killing spree. [Newsday]