Transit Unplugged

In part two of our series featuring Tulsa, OK, host Paul Comfort gets a special tour of Downtown Tulsa with Chase Phillips, the Director of Planning for MetroLink Tulsa. Chase talks about the city's rich history, architectural wonders, and the role of transit in its development. Chase sheds light on Tulsa's transformation from a 1920s hub of oil wealth, with the largest airport in the world at the...

In the first of two podcast episodes--and an upcoming Transit Unplugged TV episode--from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Paul chats with MetroLink Tulsa ( https://www.tulsatransit.org/ ) CEO Scott Marr about: His city His career in transit The overwhelming success of microtransit and merging it with paratransit operations His plans for expanding Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to Route 66 for the 100th anniversary And t...

This is a special episode of Transit Unplugged shared with us from our friends at the Transit Authority by APTA . Recorded live at APTA EXPO 2023 in Orlando, Florida, Art Guzzetti, VP of Policy and Mobility at APTA, interviews Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardener. Make sure you follow the Transit Authority wherever you listen to podcasts. Here are the show notes for this episode originally released October...

Holly Arnold has spent her entire career at the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). Starting as a contractor in grants administration then leading capital planning and then Deputy Administrator responsible for engineering before she became Administrator and CEO two years ago. The head of the MTA is a massive job. Not only is she responsible for massive capital projects--like the largest public-...

When you think of big city transit agencies you think about Boston, New York, Toronto, LA, San Francisco...maybe not Mississauga, Ontario. It might surprise you that this city of one million people supports a transit system with over 500 buses and serves as the essential connector between cities East, West, and North (South is Lake Ontario). Mississauga Transit (or MiWay) helps people in Brampton,...

When we think about public transit we often think about subways or buses travelling through bustling cities, we don't often think of small towns in the midst of woods and fields. But the reality is there are thousands of rural transit agencies in North America serving people and places miles and miles away from each other. In this episode, host Paul Comfort talks with with Wendy Weedon, Deputy CEO...

There is more than a little bit of irony that when we have unprecedented levels of funding to buy and replace buses, there is a manufacturing crunch so there are few buses to be had--and with longer delivery times. From manufacturing delays and fewer manufacturers to massive price increases, agencies are pushing buses well beyond their useful life. How can we solve this crisis to not only meet the...

Sometimes we're so afraid of making mistakes, that we don't push ourselves to take a chance on a new innovative idea. We've all been there, but in this conversation Adam Barth, CEO of the Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority--https://stanrta.org/--, reveals advice he got from a mentor at a critical time in his career. Paul Comfort sat down with Adam Barth, CEO of Stanislaus Regional Transit Autho...

Host Paul Comfort interviews Ken Divers, Director of Outreach Programs at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), and Flora Castillo, President of Pivot Strategies and former APTA chair, about SEPTA's innovative SCOPE (Safety, Cleaning, Ownership, Partnership, and Engagement) program. Ken and Flora talk with Paul about how they created the program over a weekend and its goa...

Over his five-decade long career in politics Congressman Earl Blumenauer has been a staunch support of transit and livable cities. Paul sat down with Rep. Blumenauer after a chance meeting at the Impact Conference in Phoenix last fall to talk about his life, career, passions, and what's next after he leaves Congress at the end of his term. In their wide-ranging discussion, Paul and Rep. Blumenauer...

We have a special holiday gift for you with a special bonus episode to close out the year. We worked with Jeff Wood from Talking Headways and The Overhead Wire -- https://theoverheadwire.com/ -- to trade episodes with each other. Jeff will be playing our interview with Randy Clarke that kicked off Season 7 and we have his interview with Dr. Karel Martens from March 2021 talking about the philosoph...

In our final regular episode of Transit Unplugged for 2023 we have Paul Skoutelas, President & CEO of APTA, and Petra Mollet, VP of Strategic International Programs at APTA talking with Paul about the year that was in 2023 and what we should be looking forward to in 2024. The boost in infrastructure funding was, of course, the big news of the year, but it's somewhat overshadowed by ongoing fun...

Welcome to the penultimate episode of Transit Unplugged for 2023! This week we wrap our series recorded at the CUTA conference in Edmonton with an interview with Arthur Nicolet, CEO of Transdev Canada ( https://www.transdev.ca/en/ ). Paul and Arthur not only talk about contracting in Canada, but pairing with the episode featuring Transdev US CEO Laura Hendricks, talk about the role of contracting...

Will battery electric buses work in the northern-most large city in North America? This week on Transit Unplugged, we continue our series from the CUTA conference in Edmonton, AB. Edmonton has been leading the way in transit for 20 years. The first city in Canada to have LRT and now the first city to have a hydrogen fuel cell bus in active service. So what's next? Deputy City Manager--and former h...

This week we have the first of three episodes recorded during the CUTA (Canadian Urban Transit Association) Annual Fall Conference. In this first episode, Paul first sits down with the President and CEO of CUTA, Marco D’Angelo talking about housing policy, and later with regular contributor Mike Bismeyer, talking about how Mike started his life-long kindness advocacy. Paul and Marco talk about CUT...

This week we’re staying in Phoenix and picking up where we left off last week. Paul talks with current Valley Metro (https://www.valleymetro.org/) CEO Jessica Mefford-Miller about the light rail expansion, but more than that, Jessica talks about how Valley Metro keeps its cool in the scorching summer heat. You would not believe the amount of air conditioning needed for each light rail train. Small...

Usually when people vote on ballot measures about transit, the transit agency and supporters want the measure to pass. Not in Phoenix in 2019. That ballot measure would have literally derailed bringing light rail--any rail--to Phoenix forever. Then Valley Metro CEO Scott Smith rallied support throughout Maricopa County and discovered there was overwhelming support for transit and light rail. So mu...

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort interviews Adam Hill, Editor in Chief of ITS International Magazine. They discuss the challenges and prospects of high-speed rail in England and the US, including the various political and logistical issues. Adam explains London's new Ultra Low Emission Zone, designed to encourage public transit use and discusses the struggles with its introd...

This week, we give you Part 2 of our special CEO roundtable recorded live at APTA TRANSform Conference and EXPO. The conversation picks up with host and producer Paul Comfort asking the panel what are the big projects they have going on. From Dave Dech's trash clearing to Coree Cuff Lonergan's just culture, each CEO highlights an essential aspect of public transit today. The discussion continues w...

Welcome to our 6th anniversary and the start of season 7 of Transit Unplugged. Host Paul Comfort has a special opening reflecting on the past 270+ episodes so far and what lies ahead down the road. In our interview this week, we have Randy Clarke, GM and CEO of WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) https://www.wmata.com/ , chatting with Paul from his new LEED Platinum office build...

What's it like being the CEO of a transit agency? Paul Comfort asked a panel of five CEOs who've been on the job for about a year what it's been like, what's surprised them the most, and why they love working in transit. Listen to this lively and engaging panel featuring Coree Cuff Lonergan, GM of Broward County Transit, Dave Dech, Executive Dir of Tri-Rail, Dottie Watkins, CEO of CapMetro, Frank...

This week Paul Chats with Carl Sedoryk, CEO of Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) https://mst.org/ , about his jazz-themed BRT line, applying their new vision statement to serve the people who need transit the most better, and how his practice of martial arts makes him a better leader. Monterey-Salinas Transit is in an interesting place, geographically and within the larger transit industry. Nestled o...

This week we focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in public transit with Eve Machol, Director of Aviation and Transportation Strategy at Microsoft, and Renee Autumn Ray, Senior Director of Transportation Policy at Hayden AI https://www.hayden.ai/ . As both our guests point out, AI in transit isn't new; we've been using AI for years, but with recent attention on generative AI tools like ChatGPT, A...

This week Paul talks with Laura Hendricks, CEO of Transdev US https://transdevna.com/ , about her career starting as a driver at FedEx, Trandev's global expertise transitioning to zero emissions, and how Transdev combined with First Transit brings more cohesive transit solutions to transit agencies. As the largest private transportation contractor in the world, Transdev is uniquely positioned to a...

This week join Paul in conversation with Diana Kotler, CEO of the Anaheim Transit Network https://rideart.org/ . Recorded live at APTA Tech earlier this summer, Paul and Diana connect transit, tech, and people in this engaging interview. Diana runs a very unique transit system. It's funded by businesses, but all Anaheim residents and people who work in Anaheim ride for free. Tourists coming to vis...