From WTOP: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=30&sid=2058242
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San Fran's CEO among Metro's top G.M. candidates September 21, 2010 - 5:11am
Adam Tuss (http://www.wtop.com/?nid=79&sid=677384), wtop.com
WASHINGTON -- While Metro continues to search for a permanent general manager, the head of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is one potential candidate for the top job, WTOP has learned.
Nathaniel "Nat" Ford, executive director and chief executive officer of San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (http://www.sfmta.com/cms/aexec/indxmtexec.htm), commonly called MUNI), is on the list of those applying for the postition.
However, Ford's name is just one on a list that sources now say contains more than 20 names. The names of the remaining candidates have been kept quiet. Metro leaders have said their search for a permanent general manager would be both national and international.
As the head of MUNI, Ford is in charge of streetcars, light rail vehicles, buses and San Francisco's iconic cable cars. MUNI is the seventh largest transit system in the country and carries more than 200 million riders a year. Conversely, Metro is the second busiest subway system in the U.S., right behind New York City's system.
MUNI is an agency of 5,000 employees, while Metro is an agency of 10,000.
Ford started out his career as a train conductor with New York's MTA. He also worked with San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the heavy-rail subway system that most closely resembles the D.C. Metro system. Additionally, Ford has also been the head of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.
Earlier this year, Metro plucked MUNI's former chief safety officer Jim Dougherty (http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=1924195&nid=25) from San Francisco to become the transit system's new chief safety officer.
Interviews with potential candidates for Metro's top position are expected to take place this month.
Metro's current General Manager Richard Sarles is serving as an interim general manager. Even though Metro board members categorized him as "very capable" as recently as last week, Sarles has said that he should be replaced as soon as possible (http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=1943053&nid=30).
Sarles took over the top spot at Metro when former General Manager John Catoe resigned in April.
(Copyright 2010 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
For what it is worth, and I realize the GM isn't really directly responsible for all the issues within a transit authority, but I have a good friend who moved out to SF from DC a few years ago who says she would rather take WMATA over MUNI any day, hands down. It will be interesting to see what some of the other names are on this list as they come out...
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on September 21, 2010, 05:46:35 AM
For what it is worth, and I realize the GM isn't really directly responsible for all the issues within a transit authority, but I have a good friend who moved out to SF from DC a few years ago who says she would rather take WMATA over MUNI any day, hands down. It will be interesting to see what some of the other names are on this list as they come out...
Did your friend say it was more operations and equipment or in terms of ride experience that put WMATA over Muni? If it's the latter, I think most people would put any agency over Muni but the unique culture of San Francisco is pretty hard to replicate elsewhere. Otherwise, Muni's had rail issues that make WMATA now look good (the late 90's "Muni Meltdown", the T train being slower than the bus it replaced).
You'll love to hear me say these words, but I think that the best exec for WMATA might come from north of the border. Canadian agencies deal with often in-flux funding (provinces can give funding but not the government), high fares to compensate for lack of funding, keeping vehicles many years past retirement, and the challenges they face might work well with WMATA. If anything it'd even up the score from when the TTC took David Gunn. :)
Unpleasant passengers, unpleasant drivers, late vehicles, being accused of not paying her fare when she had, faulty fare equipment. I'm telling you, you don't realize how good WMATA is compared to some other places.
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on September 21, 2010, 09:45:54 AM
Unpleasant passengers, unpleasant drivers, late vehicles, being accused of not paying her fare when she had, faulty fare equipment. I'm telling you, you don't realize how good WMATA is compared to some other places.
Outside of one time where I had a MARC TLC rejected because the driver didn't know what it was and one time on the B30 when a driver thought that cash fare = base fare (I was paying with a pass + additional amount), I've never had any fare conflicts though both of those were more uninformed drivers if anything. In contrast, I had two fare conflicts (no thanks to their zones and "pay when leaving" policy) in a weekend in Pittsburgh last year.
Fareboxes can be hit-or-miss though I see the number of farebox-not-working complaints seems to be less on the Twitterverse lately. Of course, I'm almost never one of them.
MUNI, now SFMTA, recently underwent a transformation where it was also given responsibility for taxis, traffic engineering, enforcement of traffic codes/laws, parking and sidewalk improvements as well as transit.
Can one ever imagine a merger of WMATA and DCDOT?
Quote from: mrpeteCan one ever imagine a merger of WMATA and DCDOT?
If it was D. being merged into WMATA, sure, but the Gray Administration wouldn't be for it. They want to keep the streetcars in house because Gray doesn't trust WMATA with them.
Can one also imagine a merger of Ride On and TheBus (plus all the other MD agencies) into MTA, then MTA being merged, alongside State Highway, into MdDOT? Or if NVTA took over such things from VDOT with ART, DASH, and Connector to boot?
On a blog I read, one pro-highway conspiracy theorist feels that had the freeway revolts not taken place, WMATA might have been given tolling powers over them.