A Different Path

Value Versus Investment
While Foothill Transit may be treading down new paths in terms of technology, its executive director comes back to his finance roots when it comes to directing his agency.

"The thing that I always come back to is to try to focus on how do you get the best value out of the dollar invested," Barnes says.

"I think some times it's easy to lose track of that, particularly in light of the environment that we work in where that value proposition sometimes it has to be looked at, but in the context of all the other requirements that we face.

"You still have to take care of those things. You've got to comply with the federal requirements. You've got to comply with your policy. But the next level in that is really looking at how you get the best value possible. And we try to blend that where we're looking at how do you derive value out of what you're doing and I would encourage my colleagues to do the same thing.

"We really have to be looking for ways to drive that value proposition into what we do and how we serve our communities."