Maryland Transit Administration Welcomes New Leadership

June 17, 2015

Maryland’s Secretary of Transportation Pete Rahn welcomed Paul Comfort to the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) family, announcing him as administrator in April 2015. Comfort joined the MTA in early May 2015.

Comfort brings to the MTA a broad background in public transit and government, serving in key capacities in both the public and private sector. Most recently, he served as director of operations and assistant project manager for MV Transportation at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) paratransit service MetroAccess, and as vice president of the Queen Anne’s County Board of Commissioners.

“Paul has a proven track record in transit operations that will be essential to improving MTA’s on-time performance and delivering better customer service to all our transit riders,” said Transportation Secretary Pete K. Rahn.

At MetroAccess, Comfort oversaw all day-to-day operations of the nation’s largest single paratransit contract. While there, he implemented new safety and training programs, helping MetroAccess improve its safety performance, reducing the total accident frequency rate by 50 percent. Also during that time, MetroAccess consistently exceeded its 92 percent trip on-time performance goal.

While only on the ground at the MTA for a few short weeks, Comfort’s focus has been finding efficiencies, learning what the agency does well, and what areas of its operations need improvement. Along the way, he has solicited feedback and ideas from employees working throughout the MTA.

“I am honored to have been offered this great opportunity,” said Comfort. “By focusing on our customers’ needs, our priority is to become a transit system that isn’t just a necessity for people, but a system that is a desired transportation option for citizens of Maryland. There is a great foundation here, which we will build upon to ensure that the MTA provides safe, efficient, reliable transit services across Maryland, with world-class customer service.”

Prior to his role at WMATA, Comfort served as the county administrator for two suburban Maryland Counties, Charles and Queen Anne’s, where he oversaw all operations of local government. In Charles County, he developed new operational accountability measures which improved results for key performance indicators of county departments by upwards of 25 percent. In the same capacity for Queen Anne’s County, he implemented strong new worker’s compensation procedures, saving the county millions of dollars. While there, he also served as President of the Maryland County Administrators Association.

Comfort has held numerous other executive management and business development positions for both local governments and the private sector related to public transit. In these roles he oversaw management of transit services including Howard Transit, Howard Transit Ride, Connect-A-Ride in Laurel, Maryland, and Loudoun County Commuter Bus Service in Virginia, among several other human service and public transportation operations. During this time he also served as president of the Transportation Association of Maryland.

Comfort has served on the Governor’s Commission on the Structure & Efficiency of State Government, and on the Board of the Maryland Environmental Service. In addition, he has served on numerous Transportation Study groups in Maryland and has been the recipient of many transit and government related awards.

Comfort received his B.A. from University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore City.

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Sept. 10, 2012