I’ve interviewed many transit officials, but before I met the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) general manager, John Catoe, I had never met anyone who got into transit “by accident.”

Growing up the Washington, D.C., area, Catoe sent out dozens of resumes as he set out to find his place in the world and actually accidentally happened upon his path in transit.

“I sent one to a blind ad in Orange County for a personnel job, it was a training position,” Catoe says. “And I got contacted for an interview and found out it was the [Orange County Transit District (OCTD)]. And that was my first job in public transportation, working in human resources.”

Catoe would spend nearly two decades with OCTD working in a number of positions, including human resources, marketing, finance and eventually he moved into operations. His operations experience would lead him to Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, where he would spend five and a half years before leaving to join L.A. Metro as its deputy chief operating officer.

As for how he came back to D.C. after all those years, it was a chance for Catoe to come back to his hometown and as he says, “it’s an opportunity for me to make a difference in a place that I grew up.”

East vs. West
Having seen my share of transit agencies all over the United States and Canada, I can say while there are similarities, there is definitely a difference in attitude when it comes to comparing East Coast versus West Coast agencies. And who better to speak on this than John Catoe, who has been both the deputy COO in L.A. and now the general manager in Washington, D.C.

Catoe says a major difference is in the ridership, with a focus on removing people from using the single-occupant vehicle, and the income level is middle class or lower, with a large percentage of people using the system as a lifeline.