Leading up to the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Bus and Paratransit Conference and International Roadeo, a big discussion was who was or wasn’t going to be in attendance following the passage of North Carolina law restricting protections for transgender people.
States and cities were imposing travel bans to North Carolina and transit agencies were individually making decisions as to whether they were sending employees, boycotting North Carolina, or letting it up to each individual employee.
While that seemed like it was going to be the big focus of conference conversations, on April 29, APTA announced former president & CEO Michael Melaniphy’s resignation and the appointment of Richard A. White as acting president & CEO.
White has been with APTA since September 2015 as its vice president – member services. With 41-years' experience in public transportation, he has worked at several transit systems, including NJ Transit, Bay Area Rapid Transit and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and also previously worked at the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, the private sector and served as APTA chair, 2004-2005.
During a press conference at the Bus & Paratransit Conference, White and APTA Chair Valerie McCall spoke of the changes, challenges and how the organization is moving forward with stability and unity.
White started with recalling the APTA board meeting just over two weeks ago where he woke up at 5 a.m. with a message sent at 2 a.m. from APTA Chair Valerie McCall that Melaniphy had resigned. My first thought was, "They must have somebody else in mind." Later that day he was appointed to the interim position.
White and McCall said the first thing they did was to contact about 30 key stakeholders, including federal partners, association partners, the Bus Coalition, and some transit properties, including New York Metropolitan Transportation Authrority, which had discontinued its membership in April, due to concerns of why APTA was not worth their investment.
White and McCall communicated to the stakeholders that APTA is committed to working together to strengthen the foundation of the organization.
The discussion to press touched on the MTA pulling out of APTA and the formation of the Bus Coalition to move funding legislation forward to serve its members, and those were viewed as wake up calls that members didn’t feel membership was working for them.
White said APTA is in the reconciliation process and is committed to working together with its members. As part of that, he said there is already progress in working with the MTA and getting them back a members.
While strengthening the foundation of APTA is focus No. 1, White said getting their governance back in order is number 2. By-law changes four years ago offered more opportunities for board representation, but had some unintentional consequences.
Several task forces are currently working on building this foundation. Those are looking at the value proposition of APTA membership, the governance of APTA and one focused on membership consensus.
As National Infrastructure Week kicked off May 16, White spoke of the challenges transit agencies are facing with a $86 billion backlog to bring our nation’s infrastructure up to a state of good repair and the reoccurring $43 billion that would be needed to maintain the infrastructure.
Congress can’t react to individual voices, and White said APTA Vice President-Government Affairs Rob Healy always says, “The strength of APTA is a united voice to Congress.” White and McCall spoke of the passage of the FAST Act and that one of the outcomes of a unified voice was that 5-year federal transportation bill. White said, “Everyone won in that case.”
White stressed they’re in the reconciliation process now, working with the executive committee, the board and APTA members. Of the process, White said they are being completely open and APTA is committed to working together with its members.
“We have to resolve this together,” emphasized McCall.
