Episode 30

Ozzy Gibson’s Unconventional Road to Transit Leadership

How does a career in law enforcement, animal services, and civic leadership prepare you to run a transit agency?

 

In this week’s Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort sits down with Ozzy Gibson, Executive Director of Louisville’s Transit Authority of River City (TARC), for a candid and compelling conversation about public service, accountability, and what it takes to lead through uncertainty.

 

Ozzy shares lessons from his time as a police officer, deputy mayor, and head of animal services—and how those experiences shaped his approach to running TARC. From confronting a $30 million budget gap to streamlining a legacy network, Ozzy is focused on doing more than keeping the buses running—he’s rebuilding trust, efficiency, and purpose across the organization.

This episode covers:

  • How a lifelong public servant transitioned into transit leadership
  • TARC’s financial reset and plans for long-term sustainability
  • Paratransit policy changes and community collaboration
  • The value of mission-driven leadership across sectors

Podcast Credits:

  • Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo
  • Creator, Host, + Producer: Paul Comfort
  • Executive Producer: Julie Gates
  • Producer + Newsletter Editor: Chris O’Keeffe
  • Associate Producer: Cyndi Raskin

Special thanks to:

🎨 Brand Design: Tina Olagundoye

📱 Social Media: Tatyana Mechkarova

Got a question or comment? Email us at info@transitunplugged.com


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Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Modaxo Inc., its affiliates or subsidiaries, or any entities they represent (“Modaxo”). This production belongs to Modaxo and may contain information that may be subject to trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights and restrictions. This production provides general information, and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. Modaxo specifically disclaims all warranties, express or implied, and will not be liable for any losses, claims, or damages arising from the use of this presentation, from any material contained in it, or from any action or decision taken in response to it.

Transcript
Paul Comfort:

Hi, I'm Paul Comfort and on this episode of Transit Unplugged.

Paul Comfort:

I'm joined by a man who has done just about everything in city government and

Paul Comfort:

keeps coming back for more After a 26 year career with the Louisville Metro

Paul Comfort:

Police Department, rising all the way to Deputy Chief Ozzie Gibson retired in 2016,

Paul Comfort:

but that retirement didn't last long.

Paul Comfort:

From animal services to public health, fire to public works, and

Paul Comfort:

even overseeing the city's parks, Ozzy has taken on 11 different

Paul Comfort:

leadership roles across city government working under four different mayors.

Paul Comfort:

Talk about a public service Allstar.

Paul Comfort:

And then in December of 2023, the mayor Craig Greenberg tapped Ozzy once again.

Paul Comfort:

This time as interim executive director of tarc.

Paul Comfort:

Louisville's Transit system, the Transit Authority River City, and in July of 2024

Paul Comfort:

with the city's full confidence behind him, he was named the permanent executive

Paul Comfort:

director ready to guide TAR through a time of big change and big opportunity.

Paul Comfort:

And in this conversation we talk about a major network redesign and

Paul Comfort:

what it means for riders updates to paratransit policy that improve service.

Paul Comfort:

Partnership with a local school system, and when is the right

Paul Comfort:

time to roll out big change.

Paul Comfort:

Get ready for some great stories, some practical wisdom, and a few surprises from

Paul Comfort:

one of Transit's most versatile leaders.

Paul Comfort:

Ozzy Gibson on this episode of Transit Unplugged.

Paul Comfort:

Let's dive into the conversation.

Paul Comfort:

Ozzy, , great to have you on the show with us today.

Ozzy Gibson:

Thank you very much for having me, sir.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

As I mentioned, I was down there a few years ago for a podcast with your

Paul Comfort:

predecessor, Carrie, who now is a, I think, region seven administrator

Paul Comfort:

for FTA, so, uh, I believe it is.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

So, uh, congratulations.

Paul Comfort:

How long you been in the role there as executive director at TAR in Louisville?

Ozzy Gibson:

I have been here, , they put me in in December of 23, and

Ozzy Gibson:

then, um, they were trying to do a search and then I came on full time.

Ozzy Gibson:

Uh, in July of 24.

Paul Comfort:

Okay.

Paul Comfort:

So, yeah.

Paul Comfort:

So going on a year and full-time in the position.

Paul Comfort:

Yep.

Paul Comfort:

That's great.

Paul Comfort:

What do you think so far, how is it, 'cause you kind of spent your career

Paul Comfort:

in law enforcement and government.

Paul Comfort:

You were the parks director and all that.

Paul Comfort:

What's it like, just, you know, kind of from a third person perspective

Paul Comfort:

coming in to be transit after all that?

Ozzy Gibson:

Absolutely.

Ozzy Gibson:

So the first is, uh.

Ozzy Gibson:

All the red tape around the federal guidelines.

Ozzy Gibson:

Ah,

Paul Comfort:

um,

Ozzy Gibson:

as far as, , how you can use grant money, how you, uh, all that

Ozzy Gibson:

stuff, uh, the different audits, uh, that was all stuff that I had to come

Ozzy Gibson:

up to speed on, uh, the best I could.

Ozzy Gibson:

But

Paul Comfort:

yeah.

Paul Comfort:

, Ozzy Gibson: Very important role here.

Paul Comfort:

You know, I've always been here, I've worked with past directors

Paul Comfort:

here on projects or if we had some type of an emergency, but

Paul Comfort:

as far as getting in the weeds.

Paul Comfort:

And looking at, um, what all they do and how often they do it.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, , I was drinking water through a fire hose, as they

Paul Comfort:

say, uh, the first few months.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Well, that's good.

Paul Comfort:

Well, welcome to the industry.

Paul Comfort:

You've got a great agency that you're heading up there, but you

Paul Comfort:

spent 26 years in law enforcement.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about that and, and kind of what you did there and how you grew through

Paul Comfort:

the ranks and ended up with this job.

Ozzy Gibson:

Uh, there again, I started my career like in 1989

Ozzy Gibson:

with the, uh, the police department here and, uh, was been a detective.

Ozzy Gibson:

, Spent eight years on a SWAT team.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, worked my way up to the assistant chief.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, did all the budget, their fleet, everything like that, got promoted to

Ozzy Gibson:

Deputy Chief, which was their car two,

Ozzy Gibson:

, Paul Comfort: I salute you for your service, uh, and I'm really

Ozzy Gibson:

happy you're in our industry now because I'm sure you've got a lot

Ozzy Gibson:

of lessons you brought with you.

Ozzy Gibson:

But first, how did you go into parks?

Ozzy Gibson:

Because like, were you retired and then the mayor asked you to come back and

Ozzy Gibson:

become the head of parks or something?

Ozzy Gibson:

Oh Lord.

Ozzy Gibson:

So like when, when, when they called me and asked me to come back, I actually

Ozzy Gibson:

took over the, our animal shelter here.

Ozzy Gibson:

Okay.

Ozzy Gibson:

'cause it was in such disarray and they needed to build a new shelter.

Ozzy Gibson:

So, uh, I said, look, I'll jump in.

Ozzy Gibson:

I think it'll take us about three years to turn it around.

Ozzy Gibson:

We'll, we'll do some fundraising.

Ozzy Gibson:

We ended up building like a $12 million state-of-the-art facility.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, worked hard with some people there, turned it into a no kill shelter

Ozzy Gibson:

for the first time in like 30 years.

Ozzy Gibson:

And I actually started liking it.

Ozzy Gibson:

And then, um, we actually had, uh.

Ozzy Gibson:

My boss, like about two, almost two and a half years in, who

Ozzy Gibson:

was over like six departments.

Ozzy Gibson:

He was like a deputy mayor.

Ozzy Gibson:

Well, he up and retired and they asked me to take his role and I'm

Ozzy Gibson:

like, man, I don't wanna be that.

Ozzy Gibson:

I don't sure that's what I wanna do.

Ozzy Gibson:

I really kind of like this, but I, I'll, I'll do it in,

Ozzy Gibson:

uh, until you find somebody.

Ozzy Gibson:

So at that time I was over corrections fire department, um,

Ozzy Gibson:

fleet facilities, public works.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, wow.

Ozzy Gibson:

9 1 1. That's a big portfolio, man.

Ozzy Gibson:

It was a big one.

Ozzy Gibson:

And then we, I did that for about five months and we found a lady, they

Ozzy Gibson:

actually hired the, a lady named Amy Hess, who was the like number, uh,

Ozzy Gibson:

the highest ranking female in the FBI.

Paul Comfort:

Oh wow.

Paul Comfort:

And,

Ozzy Gibson:

um, she came into town.

Ozzy Gibson:

I transitioned out in 30 days.

Ozzy Gibson:

I got to go back to the animal shelter and covid hit.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, and then they, uh, I have an IMT background, obviously

Ozzy Gibson:

from the police department.

Ozzy Gibson:

So you, we set all that up.

Ozzy Gibson:

Month later, they said, Hey, will you be the chief over the health department?

Ozzy Gibson:

I'm like, uh, sure.

Ozzy Gibson:

Always wanted to be over a health department.

Ozzy Gibson:

Why not?

Ozzy Gibson:

So, wow, Ozzy, I kind of took that on and stayed with that mayor.

Ozzy Gibson:

His name was Greg Fisher, and, , finished out that row.

Ozzy Gibson:

I actually ended up getting public works and fleet facilities back and

Ozzy Gibson:

then took on Riverport authority here.

Ozzy Gibson:

So I kind of did all of that through the end of, uh, that administration.

Ozzy Gibson:

When I met our new mayor, Craig Greenberg, a man who's doing a great job.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, he asked me, would you go take over to parks department?

Ozzy Gibson:

So I'm like, okay, uh, you know, I'm assigned to the animal shelter,

Ozzy Gibson:

but I'm gonna help you out there.

Ozzy Gibson:

And, uh, it was great.

Ozzy Gibson:

Uh, there about a year and a half and he come to me and said, look, I need you.

Ozzy Gibson:

Will you go to TARC and take over that?

Ozzy Gibson:

And I had always told him.

Ozzy Gibson:

You know, I'll do anything I can to help you to make our city great.

Ozzy Gibson:

If that's where you need me, that's where I'm gonna go.

Ozzy Gibson:

So here I sit.

Paul Comfort:

That's fine.

Paul Comfort:

A true public servant willing to go where you're as to man.

Paul Comfort:

Wow.

Paul Comfort:

What a great story.

Paul Comfort:

Ozzy, you, you and I were talking, sharing offline here that I, I

Paul Comfort:

have a background in, in government too, local county government.

Paul Comfort:

So I really appreciate all those jobs you held.

Paul Comfort:

That's amazing.

Paul Comfort:

What, uh, what did you take from all that coming into tarc?

Paul Comfort:

I mean, do you have any leadership lessons or thing?

Paul Comfort:

'cause you've done.

Paul Comfort:

You know, just about everything there is to do in local government.

Paul Comfort:

What do you bring into that to transit?

Ozzy Gibson:

Well, you know, if I was to describe myself, I don't like to lose.

Ozzy Gibson:

And that's how I look at things, man, as I, if you pay me, I work and I

Ozzy Gibson:

hold myself, uh, to a high standard.

Ozzy Gibson:

I run it like I own it, and my life depends on it.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, I ask a lot of questions.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, I believe in holding people accountable.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, you know, because people say, well, how can you do those many jobs?

Ozzy Gibson:

I said, well, once you've done many jobs as you know yourself,

Ozzy Gibson:

down in the weeds, it's always gonna be the same little issues.

Ozzy Gibson:

Whether, whether it's an employee issue, it could be, you, the same little problems

Ozzy Gibson:

will occur in all places, but if you seek out what are you supposed to be

Ozzy Gibson:

doing at all those agencies to be great.

Ozzy Gibson:

that's what you have to seek out and you have to make those things important

Ozzy Gibson:

throughout the whole organization.

Ozzy Gibson:

So like when I, when I come here, all kinds of stuff to learn, but we are

Ozzy Gibson:

supposed to be putting service out and we need to make sure that service

Ozzy Gibson:

goes out and we need to be on time.

Ozzy Gibson:

If we can't do those two things, we're gonna fail.

Ozzy Gibson:

And it's just that simple, a lot of working things to make that happen.

Ozzy Gibson:

But when I got here, that to me was, Hey, we gotta, you know, plus

Ozzy Gibson:

you were in the political world, so you talk to other people like, Hey,

Ozzy Gibson:

what do you hear about this agency?

Ozzy Gibson:

And if you create a good working relationship in your community

Ozzy Gibson:

with your local politicians, you're gonna get a lot of information that

Ozzy Gibson:

comes up through them from citizens.

Ozzy Gibson:

And then you can start, how do you, how do you build something back?

Paul Comfort:

Uh, so what did you, what, what was your biggest challenges

Paul Comfort:

when you got there and, and, uh, have you been able to resolve them?

Paul Comfort:

It sounded like, you came in and you were, uh, you had like a, a

Paul Comfort:

vision, a focus of what you felt like the most important things were.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah, so the biggest thing here is we were, we, like

Ozzy Gibson:

everybody or many other cities are facing a big financial cliff.

Ozzy Gibson:

I knew we had one and it was, uh, when I come in it was

Ozzy Gibson:

estimated at about 30 million.

Ozzy Gibson:

And once I got here and started studying up on this field, it sounds

Ozzy Gibson:

like there's other cities that are, have bigger financial cliffs coming.

Ozzy Gibson:

So when I started drilling down and people ask me questions, well, you know, as well

Ozzy Gibson:

as I do if when you're in government, when you're talking that kind of money, to get

Ozzy Gibson:

that, you're talking about a tax increase.

Ozzy Gibson:

Okay.

Ozzy Gibson:

Especially as a small town like Louisville.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah.

Ozzy Gibson:

And you know, you look at the cities that are thriving.

Ozzy Gibson:

Well, they all did things back in 2018 around me.

Ozzy Gibson:

2018, 2020, got indie sensing and Nashville obviously packs packed one.

Ozzy Gibson:

So what I, the.

Ozzy Gibson:

That was the biggest hurdle is trying to get my arms around that and what it was.

Ozzy Gibson:

Because, you know, the first thing people say that don't know public

Ozzy Gibson:

transit is, well, what happened?

Ozzy Gibson:

How do you, how are you that short?

Ozzy Gibson:

You know, we give you money.

Ozzy Gibson:

What happened?

Ozzy Gibson:

What are you doing with the money?

Ozzy Gibson:

And it's like, well, not really here.

Ozzy Gibson:

Let me show you some numbers here on revenue hours.

Ozzy Gibson:

And when I kind of look at this.

Ozzy Gibson:

ridership, it seems like across the country since 2012 it started

Ozzy Gibson:

slipping and it did it here probably a couple years sooner.

Ozzy Gibson:

And you know, at that point you can't undo time.

Ozzy Gibson:

But we've probably operated too big here too long and probably should have

Ozzy Gibson:

made some cuts every couple years.

Ozzy Gibson:

And we, we didn't do that.

Ozzy Gibson:

And now we gotta pay the piper.

Paul Comfort:

Well, when we come back, I'll ask you about that.

Paul Comfort:

I'll ask you to tell us about your network redesign that you had,

Paul Comfort:

the great consultant Jared Walker work on, and some other updates

Paul Comfort:

that you've done to policies.

Paul Comfort:

I think it'll be fascinating now for our listeners to hear, you know, what

Paul Comfort:

did you do about those challenges?

Paul Comfort:

Right?

Paul Comfort:

When we come back after this with Ozzie Gibson,

Paul Comfort:

executive director of Tar

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Julie Gates:

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Paul Comfort:

We're back with Ozzy Gibson, who was the executive director

Paul Comfort:

of the Transit Authority of River City.

Paul Comfort:

So you guys are on a river, right?

Paul Comfort:

Ozzy?

Paul Comfort:

We are on a river.

Paul Comfort:

What river is that?

Paul Comfort:

That's the Ohio River.

Paul Comfort:

The Ohio River, that's right.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

I've been there actually, when I was there last time, I was there for a

Paul Comfort:

conference of some type and I missed it.

Paul Comfort:

We were gonna go to where the Kentucky Derby is held and have like a reception

Paul Comfort:

there or something and I, I had to leave.

Paul Comfort:

I couldn't.

Paul Comfort:

Man, I was so bummed out about it.

Paul Comfort:

But that's the big thing out there, right?

Paul Comfort:

You got, you just had it.

Paul Comfort:

I mean, when we're recording this, you just had it a couple weeks ago.

Ozzy Gibson:

We did.

Ozzy Gibson:

Awesome.

Ozzy Gibson:

I can tell you this, unfortunately, I had to, I was a policeman for 26 years

Ozzy Gibson:

and I got to work 26 of straight derbies.

Ozzy Gibson:

Oh.

Paul Comfort:

So, oh man.

Paul Comfort:

How many people come to town?

Paul Comfort:

Bad.

Ozzy Gibson:

How many people come to

Paul Comfort:

town for the Kentucky Derby?

Ozzy Gibson:

Do you know?

Ozzy Gibson:

Oh Lord.

Ozzy Gibson:

They average anywhere from 140,000 up to 175,000.

Paul Comfort:

Wow.

Paul Comfort:

So,

Ozzy Gibson:

uh, it's a big deal for Louisville.

Ozzy Gibson:

You know, it's, uh, what this was the hundred and 51st Kentucky

Ozzy Gibson:

Derby, so it's 151 years old.

Ozzy Gibson:

And you know, when you look across our country at other big events, there's just

Ozzy Gibson:

very few that's been going on that long.

Paul Comfort:

That's right.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Part of the Triple Crown for those people who watch it here in Baltimore, we've got

Paul Comfort:

a piece of that action, uh, with Pimlico

Paul Comfort:

. And then, uh, where's the other one up in New York?

Paul Comfort:

Right.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah.

Ozzy Gibson:

Belmont.

Paul Comfort:

Belmont, that's right.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

The Triple Crown.

Paul Comfort:

Last time we had one of those, been a while, a winner, but, um,

Paul Comfort:

I'm, I'm assuming obviously in law enforcement you were involved,

Paul Comfort:

but does Transit get involved too?

Paul Comfort:

Do you guys add extra service and things for those big events?

Ozzy Gibson:

We actually, um, do not, they contract out a lot of that, uh, okay.

Ozzy Gibson:

Around the track because they, they, uh, move people to the football

Ozzy Gibson:

stadium is where people, uh, gather and then they, 'cause that's not,

Ozzy Gibson:

that's only like, uh, maybe about a. Half a mile or a mile from the track.

Ozzy Gibson:

So it disrupts our service because they block all the streets around the track.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we have to make a lot of adjustments, do a lot of community

Ozzy Gibson:

outreach to let people know.

Ozzy Gibson:

But most people that live here use public transit.

Ozzy Gibson:

They know exactly what's gonna happen when the Kentucky Derby's going.

Paul Comfort:

so let's talk about, you had mentioned right before the break

Paul Comfort:

that, You really analyzed your service and realize that ridership was maybe less

Paul Comfort:

than what the service was out there doing.

Paul Comfort:

And I know I've heard people in the past, you know, say, well, what do you

Paul Comfort:

got these buses running half empty for?

Paul Comfort:

And things like that.

Paul Comfort:

And so you're constantly working on efficiency of the routes.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us what you've done, uh, to redesign your network.

Paul Comfort:

'cause a lot of cities have done this.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah, so like when I took over, I think they had gotten

Ozzy Gibson:

a grant from the federal government.

Ozzy Gibson:

They, uh, they're getting, uh, Jared Walker and Associates, uh, won it and they

Ozzy Gibson:

were gonna come up with like two concepts.

Ozzy Gibson:

They were hoping to grow actually.

Ozzy Gibson:

, But I think as we know now to grow, when you talk, if you're gonna increase

Ozzy Gibson:

taxes, you just don't go do that.

Ozzy Gibson:

It's a longer process.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we had two, when I got here, there was two maps.

Ozzy Gibson:

There was one that was a 50% cut constrained network that

Ozzy Gibson:

would've, uh, really gutted tar.

Ozzy Gibson:

And then there was a growth plan that was gonna require

Ozzy Gibson:

like 50 million to grow to that.

Ozzy Gibson:

So I was able to sit down with Jared Walker and another guy to scutter wag.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, who is, uh, on this project with us and said, look, I, I,

Ozzy Gibson:

we gotta have a better option.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we was able to come back to the table and I said, look, we gotta

Ozzy Gibson:

come up something we can live with.

Ozzy Gibson:

So, like, uh, in our community right now, people with the CDL is a premium and we

Ozzy Gibson:

struggle to get, uh, school bus drivers.

Ozzy Gibson:

So at the same time, um, our school district, uh, this is over a year ago

Ozzy Gibson:

because there again, if I do a constraint cut, I got a $30 million budget.

Ozzy Gibson:

Uh, that was layoffs.

Ozzy Gibson:

Well, nobody wants to lay nobody off.

Ozzy Gibson:

You lose a CDL driver and you, nobody wants to do that, so.

Ozzy Gibson:

That's

Paul Comfort:

right.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

We was

Ozzy Gibson:

able to partner with the schools and we actually, um, I reduced

Ozzy Gibson:

some service to free up drivers to buy me time in the budget, which was

Ozzy Gibson:

like saving, eight to 10 million.

Ozzy Gibson:

And we leased our bus drivers to the school system so they didn't have to,

Ozzy Gibson:

They didn't have enough bus drivers that they were gonna tell kids, Hey, we

Ozzy Gibson:

can't get you to these magnet schools.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we worked out agreement with the Teamsters, uh, a TU

Ozzy Gibson:

Union, everybody come together.

Ozzy Gibson:

The mayor, politicians, we leased them.

Ozzy Gibson:

They brought back some schools.

Ozzy Gibson:

And then as I talk, started talking to, uh, Jared Walker and

Ozzy Gibson:

Scudder, it's like, look, how do we design some type of network

Ozzy Gibson:

within the amount of money we have?

Ozzy Gibson:

We know we're gonna have, that will get us to some of these schools.

Ozzy Gibson:

Because it seemed like across the country, a lot of public transportation, they

Ozzy Gibson:

intertwined with the school systems.

Ozzy Gibson:

And I don't think we have done a very good job of that here in

Ozzy Gibson:

Louisville over the last 20 years.

Ozzy Gibson:

So he come back with a good plan that we can implement.

Ozzy Gibson:

Uh, it is probably, hopefully next August of 26 that is better than for our riders

Ozzy Gibson:

that we're on now and get us to those magnet schools that we took it a step

Ozzy Gibson:

further that we could go to all of our high schools here in Jefferson County.

Ozzy Gibson:

So, um, appreciate their work.

Ozzy Gibson:

We made that happen and.

Ozzy Gibson:

Looking forward to finishing that project up.

Paul Comfort:

That's great.

Paul Comfort:

Louisville has around 625,000 people, I think, in the city proper.

Paul Comfort:

Of course, you serve even a larger area, right?

Paul Comfort:

You go some into the suburbs there.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about the size and scope of your system.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah, so like right now, we probably, when I took over, we were

Ozzy Gibson:

operating on about 600,000 revenue hours.

Ozzy Gibson:

Okay.

Ozzy Gibson:

Okay.

Ozzy Gibson:

On $114 million budget.

Ozzy Gibson:

So like when I compare us to like just Indianapolis, um, they are doing

Ozzy Gibson:

about, they were doing 590,000 revenue hours with $146 million budget.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we were getting a bang for our buck, but we're, we're going in a hole.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we've reduced now down to about 400, uh, thousand service hours,

Ozzy Gibson:

and I still have the same ridership.

Ozzy Gibson:

Wow for boardings per month.

Ozzy Gibson:

So yeah, that tells me, going back to what I said earlier, that we should

Ozzy Gibson:

have probably cut many, many years ago, uh, and redesigned our network.

Ozzy Gibson:

And so as long as we keep our boardings up, and we do anywhere from

Ozzy Gibson:

475,000 to 530 boardings a month.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, in 2012, as I mentioned, they were doing a million, and

Ozzy Gibson:

then covid hit obviously in just.

Ozzy Gibson:

To apart across the country.

Paul Comfort:

Yes.

Paul Comfort:

Interesting.

Paul Comfort:

And, uh, how are you doing, uh, your pre, you know, like 2019 ridership

Paul Comfort:

just before the pandemic to now?

Paul Comfort:

Do you know what percentage you're at?

Paul Comfort:

A lot of 'em are like 70, 75%.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah.

Ozzy Gibson:

I don't think we've got that back yet.

Ozzy Gibson:

Okay.

Ozzy Gibson:

I think we're, we, we haven't, it hasn't come back as bad like that.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um.

Ozzy Gibson:

But it is what it is.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

That's interesting.

Paul Comfort:

You got anything new you're doing?

Paul Comfort:

any new services or you, you're doing something on paratransit, right?

Paul Comfort:

You got some new policies there?

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah, because I started looking at that, you know, I'm a,

Ozzy Gibson:

one thing I brought from me from the police department was I. Um,

Ozzy Gibson:

you know, they do, you've probably heard of louis sta com stat where

Ozzy Gibson:

they compare the numbers nationally.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah.

Ozzy Gibson:

You get to FBI.

Ozzy Gibson:

Well, I'm, I was big into that, so, uh, there again, I compare us to other places

Ozzy Gibson:

and what I learned is obviously the, you know, the federal guidelines are the

Ozzy Gibson:

three quarter mile that you, you don't have to go off of that or out of it.

Ozzy Gibson:

A lot of guidelines around that.

Ozzy Gibson:

When I started looking, I think we've been very gracious and

Ozzy Gibson:

we've never done that, ever.

Ozzy Gibson:

Whenever we made service changes.

Ozzy Gibson:

And like right now we're doing 31,000 trips a month and I compare us to Sensei

Ozzy Gibson:

and Indy and they're doing about 14 or 15.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we are work working with them to get their policies.

Ozzy Gibson:

I'm gonna be bringing on, I brought out bringing in a, a, a lady in our community

Ozzy Gibson:

that, um, is an attorney and, and she is disabled and she's gonna help us look at

Ozzy Gibson:

all the, um, other cities to see what, what should we be incorporating because.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, there again, I'm spending I think approximately $20 million a

Ozzy Gibson:

year and it's growing at about 8%.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, and you know, I told you what our budget was, was 114.

Ozzy Gibson:

And realistically, after we do this, um, I. Route changes and we bring

Ozzy Gibson:

it all in to where we're operating in, in the green, I call it, we're

Ozzy Gibson:

gonna be about $102 million tar.

Ozzy Gibson:

So when you look at $20 million out of our budget, obviously that's 20%.

Ozzy Gibson:

So, what happens here every time, if we don't have money, we can't

Ozzy Gibson:

keep cutting the fixed routes or we're not gonna have nothing left.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

So you're gonna look at all that and you brought in a, a, a

Paul Comfort:

community advisor to help you do so.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yep.

Ozzy Gibson:

Brought her in as that she'll be on contract.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, and that way it, it's everybody.

Ozzy Gibson:

I, I look, you know, I've, I've tried working with our DI disability

Ozzy Gibson:

community is, I just wanna be upfront and honest and just, you

Ozzy Gibson:

know, and my goal here is that I.

Ozzy Gibson:

If 31,000 is the number, then we need Louisville.

Ozzy Gibson:

Kentucky needs to learn to budget for that.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

And do you contract that work out or do you operate

Paul Comfort:

it in-house, your para transfer?

Paul Comfort:

We do contract

Ozzy Gibson:

that out through mv.

Paul Comfort:

Any other things you wanna bring out that you're working

Paul Comfort:

on or what you're hoping for?

Ozzy Gibson:

there again, you know, what I've done is just got back to the.

Ozzy Gibson:

Basics here and from, uh, you know, I, I explained it real simple.

Ozzy Gibson:

Everybody that gets paid by TARC needs to be contributing to our on time performance

Ozzy Gibson:

and making sure work gets out every day.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, I think when I took over, we, we were trending in 24 at 67% on time,

Ozzy Gibson:

and we've got increased that to 77.

Ozzy Gibson:

Um, our work not going out of pieces of routes or whatever was trending at 5%.

Ozzy Gibson:

I told 'em, I said, lookie and them, they're all at 0.20 0.40.

Ozzy Gibson:

I said, that's taboo.

Ozzy Gibson:

You can't, you say you're gonna put a route out, you gotta do that.

Ozzy Gibson:

You gotta, your community has to respect you and wanna ride, and

Ozzy Gibson:

you'll never get riders back if you can't be where you're supposed to be.

Ozzy Gibson:

So we've cut that down to about 1.45 now, and we're gonna continue that.

Ozzy Gibson:

And everybody's engaged now and understanding that,

Ozzy Gibson:

hey, we have to do this.

Ozzy Gibson:

And, uh, very proud of that so far.

Ozzy Gibson:

And, uh, if we can get these routes redesigned, uh, next year, that,

Ozzy Gibson:

uh, we'll, you know, Jared Walker is saying it's gonna be a better service.

Ozzy Gibson:

When I look at our maps, I call it spaghetti because we've got a lot of

Ozzy Gibson:

routes out there that make no sense.

Ozzy Gibson:

I. Yeah.

Ozzy Gibson:

and that's when you hear that from people, like, I see buses

Ozzy Gibson:

all over the place empty.

Ozzy Gibson:

Well do understand though that we do exchange out on the street and

Ozzy Gibson:

empty bus goes out, takes over, and a lot of people don't understand.

Ozzy Gibson:

But

Paul Comfort:

yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, no, that's a really good point.

Paul Comfort:

A lot of those routes, Ozzy, that I've seen, like in Baltimore, they

Paul Comfort:

were, um, adjusted over the years through individual requests, you know.

Paul Comfort:

Oh, can you bring a bus stop over here?

Paul Comfort:

Yes.

Paul Comfort:

Can you bring one over there?

Paul Comfort:

And eventually it looks like spaghetti.

Paul Comfort:

It's not a straight line.

Paul Comfort:

So you gotta go through every now and then to straighten things out, don't you?

Ozzy Gibson:

A hundred percent.

Ozzy Gibson:

You know when I asked when Scooter, when I met Scooter Wag, Jerry Walker, I

Ozzy Gibson:

said, you guys have been here one month.

Ozzy Gibson:

Tell me what you see.

Ozzy Gibson:

I said, because I see empty buses.

Ozzy Gibson:

He goes, Ozzy, I'm gonna tell you what I see.

Ozzy Gibson:

Every time we do a project, there's gonna

Ozzy Gibson:

be 10 to 12% of your routes that make no sense.

Ozzy Gibson:

And they're called political routes.

Paul Comfort:

That's right.

Paul Comfort:

That's right.

Paul Comfort:

And they've been

Ozzy Gibson:

added over the last 20 years.

Ozzy Gibson:

That make no sense.

Ozzy Gibson:

And now we're gonna clean all that up.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

And then my encouragement to you would be to consider standards so you

Paul Comfort:

don't make adjustments in the future unless they meet certain criteria.

Paul Comfort:

And that way it doesn't end up being, you know, messed up in five or 10

Paul Comfort:

years from now after you leave.

Ozzy Gibson:

Absolutely.

Ozzy Gibson:

Absolutely.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

That's good, man.

Paul Comfort:

Well, Ozzy man, this is great getting to know you, my friend.

Paul Comfort:

I think, uh, you're the right man for the right time and the right place to help

Paul Comfort:

things that tark, uh, really even, even get better and, and straighten things out.

Paul Comfort:

And that's wonderful.

Paul Comfort:

You got good stuff going on, brother.

Paul Comfort:

Thank you,

Ozzy Gibson:

sir very much.

Ozzy Gibson:

Anytime.

Ozzy Gibson:

Yeah.

Julie Gates:

Thank you for listening to this week's episode

Julie Gates:

of the Transit Unplugged Podcast.

Julie Gates:

We're so glad you're here.

Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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Julie Gates:

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About the Podcast

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Transit Unplugged
Leading podcast on public transit hosted by Paul Comfort, SVP Modaxo.

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