Episode 37

Reclaiming Your Creativity Through Transit, Chatting w/ the Editor of Mass Transit Magazine, and Will LA Be Ready for the Olympics?

In this special roving-reporter edition of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort takes you inside the 2025 CTAA Expo in San Diego, where he caught up with some of the brightest minds in community and rural transit. From paratransit operations to industry journalism to frontline safety, these conversations reflect the energy, challenges, and innovation happening beyond the big-city systems.

Featuring:

Megan Perrero – Editor in Chief, Mass Transit Magazine

On shaping the next era of industry media, supporting up-and-comers through the 40 Under 40 program, and the evolving role of transit journalism.

Rudy Salo – Transportation Finance Attorney, Writer, and Podcast Host

On reclaiming your commute as creative time, what we lose in car culture, and how LA is preparing its transit network for the 2028 Olympics.


Maximilien Duvra – Transit Operations Manager, Prince George’s County, MD

On balancing zero-emission goals with rural realities, operating a mixed-propulsion fleet, and the pros and cons of fare-free service.


Ashley Carriker – CFO, Queen City Transit Solutions

On the growing demand for driver protection, the evolution of bus barrier design, and putting frontline worker safety at the forefront.


John Duklewski – Executive Director, Transportation Association of Maryland

On the importance of statewide transit associations, electrification readiness, and what to expect at TAM’s 2025 fall conference.


Paul also shares reflections from his decades attending CTAA, and why this conference continues to be essential for agencies outside the biggest metros.

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🎧 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
  • Podcast Intern: Desmond Gates

Special thanks to:


🎨 Brand Design: Tina Olagundoye

📱 Social Media: Tatyana Mechkarova

 

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Transcript
Paul Comfort:

So we were in San Diego.

Paul Comfort:

At the Community Transportation Association of America Annual Conference

Paul Comfort:

and Expo just a couple months ago.

Paul Comfort:

And we had a couple preset interviews with, uh, public transit CEOs that

Paul Comfort:

we've already played on the air.

Paul Comfort:

And while we're there, uh, Chris O'Keefe, uh, my, um, producer, he

Paul Comfort:

and I both produce a show together.

Paul Comfort:

, He had an idea, why don't we go around on the floor and just interview

Paul Comfort:

people, uh, you know, transit leaders that you know, et cetera.

Paul Comfort:

And I said, that's a great idea.

Paul Comfort:

You know, I've kind of touched on that maybe in the past, but

Paul Comfort:

never did a whole episode on it.

Paul Comfort:

So that's what today is.

Paul Comfort:

I'm Paul Comfort.

Paul Comfort:

This is, uh, America's number one public transportation podcast, transit unplugged.

Paul Comfort:

And today we're gonna dive into roving reporter mode.

Paul Comfort:

I'm gonna, I roam around the halls of the, of the, uh.

Paul Comfort:

CTA expo, you know, Scott Bogans, uh, CTAA, he's the executive director, and we,

Paul Comfort:

I caught up with some incredible people in community and rural public transportation.

Paul Comfort:

By the way, I've been going to the CTAA Expo for, you know, 25 years

Paul Comfort:

off and on, and, uh, more than that, probably 30, 35 years actually.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, I was a state delegate, uh, from Maryland when they used to

Paul Comfort:

have that to CTAA and strongly believe in what they're doing.

Paul Comfort:

And so this is a great chance to catch up with people and learn, et cetera.

Paul Comfort:

I got to speak while we were there as well, and some great entertainment they

Paul Comfort:

had for U.S. Uh, so on our first guest, let's just dive into our first guest.

Paul Comfort:

I, I walked over to the booth of, uh, mass Transit Magazine, our industry's

Paul Comfort:

top, uh, public transportation magazine.

Paul Comfort:

That and Metro Magazine are the two big ones.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, and I talk with Megan Perro, she's the editor in chief.

Paul Comfort:

Of Mass Transit Magazine.

Paul Comfort:

She's also the board secretary for Latinos in Transit.

Paul Comfort:

And you know, we all know Mass Transit Magazine.

Paul Comfort:

Well, thankfully I got on the cover one time, actually.

Paul Comfort:

, It is a great magazine.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, Misha Wonk Libman, the former longtime executive editor.

Paul Comfort:

I. Left about a year or so ago, and Megan has picked up right where

Paul Comfort:

she left off and is taking it.

Paul Comfort:

. She's doing a wonderful job.

Paul Comfort:

And I talked to her about, um, what's next for the magazine?

Paul Comfort:

What are they doing?

Paul Comfort:

What are the hot topics?

Paul Comfort:

Take a listen to this one.

Paul Comfort:

Alright, I'm playing Roving Reporter today at the CTA Expo on the floor, and I'm

Paul Comfort:

with my friend Megan Pereira, who is the editor in chief of Mass Transit Magazine

Paul Comfort:

. Hey, by the way, you're doing a great job.

Meagan Perrero:

Thank you so much, Paul.

Meagan Perrero:

I really appreciate that.

Meagan Perrero:

Yeah, you

Meagan Perrero:

, Paul Comfort: You're not only a printed magazine, now you

Meagan Perrero:

have like a big online presence

Meagan Perrero:

, . Meagan Perrero: That's correct.

Meagan Perrero:

Yes.

Meagan Perrero:

So we have a daily news website.

Meagan Perrero:

Every day you come on there, you'll find brand new content.

Meagan Perrero:

We have our daily newsletter Monday through Friday, straight into your inbox.

Meagan Perrero:

All the industry news you need right there curated for you.

Meagan Perrero:

. Paul Comfort: You all are the number one source for news and

Meagan Perrero:

information from a magazine perspective, I think, in the country.

Meagan Perrero:

Right.

Meagan Perrero:

I would agree with that statement.

Meagan Perrero:

. Paul Comfort: And uh, as we were talking about beforehand, you had

Meagan Perrero:

big shoes to fill with Misha there.

Meagan Perrero:

She was there for quite a while as editor and you stepped

Meagan Perrero:

in and, um, , kept it going.

Meagan Perrero:

Yeah, the Misha really set U.S. up for a great success.

Meagan Perrero:

She really curated and built a brand that's known and seen across the

Meagan Perrero:

industry, and I'm really excited to continue the legacy she built for U.S.

Meagan Perrero:

, Paul Comfort: You know, I post something about the transit industry every day

Meagan Perrero:

on my LinkedIn where I've got 26,000 followers and, um, I use Mass Transit

Meagan Perrero:

daily updates at least once a week.

Meagan Perrero:

'cause you've got the breaking news.

Meagan Perrero:

What are you breaking now?

Meagan Perrero:

Like what are the hot stories in the industry right now?

Meagan Perrero:

So obviously we have the supply chain, , specific

Meagan Perrero:

to BUS and the North America market, uh, with the vendors and the OEMs.

Meagan Perrero:

There's obviously in the spare parts, you know, that's a huge thing.

Meagan Perrero:

The other thing that I've been hearing a lot is about procurement and contracts

Meagan Perrero:

and specifically updating those terms and conditions to kind of better balance

Meagan Perrero:

out the, , liability and the risk that comes with those types of really big.

Meagan Perrero:

Years long contracts.

Paul Comfort:

What have you got in the future coming from mass Transit

Paul Comfort:

that people wanna know about?

Meagan Perrero:

Oh, that's a great question.

Meagan Perrero:

Coming in the future, you know, I think we're gonna be doing a little

Meagan Perrero:

bit more focus on paratransit.

Meagan Perrero:

Obviously technology is always something that we want to loop in.

Meagan Perrero:

Um, our infrastructure technology podcast is actually really taken off and we

Meagan Perrero:

have some great conversations in there.

Meagan Perrero:

Really delving into the actual tools on the ground that are.

Meagan Perrero:

Helping people do their day-to-day operations.

Paul Comfort:

Where can people find that podcast?

Meagan Perrero:

Anywhere you stream your podcast.

Meagan Perrero:

And also, if you come to our website, mass transit mag.com, just look up

Meagan Perrero:

the Infrastructure Technology podcast.

Meagan Perrero:

All the links are right there for you.

Paul Comfort:

That's great.

Paul Comfort:

And the magazine is free, right?

Meagan Perrero:

Yep.

Meagan Perrero:

A hundred percent free.

Paul Comfort:

almost nothing's free anymore.

Meagan Perrero:

I know, right?

Meagan Perrero:

It's a great deal.

Meagan Perrero:

All you gotta do is just send U.S. your information.

Meagan Perrero:

We verify you and you're set.

Paul Comfort:

The other thing I thought I should mention is you, you run a program

Paul Comfort:

every year called Top 40 under 40.

Paul Comfort:

Which has become kind of like, you know, that's a big deal.

Paul Comfort:

I remember when I was in Baltimore as CEO, Kevin Quinn was my director

Paul Comfort:

of planning, and I remember he won it that year and I got to present

Paul Comfort:

it to him in front of all the staff.

Paul Comfort:

We had a, we had a frame for him.

Paul Comfort:

You know, I mean, that's a big deal.

Paul Comfort:

Tell U.S. about that.

Meagan Perrero:

Yeah.

Meagan Perrero:

It's one of our, , flagship programs.

Meagan Perrero:

Every year we get nearly.

Meagan Perrero:

200 submissions of people wanting to have that recognition.

Meagan Perrero:

, It warms my heart reading all the applications and just the pure

Meagan Perrero:

passion and dedication that these young people bring to our industry.

Meagan Perrero:

And, uh, I think we're close to a good couple hundred, , nominees from our past

Meagan Perrero:

that have been honored with that award.

Meagan Perrero:

I see people on LinkedIn, they keep that in their bio.

Meagan Perrero:

I mean, there's a lot of pride in having this recognition and, um, I

Meagan Perrero:

take a lot of pride and respect in the effort that they bring to the

Meagan Perrero:

table for U.S. to recognize them.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, we did for a number of years.

Paul Comfort:

I've interviewed people after they win that award.

Paul Comfort:

It's so fun, isn't it, to see, you know, they're not really young people, right?

Paul Comfort:

If they're 38 years old, but, but they're younger than me.

Paul Comfort:

And, uh, to see the passion they have, uh, and a lot of them have gone

Paul Comfort:

on to top, top jobs in the industry.

Meagan Perrero:

Absolutely.

Meagan Perrero:

Yeah.

Meagan Perrero:

It's really awesome to follow their trajectory.

Meagan Perrero:

Or I'll see 'em out on the show floor and I'm like, I know so much about

Meagan Perrero:

you because I just read two years ago.

Meagan Perrero:

You're a whole bio.

Meagan Perrero:

And I just, it's a really good way to build a network and get.

Meagan Perrero:

To know the up and comers and uh, just the really cool, innovative things

Meagan Perrero:

that a lot of these agencies are doing.

Paul Comfort:

Well, congratulations, Megan, on the great job you're doing.

Paul Comfort:

We wish you the very best at Mass Transit Magazine going forward.

Meagan Perrero:

Thank you so much, Paul.

Meagan Perrero:

I appreciate it.

Paul Comfort:

Up next, I, uh, we met up with Rudy Salo.

Paul Comfort:

. Rudy is a partner in infrastructure and transportation finance at

Paul Comfort:

a big law firm , based in Los Angeles, Nixon, Peabody, LLPI.

Paul Comfort:

He's also a prolific writer, a speaker and educator and co-host of a great podcast

Paul Comfort:

called Good is in the Details podcast , Rudy actually came down and had lunch

Paul Comfort:

with U.S. um, there at the conference.

Paul Comfort:

And Rudy talked about commuting as creative time.

Paul Comfort:

He.

Paul Comfort:

What we're losing in car culture.

Paul Comfort:

And uh, Rudy's got a great background in public transportation

Paul Comfort:

and he shares all that.

Paul Comfort:

And we talked to you a little bit about it in my interview.

Paul Comfort:

what is being taken away from U.S. when we're driving in our car,

Paul Comfort:

stuck in traffic for two hours a day, going to work and back.

Paul Comfort:

I mean, that's kinda what you're talking about here.

Paul Comfort:

That's

Rudy Salo:

exactly what I'm talking about.

Rudy Salo:

Yeah.

Rudy Salo:

What it is is.

Rudy Salo:

Call, and you and I are think life, it's a mindset shift.

Rudy Salo:

If you, if you view the time that you're driving in the car

Rudy Salo:

as like, oh, this is great.

Rudy Salo:

It's my personal time.

Rudy Salo:

I can listen to the radio, I can do this, I can do that.

Rudy Salo:

Yeah.

Rudy Salo:

But you also need to drive safely and you're, you're a good citizen.

Rudy Salo:

You don't want to, you know.

Rudy Salo:

Take away.

Rudy Salo:

You can't really be looking at your phone, you can't be

Rudy Salo:

doing anything you're driving.

Rudy Salo:

That's all what you're doing.

Rudy Salo:

That should be the only thing that you're doing when you're writing public transit.

Rudy Salo:

What you're doing is you're delegating the driving to somebody else and then

Rudy Salo:

you have that time back to yourself to do whatever you want to read, to

Rudy Salo:

listen to a Transit Unplugged podcast.

Rudy Salo:

Boom, baby.

Rudy Salo:

I didn't pay him for that either.

Rudy Salo:

To, to to write, you know, everybody in the world.

Rudy Salo:

Paul wants to write that book or write.

Rudy Salo:

That's right.

Rudy Salo:

Write that script.

Rudy Salo:

Or do that thing that they always wanted to do.

Rudy Salo:

You wrote a script while riding several, the bus, right?

Rudy Salo:

Several.

Rudy Salo:

I've written several scripts.

Rudy Salo:

I've written books, I've written, you know, done the Forbes thing.

Rudy Salo:

If, if there's something in your mind that you want to do, the only

Rudy Salo:

thing that's stopping you is time.

Rudy Salo:

Yes.

Rudy Salo:

So what you gotta do is.

Rudy Salo:

Think differently about how you commute, delegate the driving

Rudy Salo:

to somebody else and take public transit and take your time back.

Rudy Salo:

I mean, the fact that we have smartphones these days and the amazing

Rudy Salo:

things that you could do on them, that it, you can pretty much achieve

Rudy Salo:

anything that you want to achieve.

Rudy Salo:

And I, and I mean that I, it's not hyperbole.

Rudy Salo:

If you think a little bit differently about your time and how you're

Rudy Salo:

using it, there's no stopping you and what you could achieve.

Rudy Salo:

Rudy, what do you think about the Olympics coming up to LA and the connection?

Rudy Salo:

Mayor Bass has suggested that she's working for a. You know,

Rudy Salo:

a car free as much as possible.

Rudy Salo:

Olympics a, a transit first.

Rudy Salo:

That's what the folks at Metro told me.

Rudy Salo:

You know, it's a transit first Olympics.

Rudy Salo:

What are your thoughts on that?

Rudy Salo:

You have a lot of experience in transit there, both as a rider and

Rudy Salo:

as an observer, a rider about it.

Rudy Salo:

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm excited.

Rudy Salo:

I, I think that, , there's some unfortunate things, for example,

Rudy Salo:

in, in the city of Inglewood where there's a number of stadiums.

Rudy Salo:

Now there's the SoFi Stadium and, and the Intuit Dome.

Rudy Salo:

Unfortunately, there won't be any kind of, uh, you know, connector that's

Rudy Salo:

gonna be completely built that'll take you directly to the station.

Rudy Salo:

But there will be, there's gonna be two,, transit stations that are gonna be within

Rudy Salo:

a mile, and they're gonna have like buses that'll, that'll shuttle you through.

Rudy Salo:

I use that when I go to the Rams games on Sunday, so I'm used to

Rudy Salo:

taking the bus to those stations.

Rudy Salo:

So I think people need to have their expectations.

Rudy Salo:

Of, yes, we'll be using public transit, but you, but it's

Rudy Salo:

not just gonna be trains.

Rudy Salo:

There will be some bus transfers.

Rudy Salo:

So just kind of, you know, for the people internationally that are listening

Rudy Salo:

to the show, just realize there's, in a lot of places, you're not gonna

Rudy Salo:

be able to just take one piece of transportation to a particular stadium.

Rudy Salo:

Um, some stadiums, they'll be fine.

Rudy Salo:

Some stadiums, there'll be some trains right outside of it.

Rudy Salo:

Uh, if you go back and look at the history of the Olympics in Los Angeles,

Rudy Salo:

this is gonna be our third, the 1984 Olympics was really interesting

Rudy Salo:

because what they did there when we had zero public transportation,

Rudy Salo:

that was when, the first time when they experimented with, , turning

Rudy Salo:

Olympic and Pico into one way streets.

Rudy Salo:

And they plan on doing a little bit of that again this time around.

Rudy Salo:

Oh, interesting.

Rudy Salo:

They're gonna be turn, they're gonna be converting some streets to one ways.

Rudy Salo:

Just for the Olympics, and it worked very, very well in 84.

Rudy Salo:

The 84 was one of the most successful Olympics ever.

Rudy Salo:

It was profitable things were able to move around very well.

Rudy Salo:

Yeah.

Rudy Salo:

So I'm really excited for the 2028 Olympics.

Rudy Salo:

Yeah, that'd be great.

Rudy Salo:

Um.

Rudy Salo:

And we recently, as you know, did a show in LA Transit Unplugged

Rudy Salo:

tv, where we talked to Conan, the COO and a bunch of staff about how

Rudy Salo:

they're getting ready for that.

Rudy Salo:

So it is a hot topic.

Rudy Salo:

Um, anything else that you'd like to share with U.S. about what's going on

Rudy Salo:

in your world of public transportation?

Rudy Salo:

. Rudy Salo: I'm really, really excited.

Rudy Salo:

For the new station's gonna be opening up right outside of, um, LAX airport.

Rudy Salo:

Oh,

Rudy Salo:

yeah, yeah,

Rudy Salo:

yeah.

Rudy Salo:

And that's gonna connect the, uh, the Kline to the Eline and, and, and it's

Rudy Salo:

gonna be, I'm very, very excited.

Rudy Salo:

That's when I plan to start using public transportation again.

Rudy Salo:

When my system, 'cause I live in the South Bay of Los Angeles, gets reconnected

Rudy Salo:

back to the rest of the system.

Rudy Salo:

So I'm looking forward to the future of public transportation in Los Angeles, too.

Rudy Salo:

Very good.

Rudy Salo:

Well, thanks for being on the show today.

Rudy Salo:

Again, you're one of our few second time guests.

Rudy Salo:

It's an honor.

Rudy Salo:

It really, really is an honor.

Rudy Salo:

Thank you very much.

Paul Comfort:

up next, uh, after Rudy, who I always enjoy talking to.

Paul Comfort:

You might remember, by the way, Rudy was our, our, uh, futurist guest on

Paul Comfort:

the December 31st episode of 2024 as we headed into this year and did a great job.

Paul Comfort:

I may have him back again next year 'cause he's always got his finger on the pulse of

Paul Comfort:

what's happening, you know, in the future.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, but next we, uh, caught up to somebody from Maryland, my home state.

Paul Comfort:

Um, I saw Maximilian Dover there and I asked him, Hey man, uh, what's going

Paul Comfort:

on in Prince George's County, Maryland?

Paul Comfort:

You may know Prince George's County is right next to Washington dc.

Paul Comfort:

Um, and, uh, I used to work in the county, uh, when I was, um, helping manage

Paul Comfort:

paratransit service for Washington Metro.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, Metro Access at Serve Prince George's County, as well as

Paul Comfort:

some other jurisdictions there.

Paul Comfort:

And he is the Transit Operations Manager for Paratransit and Microtransit in

Paul Comfort:

Prince George's County, Maryland.

Paul Comfort:

He oversees a fleet of 50 vehicles, including a mix of

Paul Comfort:

electric, gas and propane.

Paul Comfort:

And we talked about zero emission goals with real world needs in

Paul Comfort:

a county like there, especially rural areas of the county.

Paul Comfort:

And why fair free service can be both a blessing and a challenge.

Paul Comfort:

Um.

Paul Comfort:

So great to have somebody from Maryland there.

Paul Comfort:

I actually lived in Prince George's County back when I was a kid, uh, real young.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, when we first moved up here from um, Virginia, where I was born, I

Paul Comfort:

lived in a community called Kettering.

Paul Comfort:

There.

Paul Comfort:

If you're from the area, you'll know it, but let's dive in and

Paul Comfort:

see what Maximilian has to say.

Paul Comfort:

All right.

Paul Comfort:

We're walking outside of the main hotel in San Diego and I happen

Paul Comfort:

to run into a friend of mine, Maximilian, who runs up, uh, the

Paul Comfort:

Transits by Prince George's County.

Paul Comfort:

. So Maximilian, tell U.S. um, first off, give U.S. give U.S. kind of.

Paul Comfort:

You got a long title?

Paul Comfort:

I won't try to.

Paul Comfort:

Say it.

Paul Comfort:

Yes.

Paul Comfort:

, Maximilien Duvra: I'm the Transit Operations Manager for Prince

Paul Comfort:

George's County Department of Public Works and Transportation Mobility.

Paul Comfort:

, Paul Comfort: I saw you out there.

Paul Comfort:

We just stepped aside from the bus show.

Paul Comfort:

They have a lot of buses here this year.

Maximilien Duvra:

Yes, they do.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Were you able to look through 'em?

Maximilien Duvra:

I, I'm almost done with it.

Maximilien Duvra:

I haven't gone through everything.

Maximilien Duvra:

Yeah.

Maximilien Duvra:

But there are quite a bit of nice ones out there.

Paul Comfort:

What do you think the, where do you think we're going now?

Paul Comfort:

You know, 'cause the new administration of Washington has basically said, the

Paul Comfort:

secretary was at, um, APTA and he said, look, we're not against battery elect.

Paul Comfort:

This is what I heard.

Paul Comfort:

He said, yeah, we're not against battery Electric.

Paul Comfort:

We're just not for mandates.

Paul Comfort:

We're for local choice.

Paul Comfort:

. I was just talking to a guy from Minnesota.

Paul Comfort:

He said, we're all in on CNG.

Paul Comfort:

Right.

Paul Comfort:

So compressed natural gas, you've got ideas going for propane.

Paul Comfort:

Some are low emission, some are no emission.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, where, where do you think we're headed as an industry there?

Paul Comfort:

, Maximilien Duvra: I, I definitely think that the local

Paul Comfort:

operations should have a choice.

Paul Comfort:

Everybody says if you see one transit agency, you've seen one transit.

Paul Comfort:

That's, that's a great thing.

Paul Comfort:

So everybody only has, has their, the options that they

Paul Comfort:

need to do for their business.

Paul Comfort:

In Prince George's County, we have a lot of rural areas, so sometimes

Paul Comfort:

battery electric isn't the best option.

Paul Comfort:

One trip could be 45 miles, and, you know, the range of 120 means you're gonna

Paul Comfort:

be looking for a charger right away.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, so we need other options, uh, to make sure that we can do our trips.

Paul Comfort:

So tell U.S. about your system.

Paul Comfort:

Serves that county.

Paul Comfort:

, Maximilien Duvra: On the paratransit side, uh, on the

Paul Comfort:

mobility side, we have 50 vehicles.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, a mixture of, uh, different propulsions.

Paul Comfort:

We utilize it to, , provide microtransit service as well in designated areas.

Paul Comfort:

We do a lot of senior trips, dialysis, uh, just taking care of our community

Paul Comfort:

and getting them where they need to go.

Paul Comfort:

Do you do any fixed route?

Paul Comfort:

, Maximilien Duvra: Not on my side.

Paul Comfort:

I don't oversee any of the fixed route.

Paul Comfort:

But that is actually run by RATP Dev.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

Oh yeah.

Paul Comfort:

They're my buds.

Paul Comfort:

So, you know, I used to work at Washington Metro for mv.

Paul Comfort:

Okay.

Paul Comfort:

And we, I, I was in charge of the paratransit system, Metro Access.

Paul Comfort:

Which actually serves some yes.

Paul Comfort:

In your county.

Paul Comfort:

, So how do you differentiate between who rides on Metro Metro Access and

Paul Comfort:

who rides on your paratransit service?

Maximilien Duvra:

Well, Metro Access will take people across the county line.

Maximilien Duvra:

So we only service, uh, prince George's County.

Maximilien Duvra:

Okay.

Maximilien Duvra:

Uh, that's one differentiator.

Maximilien Duvra:

And we are also fair free.

Maximilien Duvra:

Uh, so people don't need to pay a fare when they ride

Maximilien Duvra:

with U.S. I didn't know that.

Maximilien Duvra:

But we also do have.

Maximilien Duvra:

Limited hours.

Maximilien Duvra:

Oh, okay.

Maximilien Duvra:

Yeah.

Maximilien Duvra:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

So you're maxed out, I bet you right?

Maximilien Duvra:

Yes, we are.

Maximilien Duvra:

Yeah.

Maximilien Duvra:

Uh, anything that's free, it's for me.

Maximilien Duvra:

, Paul Comfort: That's great.

Maximilien Duvra:

well thanks for being on the show, max.

Maximilien Duvra:

Yeah.

Maximilien Duvra:

Thank

Maximilien Duvra:

you very much, Paul.

Maximilien Duvra:

from Maryland, we had to North Carolina, we're headed to Charlotte, North Carolina,

Maximilien Duvra:

where we talked to Ashley character.

Maximilien Duvra:

I saw her outside.

Maximilien Duvra:

Um, and we interviewed her right in front of the buses there.

Maximilien Duvra:

They had a great outdoor expo with, I don't know, 50 different vehicles

Maximilien Duvra:

there, probably from manufacturers.

Maximilien Duvra:

She's the chief financial officer at Queen City Transit Solutions, and they're

Maximilien Duvra:

a company focused on something which has gotten really big post pandemic,

Maximilien Duvra:

which is transit safety and equipment, especially bus driver barriers.

Maximilien Duvra:

You know, that plastic wall thing there that, um, keeps them from having somebody

Maximilien Duvra:

throw coffee in their face or whatever.

Maximilien Duvra:

Which happened when I was CEO of MTA.

Maximilien Duvra:

And we, uh, we eventually worked with Union to get that done.

Maximilien Duvra:

She's been in this role for almost 10 years.

Maximilien Duvra:

She's passionate about protecting frontline workers as a

Maximilien Duvra:

thoughtful human-centered design.

Maximilien Duvra:

Uh, you know, back in the day, uh, when I first introduced them, there wasn't

Maximilien Duvra:

universal acceptance of them in Baltimore.

Maximilien Duvra:

Uh, but now the agencies I'm talking to say their unions want

Maximilien Duvra:

them, uh, and they wanna put 'em in too to keep their drivers safe.

Maximilien Duvra:

And so let's talk about that.

Maximilien Duvra:

All right, we're out here in the bus display area and there are dozens of

Maximilien Duvra:

buses here, and I'm with Ashley, ER from Queen City Transit Solutions.

Maximilien Duvra:

Ashley, you guys do the barriers, right?

Ashley Carriker:

That's correct.

Ashley Carriker:

We do.

Ashley Carriker:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

What's the story there?

Ashley Carriker:

So, we are an engineering company and when COVID hit,

Ashley Carriker:

we worked with our, uh, local transf.

Ashley Carriker:

Agency, North Carolina Public Transportation Agency to design,

Ashley Carriker:

manufacture, assemble, and install driver barriers for safety, not

Ashley Carriker:

only from COVID, but driver assault.

Paul Comfort:

That's a big thing now, isn't it?

Ashley Carriker:

Yes.

Ashley Carriker:

75% of the agencies that were asked during the CTAA, uh, discussion panels

Ashley Carriker:

said that 75% of those agencies found that driver barriers are protecting their

Ashley Carriker:

drivers, as well as, , taking out the.

Ashley Carriker:

assault aspect of driving in the operator position.

Ashley Carriker:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

I remember when I was CCEO of MTA, Baltimore, people

Paul Comfort:

were, this was before the pandemic.

Paul Comfort:

People didn't want 'em.

Ashley Carriker:

No.

Paul Comfort:

Some of our employees were like, oh no,

Paul Comfort:

I'll be claustrophobic and all.

Paul Comfort:

Now they're demanding them.

Ashley Carriker:

Yeah, so in Charlotte we've had three operators killed, and

Ashley Carriker:

it's all because of either driver rage, irritability, mental health issues.

Ashley Carriker:

So if you can't get to a pilot in airplane, why should you be able to

Ashley Carriker:

get to an operator inside of a bus?

Ashley Carriker:

They're here to provide service.

Ashley Carriker:

They're not here to be putting themself out.

Ashley Carriker:

To be attacked, to be spit on, to be harassed.

Ashley Carriker:

And this provides at least a small level of protection or a divider between them

Ashley Carriker:

and people that are oncoming down the bus that may have some ill intentions.

Ashley Carriker:

Yeah.

Ashley Carriker:

I

Paul Comfort:

I, every major transit system I'm aware of now is,

Paul Comfort:

is thinking about or doing this.

Ashley Carriker:

Yes.

Ashley Carriker:

And we're hopeful that we'll also get a bullet resistant barrier Oh, interesting.

Ashley Carriker:

That we're coming out with, um, and just trying to provide the best.

Ashley Carriker:

Operator solutions to at least have some type of protection between them

Ashley Carriker:

and anyone that wants to do harm.

Paul Comfort:

That's great.

Paul Comfort:

Thank you.

Paul Comfort:

great to hear from Ashley.

Paul Comfort:

And finally come back to Maryland, my home state, because I got to see another friend

Paul Comfort:

of mine there, John Duke Luki, who is the executive director of the Transportation

Paul Comfort:

Association of Maryland or tam.

Paul Comfort:

, That's Maryland's statewide Transit Association.

Paul Comfort:

They represent over 130 organizations.

Paul Comfort:

My friend Jeff Barnett, uh, was the past chair of it, and he told

Paul Comfort:

me John's just amazing doing a wonderful job as executive director.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, and I know it because I've been to a couple of the conferences since he's been

Paul Comfort:

executive director and they're fantastic.

Paul Comfort:

And that's what we talk about, their upcoming conference on Kent Island,

Paul Comfort:

which is in my home county, queen Anne County, and the big topics on their

Paul Comfort:

plate, like state and federal regulations in the march toward electrification.

Paul Comfort:

I really believe in state transit associations as a matter of fact.

Paul Comfort:

Um, this fall, I'll be speaking at a couple of them.

Paul Comfort:

The Kentucky one

Paul Comfort:

And I'll also be speaking at the Midwest Transit Association Conference, uh,

Paul Comfort:

this fall, which is, uh, in Kansas City.

Paul Comfort:

Last year I spoke at the Missouri one, and, uh, this is a larger

Paul Comfort:

one representing multiple states.

Paul Comfort:

Looking forward to seeing them there as well.

Paul Comfort:

and I used to be president of one.

Paul Comfort:

I was president of Tam.

Paul Comfort:

I was the second president of our association back in the nineties.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, and it's a great way for.

Paul Comfort:

You know, local, rural, suburban transit systems to interact with each

Paul Comfort:

other, to learn from one another.

Paul Comfort:

John, heads up a great one here in Maryland.

Paul Comfort:

I'm with John Leski, who is the head of Transportation Association of Maryland.

Paul Comfort:

Tell U.S. a little about Transportation Association of Maryland.

John Duklewski:

So, TAM is the Statewide Transit Association

John Duklewski:

for All of Transit and Maryland.

John Duklewski:

We have over 130 members representing every single transit agency from Garrett

John Duklewski:

in the Appalachians to the west, the town of Ocean City in the east, and every

John Duklewski:

jurisdiction, county and city in between.

John Duklewski:

As well as over 50 non-profit specialized transit providers.

Paul Comfort:

That's great, man.

Paul Comfort:

I, when I was younger, I was very involved with, with Tam, as you know,

Paul Comfort:

and was president for a couple years.

Paul Comfort:

Um, so, but every year you guys, I've been coming for the last couple years.

Paul Comfort:

I was out for a while.

Paul Comfort:

And then your conferences though, man, John, you do a

Paul Comfort:

fantastic job setting them up.

Paul Comfort:

You've got a big one coming up.

Paul Comfort:

Tell U.S. about it.

John Duklewski:

So October 7th to ninth at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club.

John Duklewski:

It's right there on Kent Island, right there with beautiful

John Duklewski:

view of the Bay Bridge.

John Duklewski:

Just as you pass over.

John Duklewski:

We're gonna have close to 300 attendees, over 40 exhibitors,

John Duklewski:

two and a half days of world class sessions, networking and transit.

John Duklewski:

So hope everyone can make it.

Paul Comfort:

That's great, man.

Paul Comfort:

Thanks for sharing with U.S. about it.

Paul Comfort:

Any big, um, hot topics in Maryland and Transit?

John Duklewski:

It's definitely the regulatory environment.

John Duklewski:

It's electric vehicles.

John Duklewski:

It's figuring out what's coming next from our friends of the federal government.

John Duklewski:

It's figuring out what the state's plans are for overall electrification.

John Duklewski:

. Paul Comfort: Well, best wishes to you.

John Duklewski:

I hope to see you at the conference this year.

John Duklewski:

Absolutely.

Paul Comfort:

All right, well that wraps up, uh, my roving reporter.

Paul Comfort:

First time ever on Transit Unplugged, uh, tour of the CTA Expo.

Paul Comfort:

A big thank you to all the guests and Scott Bogan and everyone at

Paul Comfort:

CTAA for putting on such a great event and for working with U.S.

Paul Comfort:

We did one of the interviews.

Paul Comfort:

At a booth at the TripSpark booth, uh, and there was a DJ there and they

Paul Comfort:

shut off the music for U.S. for about 20 minutes while we did the interview.

Paul Comfort:

So I really appreciate them working with U.S. on it.

Paul Comfort:

Hey, if you like what you heard today, make sure to subscribe to

Paul Comfort:

the podcast wherever you're at.

Paul Comfort:

Just click subscribe, whatever your favorite platform is, whether it's

Paul Comfort:

Apple, Spotify, or now we have a hybrid version with some video on, uh, YouTube.

Paul Comfort:

And visit our website@transitunplug.com to see it all.

Paul Comfort:

And if you wanna see it once a week, kind of a wrap up summary

Paul Comfort:

of everything we're doing.

Paul Comfort:

Then sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Paul Comfort:

It comes out on Fridays and you'll never miss what's going on on our

Paul Comfort:

TV show on live events we have coming up on the podcast and more.

Paul Comfort:

Final thoughts would be, I love the CTA expo.

Paul Comfort:

As I mentioned earlier, I've been going to their conferences for over 30 years now.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, CTA represents small, urban, rural, suburban and tribal transit.

Paul Comfort:

They're very important to these agencies.

Paul Comfort:

Um, as APTA represents the larger ones.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, CTA represents the small urban ones to make sure you know that

Paul Comfort:

they get, that their specific needs.

Paul Comfort:

I love what I kind of a quote that we all quote in the industry, which is,

Paul Comfort:

if you've seen one transit system.

Paul Comfort:

You've seen one transit system.

Paul Comfort:

They're all so different, right?

Paul Comfort:

They, they, they're from their funding sources to their organization, how they

Paul Comfort:

got started, whether city, county, you know, agency statewide, agency nonprofit,

Paul Comfort:

um, you know, there's so many different ways that they're organized and how

Paul Comfort:

they operate and how they're funded, that it's important for a conference

Paul Comfort:

like TTA Expo to bring them all together where they can share best practices.

Paul Comfort:

I hope to see you at an upcoming conference as well.

Julie Gates:

Thanks for listening to Transit Unplugged.

Julie Gates:

I'm executive producer Julie Gates, and this episode was created by host

Julie Gates:

and producer Paul Comfort, producer Chris O'Keefe, associate producer Cindy

Julie Gates:

Raskin and podcast intern Des Gates.

Julie Gates:

Transit Unplugged is being brought to you by Modaxo, passionate

Julie Gates:

about moving the world's people.

Julie Gates:

If you wanna dive deeper behind the transit headlines and get boots on the

Julie Gates:

ground intel on important updates like the Trump Administration's transit

Julie Gates:

priorities, or how to get funding check out Transit Unplugged Insider,

Julie Gates:

our new YouTube show where Paul and I take you inside today's hot topics.

Julie Gates:

Paul knows what's going on in Washington DC and has the inside scoop.

Julie Gates:

He's taking a lot of meetings with a lot of people and we wanna make

Julie Gates:

sure you know what's going on.

Julie Gates:

You can watch and subscribe to Transit Unplugged Insider on the Transit

Julie Gates:

Unplugged Podcast page on YouTube.

Julie Gates:

Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you on the next episode of Transit Unplugged.

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

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