The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority took two key steps Tuesday toward re-establishing public control over its operations, appointing a CEO and selecting its current private contractor to remain on the job but under a new management structure that will reduce its authority.
Alex Wiggins, a New Orleans native and Los Angeles transit agency security executive, was named the CEO by the agency's board.
He will be responsible for managing the RTA's sprawling network of buses, streetcars and ferries โ an executive role comparable to the position held in recent years by former Transdev general manager Justin Augustine III. However, Wiggins will be a public employee, answerable only to the RTA's board.ฬฬ
The board also voted to rehire Transdev as the agency's private operator, whose employees will actually drive and maintain the buses. Starting in September, however, Transdev will work as part of a hybrid public-private structure that transfers administrative responsibilities from Transdev to Wiggins and his new management team of public employees.
Transdev won out over MV Transportation of Dallas in the bid to provide the lower-level managers and operators for the transit system.
Wiggins, 52, was selected from among four finalists vying for the CEO job.ฬHe has more than 20 years of experience in transit management, having also worked in public transit systems in Denver, Chicago and Oceanside, California.
โThis is an opportunity that I have been searching for for a long time,โ Wiggins said in an interview after the vote. โNot everybody has an opportunity to come home, and bring their skill set home.โ
The shift in how the RTA will be managed was first announced last year, and was pitched by the board as a way to provide stability and accountability at the transit agency.ฬ
For years, some transit advocates had argued that the current structure, with almost all authority in the hands of Transdev executives, served largely to benefit that company, and not necessarily the agencyโs riders.
Under that arrangement, Transdev ran every facet of the RTAโs operation, reporting for years to an all-volunteer board of directors that had little transit management experience.
As the RTA's contractor, Transdev will continue to employ current general manager Darryll Simpson, formerly of Milwaukee, along with dozens of other staffers. But Simpson and his team will report to Wiggins and other publicly employed senior managers, rather than directly to the RTA board.
โWe have understood and embraced your decision to evolve into this โฆ model,โ Transdev President of Transit Mike Setzer told the board. โWe are prepared to fulfill all of your expectations.โ
In the past year, Transdev has also had to report to an interim executive director, Jared Munster, who has a dozen-year track record in city government but no prior experience in public transit.
Roughly 70 employees, nearly all of whom are expected to come from Transdevโs current ranks, will work under Wigginsฬas publicly employed managers. That includes Munster, whom the board appointed as Wigginsโ second-in-command on Tuesday.
โThis is our opportunity to ensure that Dr. Munster continues his great work at RTA and helps us to build on (that) work โฆ and the trust he has built with everyone in this building,โ said board member Fred Neal.
Transdev employs 550 people in New Orleans today. It will keep its existing employees, save the 70 expected to be employed by the RTA directly.ฬ
Wiggins, meanwhile, is an โeminently qualifiedโ professional who will help the RTA fulfill its promise to provide top-tier service to the community, board Chairman Flozell Daniels said.
Wiggins was selected by a board committee, and then ratified by the full board, from a pool of 18 eligible candidates. He will start work July 1. He said his first goal will be to get to know the transit systemโs employees and riders.
Transdev touted its experience in New Orleans, its willingness to adapt to fit the RTAโs new vision and the strength of its global operations as it lobbied board members to grant it another chance in the city.
That argument won over a board committee earlier this month and the full board on Tuesday. The particulars of Transdevโs contract will be worked out in the coming weeks. If for some reason the deal falls through, the RTA will begin negotiations with MV Transportation, the firm that came in second.
Other CEO finalists were Mark Major, a former Transdev chief investment officer; Derrick Breun, a regional vice president with Transdev; and Mikel Oglesby,ฬa deputy executive director at the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.ฬ