The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-12)

C2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, JUNE 12 , 2022

commuter

BY MICHAEL LARIS

When her lease is up in Octo-
ber, Veronica Vanterpool is plan-
ning to get rid of her Nissan
Altima.
Vanterpool, who grew up in the
Bronx and took three buses to get
to high school, was appointed
deputy administrator of the Fed-
eral Transit Administration in
May.
After moving from Wilming-
ton, Del., to Washington last year,
Vanterpool decided she no longer
needed her car. “I drive it maybe
three times a month,” she said in
an interview with The Washing-
ton Post.
Vanterpool was chief innova-
tion officer at the Delaware Tran-
sit Corp. and spent a decade as an
activist at the Tri-State Transpor-
tation Campaign, pushing for im-
provements to transit in New
York, New Jersey and Connecti-
cut.
Now she’s working inside the
Transportation Department’s
D.C. headquarters, hoping to help
communities stranded by spotty
or nonexistent transit service and
to improve safety by promoting
alternatives to driving — goals
that are supported by a surge in
transit spending in the infra-
structure law President Biden
signed last year.
The interview was lightly edit-
ed for length and clarity.

Q: You spent so long as an
advocate outside government.
Now you’re in the middle of it.
Do you ever find yourself having
to hold your tongue?
A: I am very much still an
advocate at heart. I just have to
approach it a little differently.
When I was on the outside, we
had to push, sometimes very
assertively and aggressively. The
tactics and strategies that we
used sometimes could be
bombastic — though always,
from our perspective, it was
rooted in data and rooted in fact.
When you’re within government,
you recognize that you are
working with people who are
also very mission-driven and
share a lot of the same goals. So
being bombastic is not a priority
anymore. You’re using different
tactics. Now I have a little bit
more influence within a team of
influencers who have
fingerprints on what is being
produced, what is being
discussed and the outcomes of
those discussions — and doing it
in a way that is not taking years
of pushing. That shift has been
very welcome. But I’m very
much still that advocate that is
questioning and asking and
challenging. Now I’m working
within a team to find a lot of
those solutions. Before, I was
demanding solutions. There are
less demands now when you’re
working within.

Q: What is the connection
between transit and reducing
road deaths?

A: The absolute connection is

the more people are using our

transit system, the less reliant

they are on a vehicle. That

means, in many cases, that there

are fewer vehicles on the road,

and fewer vehicles leads to fewer

fatalities and injuries among

pedestrians and bicyclists. The

data supports that. In fact, those

metropolitan areas that have the

largest public transportation

systems have the fewest

pedestrian fatalities and injuries,

per capita. When you’re reducing

the number of vehicles on the

road, it makes for a more

walkable and livable

environment. It’s not that we’re

against the car. We’re providing

options, and options that are

safer.

Q: What if making those kinds of

transit investments proves too

slow and expensive?

A: It doesn’t always have to be

costly and always take a lot of

time. While many big cities are

investing in capital-intensive

projects to support legacy rail

systems, as they should, there

are investments that can be

made on a smaller scale.

Some communities can put

systems up within months. We

saw that during the pandemic.

The FTA has been investing in

on-demand services for quite

some time, which puts smaller

vehicles on the road to respond

to passengers’ needs at the

moment.

Q: You did that in Delaware,

right?

A: I applied for and won one of

the FTA’s Accelerating

Innovative Mobility grants. The

project was in a rural area that

was already served by the

Delaware Transit Corp., where I

worked. The challenge was the

service wasn’t frequent enough,

which is true in many rural

communities. The ridership is

not there, but the ridership that

exists needs service. Delaware

used its own vehicles, and we

contracted with a third party to

create and provide software for

an on-demand micro-transit

pilot called DART Connect,

which includes an app on the

phone. But because this was an

equity-focused project, we didn’t

want this just to be for people

with a smartphone. We wanted

there to be a 1-800 number for

people to call and connect with a

live person who could book the

ride for them.

These are individuals who are

very limited in employment

options, because they can’t get

there. They’re very limited in the

health services they can seek and

receive. And, like in other rural

communities, they are dealing

with a lot of social and health

issues. The outcome was that

passengers and customers who

were waiting upward of 60 to 75

minutes for a bus — because that

was the schedule — were getting

a ride in an average of nine to 11

minutes.

We connected two

communities, Georgetown and

Millsboro, that were 10 miles

apart, largely agricultural, very

low-income. More than 40

percent of the population is

Spanish-speaking. These were

individuals who just didn’t have

access to a vehicle, and now they

were able to take many transit

trips. The five top destinations

we served were the poultry

plant, Walmart, a rehabilitation

center, parole and the jail. This is

a population that is generally not

well-served in any community

across the United States.

This is an issue of equity and

access. That’s what transit is.

Ridership in Delaware is

soaring. It is $2 a ride, the same

as the local bus system. And we

are connecting people in ways

they hadn’t been.

Q: What else can be done to

make life on buses better, more

broadly?

A: Transit is the great equalizer.

Nuria Fernandez, our

administrator, says that all the

time. The data shows that more

people of lower means are riding

buses. And they often have the

most challenging commutes,

either because they’re slow or

they’re lengthy or the buses are

infrequent.

Buses often run in mixed

traffic, slowing them down. But

many transit agencies don’t own

the roads or the infrastructure

that the buses operate on. You

look around the globe and you’ll

see very clear examples, decades-

old, of investment in bus

infrastructure, for example, with

dedicated bus ways. We often are

not seeing that level of

partnership and investment in

our bus systems.

Q: What have you seen that’s

good, and bad, about the

Washington region’s

transportation network?

A: It’s very nice for me to be in a

city that is walkable, that is

bikeable. I have appreciated the

investments that the District of

Columbia has made. It is a

Vision Zero city, seeking no

traffic deaths. There’s significant

commitment to bike and

pedestrian infrastructure.

I have appreciated the

investments that WMATA is

making in service. I mean, look,

the renovations and the service

reductions, are they

inconvenient for users? Of

course they are. But, you know,

they’re for a reason. What I

appreciate is the constant

investment. I appreciate being in

a city where I can give up my car.

I love seeing buses all the time

around here. My goal is to just

hop on the bus and ride around

the city. I already have my next

bus routes laid out, because I

need to be connected to the

community.

Around the country, many

transit systems are in survival

mode still, looking to increase

ridership and deal with all sorts

of concerns, including rising

covid cases, operator shortages

and supply chain issues.

But we need to get back onto

our systems again. And that’s

what I love about this city — I

can do that.

Q: Why did you want to do this

kind of work?

A: My background is in

environmental policy and

science. I always noticed

inequities in my community. I’m

Puerto Rican, born and raised in

the Bronx. We didn’t have a lot of

parkland, and the parks that we

have are all concrete. There

weren’t a lot of trees.

When I started, I didn’t know

much about transportation,

other than being a transit user.

Being on the train and being on

the buses, that was my mobility,

that was my freedom.

What keeps me here in this

work is the equity of it. It’s

incredibly important for people

to have access. What I love about

this work is connecting people to

each other, connecting people to

what matters.

She rode 3 buses to school in the Bronx. Now she’s a top transit o∞cial.

MICHAEL LARIS/THE WASHINGTON POST

Veronica Vanterpool was appointed deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration last month. She’s hoping to help

communities stranded by poor transit service and promote alternates to driving.

“When you’re reducing

the number of vehicles

on the road, it makes

for a more walkable

and livable

environment.”

Veronica Vanterpool, Federal

Transit Administration deputy

administrator, on how t ransit can cut

down on road deaths

BY JUSTIN GEORGE

Metro’s incoming general
manager announced Friday that
he has left his former job run-
ning Austin’s transit system and
will join Metro on July 25.
Randy Clarke, 45, was hired
May 10 to replace Paul J. Wie-
defeld, who had planned to retire
at the end of this month but
resigned six days after Clarke’s
hiring was announced. Wie-
defeld’s resignation came after
Metro revealed nearly half of all
train operators were not up to

date on testing and training,

leading some elected officials to

openly question the agency’s

management.

Clarke had been expected to

join Metro later in the summer

after fulfilling obligations as

chief executive of the Capital

Metropolitan Transportation Au-

thority in Texas. Metro officials

on Friday confirmed the start

date.

“I’ll be taking a little break as I

make the move to #DC and

settling in,” Clarke tweeted.

“Looking forward to starting as

GM/CEO @wmata on July 25

and will start using this account

at that time. Onward!”

Clarke changed his Twitter

account to reflect his new posi-

tion: @wmataGM. He did not

respond Friday to a direct mes-

sage.

Andy Off, Metro’s senior vice

president for capital projects, is

serving as interim general man-

ager.

Clarke led Austin’s transit sys-

tem for four years and previously

held leadership and safety roles

at the Massachusetts Bay Trans-

portation Authority in Boston.

His work in Washington will

include navigating through the

loss of tens of thousands of

commuters because of telework

and a corresponding budget hole

that could reach a half-billion

dollars annually starting next

summer.

On Thursday, Off said Metro

was several weeks away from

starting final tests and prepara-

tions to open the 11.4-mile Silver

Line extension from Reston to

Loudoun County.

The extension, delayed by

nearly four years because of

construction issues, could open

in late fall or winter, providing

the first rail stop to Washington

Dulles International Airport.

The extension includes six sta-

tions.

The agency is also putting

hundreds of train and bus opera-

tors through refresher courses

and tests to recertify them after

Metro discovered many were

lacking up-to-date credentials.

Since the discovery, nearly 90

train operators and 132 bus oper-

ators have completed training

and tests to be recertified, ac-

cording to Metro.

The transit agency is also

under a safety order from the

Washington Metrorail Safety

Commission that restricts how

Metro controls track power. The

safety commission said Metro

repeatedly does not follow safety

guidelines that protect workers

from electrocution. Metro is

working with the safety commis-

sion on a corrective action plan.

Chief among Metro’s problems

is the absence of its 7000-series

rail cars, which the safety com-

mission suspended in October

after a federal investigation into

a derailment uncovered a defect

in the cars’ wheels and axles.

The commission sidelined 748

cars, making up 60 percent of

Metro’s fleet. Their suspension

has created a nearly eight-month

train shortage that has forced the

transit agency to reduce service,

creating lengthy waits for trains.

The commission late last month

approved Metro’s request to re-

turn 64 cars to service, commit-

ting to daily inspections of the

cars’ wheels.

Metro’s new general manager sets July 25 start date

WMATA

Randy Clarke was hired May 10

to replace Paul J. Wiedefeld.

Randy Clarke comes to

WMATA after 4 years

leading Austin’s system

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