[Carfreeliving] on Nat Ford

[Dave Snyder]

Unsubstantiated opinions from an Atlanta-based email discussion group 
called Citizens for Progressive Transit.
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I have seen a rumor ...  that MARTA CEO Nathaniel Ford may be leaving 
to take a similar position with SF..   Personally, I feel that this 
would be a tremendous loss to MARTA and Atlanta.  Mr. Ford has done a 
commendable job dealing with MARTA's financial woes and has restored 
some of the credibility to the MARTA Mgt.

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     I personally feel the opposite about Mr. Ford's impact and feel sorry
     for BART.   I would love to see real take-charge, authoritative, 
innovative person
     like Shirley Franklin heading up MARTA.

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      I have to agree here.

     While I commend Mr. Ford's innovative revenue generating ideas, I 
believe that a new leader is needed who is more global in scope, who 
understands land use, who values urbanism, who knows the power of 
marketing/image, and, most importantly, who brings a RIDERS' 
perspective.
     
     MARTA can no longer afford to cater to the lowest common 
denominator of transit rider. It must focus on cutting edge - even 
edgy - marketing strategies that capitalize on its potential as a 
truly urban system and build ridership. It must embrace customer 
service. It must improve worker morale. It must focus on serving 
those areas where land use patterns truly support transit, while 
working with local governments to establish future transit-supportive 
land uses. And it must do all this in a cost-effective manner - with 
proper direction, a little money can go a long way (it is my opinion 
that lack of state support is not MARTA's greatest woe - it is 
improper use of the funds they have).
     
     The only way that I think MARTA  can do this, though, is to bring 
somebody from outside of Atlanta, who has worked for an efficient, 
world class system with constrained resources.
     
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Nat Ford came from an operations background, starting out as a train 
operator in NYC and working his way up.  MARTA seems to be very 
focused on customer service now, and is likely to try to find someone 
from that side of the fence this time.  Hopefully not to the 
detriment of operations!

The BOD will have control over this, so it is up to us riders to 
write or call them and express the qualifications we think are 
important.

They will select an interim GM while they search for a permanent 
replacement, which could take up to 9 months.

Fortunately, the railcar and track replacement is already in 
progress, as is a new customer service initiative.  Hopefully these 
will carry along on their own momentum until the new GM takes the 
reins.  We may want to be extra vigilant for issues and make a fuss 
about them before it really becomes a problem.

This could be a huge opportunity to get the leadership we've always 
wanted for MARTA.
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