METRO CEO talks about agency priorities

George Greanias

Vilas Bhuchar, May 17, 10.

Days after being hired as interim President and CEO of METRO, George Greanias sat down with KUHF Houston Public Radio’s David Pitman to talk about his top priorities. Houston Tomorrow tuned in and took note of the following highlights:

Greanias on the value of his management experience:

“I think, in addition to (his transit experience), what the Board was looking for was someone who could take the transit experience that exists within the agency and add to that management experience that could make sure we get the best possible results from all the assets, the considerable assets, that METRO has and that the community contributes through its taxes.”

Greanias on rebuilding trust with the community:

“I have several priorities coming in. One is, I want to enhance the transparency of the organization and rebuild trust with the community. It’s essential for what we’re about to do with these five rail lines and the construction work, plus the management of the bus program, that we connect with our customers, which are all the people that are currently using the system and all the people that we see as potentially using the system. So, number one is to rebuild trust and confidence in the agency.”

Greanias on the status of federal funding for the light rail system (President Obama’s FY2010 budget included $150 million for Houston’s North and Southeast light rail lines, and The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has recommended $75 million for each line for the Presidents’ FY2011 budget):

“At the end of the day, I think the best assessment we can make is the federal folks, the FTA, very much wants to award the funds that are in the pipeline for Houston for these lines. Right now, the FTA has asked us for information regarding these rail cars, the two that were to be built in Spain. So we’re going through the process of responding to that inquiry. We’re going to then ask them, ‘What else do we need to do to make sure we’re in compliance with your rules?’ We will do everything the federal government requires so that we can get that money, and I feel very comfortable we will be able to do that and that, at the end of the day, I would hope this summer, we will get that award, and we can start saying, ‘Okay, that money is bankable now, we can start working on the program.’”

Greanias on the importance of being sustainable over the long haul:

“We certainly have financial challenges, so we have to balance the need for any additional (bus) routes against the need to make sure that whatever we do is financially sound. It does not make any sense to add routes because it’s politically popular, for example, and know that next year we’ll have to take those routes away because we can’t afford them. We need to make sure that whatever we do is sustainable over the long haul.”

Greanias on connecting the bus and rail system:

“...we need to make sure that, as we build the rail system we constantly think about how will the bus and the rail systems inter-connect for the most effective system. And, on top of that, how we do make sure that our system, the METRO system bus and rail, connects with the other public transit initiatives, including the commuter rail initiatives that are beginning throughout the region.”

Full KUHF interview