September 24, 2025 • 31 mins
San Antonio is growing—and fast. In this Super September episode, host Paul Comfort sits down with Jon Gary Herrera, the newly appointed President and CEO of VIA Metropolitan Transit, to talk about how one of America’s fastest-growing cities is reimagining transit.
From expanding regional collaboration to centering equity in system planning, Jon Gary brings a thoughtful and bold vision to VIA’s next chapter. He shares what he’s learned from nearly two decades in public service—including his time at LA Metro, Capitol Hill, and the private sector—and why he believes public transit is essential for prosperity, climate, and quality of life.
Topics include:
- What brought Jon Gary to San Antonio—and why the time was right
- The opportunity (and pressure) of leading a transit system in a fast-growing city
- Why transit investments must reflect the lived experience of the people who use them
- The power of community accountability—and how it shapes service delivery
- VIA’s strategy for becoming a mobility ecosystem that works for all
“We're in a moment where we need to be courageous about the future.” — Jon Gary Herrera
Whether you're a transit professional, city planner, or civic leader, this episode offers key insights into building resilient, future-focused mobility systems that meet the needs of diverse, growing communities.
Credits
Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo, passionate about moving the world’s people.
Creator, Host & Producer — Paul Comfort
Executive Producer — Julie Gates
Producer — Chris O'Keeffe
Edited and Mixed by — Chris O’Keeffe + Patrick Emile
Associate Producer — Cyndi Raskin
Special thanks to:
Brand Design — Tina Olagundoye
Social Media — Tatyana Mechkarova
Got a question or comment? Email us at info@transitunplugged.com
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Modaxo Inc., its affiliates or subsidiaries, or any entities they represent. This production belongs to Modaxo and may contain information subject to trademark, copyright, or other intellectual-property rights and restrictions. This production provides general information and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. Modaxo specifically disclaims all warranties, express or implied, and will not be liable for any losses, claims, or damages arising from the use of this presentation, from any material contained in it, or from any action or decision taken in response to it.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Are you enjoying Super Septemberhere on Transit Unplugged?
I know I am.
It's been great talking to these leaders,and today we bring you another amazing
episode on Transit Unplugged Podcast.
I'm Paul Comfort, and I recently hadthe pleasure to sit down and talk
with Jon Gary Herrera, who is thepresident and CEO of VIA Metropolitan
Transit in San Antonio, Texas.
(00:24):
One of the oldest andcoolest cities in America.
That's where they got the Alamo,you know, and the river walk.
We talk about all that and it's somereally interesting things about it,
you may not have known about some bigrock musicians and the connections
they have, British rock musicians,the connections they have with San
Antonio, but Jon Gary took over therole of CEO earlier this year and has
already taken it an amazing direction.
(00:46):
They recently won a big referendumwith the voters who have
turned in extra money for them.
And we talk about what theydid to earn that trust.
And we also talk about the fact thatfor the last two years running, they've
led the nation in customer satisfaction.
And we ask 'em, how have you done that?
Because that's big, all that, andmore on this in-depth interview, which
(01:08):
is both philosophical and practicalwith my new friend Jon Gary Herrera.
We're gonna go visit him too nextyear and do an episode of our
TV show there so we can show youeverything we're talking about.
It's gonna be fantastic.
Just like this interview is ontoday's episode with Jon Gary
Herrera, president and CEO of VIAMetropolitan Transit in San Antonio.
(01:34):
Paul, great to be here.
Appreciate the time.
Absolutely, brother.
San Antonio is one of my favorite cities.
My dad spent some time downthere, when he was in the service.
So tell us some about,you know, San Antonio.
I mean, you know, I knowit for the Alamo right.
And the river walk, which is probablywhat a lot of people think about.
But you just told mesomething interesting.
(01:54):
It's vying to be theoldest city in America.
It is.
It's over, we celebrated 300 years as acommunity five years ago, and 300 years
ago this community was established.
Incredible to think that it's older thanour beloved United States of America.
But, it was indeed operating as acommunity prior to our independence as
(02:18):
a nation, and it's a beautiful city.
I'm lucky I get to call it home.
I grew up here as well.
Have many, many relatives in and aroundthis part of Texas and San Antonio.
You know, just a great city.
A great, great community.
Yeah.
So this is where Davey Crockett, washe the one that came to the Alamo?
(02:40):
Is that what I learnedwhen I was in school?
Absolutely.
You know, he there's a number of urbanlegends that happen around, you know, the
Davey Crockett and David Bowie as well.
Oh yeah, the buoy knife.
Jim Bowie, right?
Bowie.
The Jim Bowie.
There you go.
Yeah.
Jim Bowie.
And you're thinking about,you're thinking about David
Bowie the rock star, aren't you?
Yeah.
Well, and maybe I'm doing that purposely,Paul, because he has admitted, the
(03:03):
rocker before he passed away David Bowie-
Yeah.
That wasn't his real name.
He, his, Bowie is his stage name.
He took it from Jim Bowie.
Ah!
-because England, they wouldshow the Alamo, as you know, a
really popular American film.
Yeah.
And he fell in love with the idea.
(03:25):
And so it's interesting he hit it, thatis something that, he's named after.
I mean, to keep on, to keep on thisBritish theme here as well, Paul.
It's also interesting that thegentleman who was with Genesis, oh,
after slipping on his name right now.
The drummer?
The drummer, yes.
Yeah.
Phil Collins.
Is that who you're talking about?
Phil Collins.
There you go.
(03:45):
Yeah.
Okay.
Phil Collins.
He has the largest private collectionof Alamo artifacts in the world.
Really?
He's just been fascinatedwith the Alamo as well.
And he has been buying, you know,Alamo art, artifacts for 40 years.
Yeah.
He has just recently donated abig portion of his artifacts over
(04:07):
to the Alamo for this new museum.
And it's gonna becompliments of Phil Collins.
So they're building, I'vebeen there a couple times.
Are they building something new?
Yes, absolutely.
Big investment happening at the Alamo,and a big investment includes a big
new museum slash visitor center.
There's a whole reimagining of thegrounds itself to bring out more
(04:30):
of a look of what it was indeedas in existence, back in the day.
Yeah.
It's incredible amount of investments anda re-imagining that's going on over there.
Well, hopefully it'll be done.
You know, I'm, I wanna come out thereand film an episode of our show.
I'd love to see that again, man.
Absolutely.
I think it'd a great idea.
(04:51):
Okay.
So we've talked about the city itself.
Oh, and talk about the riverwalk, man I love the river walk.
It's probably my favoriteone in the country.
It's also another moment that makes ussuper, super unique is this river walk.
The San Antonio River meandersthrough our downtown area.
And, it was indeed a moment ofthis community recognizing the
(05:11):
importance of water, over thehistory of this area and this region.
But then developing around it in sucha meaningful way, it's very unique.
There, there are plenty of othercommunities and cities that have
rivers that meander or, you know,go through their urban parts, but
the way that this one has reallyintegrated into the architecture and
(05:34):
the landscape and the actual, you know,businesses themselves is super unique.
I don't know of anywhere else inthe United States much less the
world that is quite similar to this.
Yeah.
A great experience.
I've been there with my wife and kids.
We walked it, you know, in the eveningand rode the boats and all that.
Oh, that's right.
The lights that come over.
I've had so much fun at restaurantsthere with friends of mine
(05:56):
laughing and joking under this.
The atmosphere and thevibe is fantastic, Jon.
It's just something.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So, all right, so tell usabout, one more question.
Do you know like the population of thearea you serve there in San Antonio?
So San Antonio is, also happensto be one of the fastest growing
communities in the United States.
That's what I thought.
What we call San Antonioproper is about 1.7 million.
(06:21):
The county, which San Antonio operates,you know, finds itself within?
Yeah,
It's just about 2 million people.
Okay.
And you serve, VIA serves what?
The whole county or just the city or what?
It's both, but we don't servethe whole county, but we serve
99% of the city of Antonio.
Okay, I gotcha.
So tell us about the transit system.
You know, what servicesdo you offer, et cetera.
(06:43):
So we are the largest system that is abus only system in the United States.
Uh, okay.
As its main mode.
We do have a microtransit systemthat has launched in 2019.
We took a pause during COVID,but now we got about five zones.
And together those five zones orsix zones, are generating a great
(07:05):
deal of interest and ridership.
But the workhorse of our system hereis of course our fixed route bus
delivered routes that we have here.
And do you operate yourselves, or do youhave contractors, or how do you do all.
We operate them ourselves, and weoperate them out of one garage.
So we have something very unique aboutVIA in San Antonio, is we operate
(07:29):
over 500 buses out of one depot.
Typically the size of a depot, orat least a number of buses that a
depot will support around 250 to 300.
Well, we're doing 500 outof one, out of one location.
But that's also because thislocation we've had since 1947.
So it's been around for quite a while.
(07:51):
But we serve all parts of thecommunity with these vehicles and
doing so every day, because ofthe hard work of our employees.
Now when Jeff Arndt was there, Ivisited, I'd had him on the podcast.
I think I did it in person.
And you all have this coolround, like circular building?
(08:11):
Yes.
Are you still in there?
I am.
That is where my offices are at.
That's what we call the Grand Building.
Okay.
That's separate than our main facilitythat I was just referencing in terms of
where the 500, where our bus yard is.
Yeah.
But this facility used to be a turnof the Century Railroad Union Station
and the railroad Union Station,you know, decorated together with,
(08:34):
you might remember the stainedglass that really adorns this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Well, it's incredible, incrediblearchitecture out of this building.
We're we're proud holders of this historyhere and continue to operate out of it.
That's amazing.
Now you've been in that job, you started,I mean, you've been there for a while.
Tell us some about your background.
(08:55):
Yeah.
So you know, I'll be actually,I'm finishing my seventh year
going on my eighth year herewith this agency with VIA.
Right.
But as of January of this year,the board of trustees handed me the
keys to be the president and CEO.
Keys to the kingdom
Hit the ground running in January.
And look, I blinked in eightmonths, uh, you know, later.
(09:16):
But great things happening here at VIA alot of excitement that's happening, Paul.
Because of the opportunity that wehave, we're one of the few transit
agencies, in the United States, Paul,that's actually gonna be receiving
additional money coming in next January.
We're gonna be getting an additionalsales tax percentage coming in from the
(09:39):
citizens of San Antonio who took the voteto reallocate some sales tax in perpetuity
over to VIA, and that starts in January.
So those are gonna lead tobig investments, and those big
investments will lead to bigimprovements for our system.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
I recently had Mark Aesch on the podcast.
I know you know him and work with himfrom TransPro and Mark was proposing
(10:02):
this idea, you know, and it ties inwith the documentary that we hope to
film next year, which is, you know,what's wrong with Transit America?
Why only 5% of Americans Ride Transit?
Sure, sure.
Um, and what we can do about it.
But Mark says, yeah, while less than5% of Americans ride transit, 84%
of the community sees value in it.
And he talks about, you know, making surethat we focus not just on our ridership,
(10:27):
but also on messaging the other 84%.
And when I asked him, Jon.
Who in your mind, mark has thebest transit system in America?
He said You do.
Oh, he said that you, for two years ina row, San Antonio has led the nation
in customer satisfaction, and that'swhat he feels is the most important.
So you must be doing something right.
Talk to us about that
(10:48):
And to get a compliment from sucha professional and somebody who's
actually very passionate aboutwhat transit does and improving
transit is a great compliment to us.
I definitely appreciate Mark sayingthat and being that evangelist as we
call it on the customer experience.
So, you know, I'll describe thisPaul of, I also came from the private
(11:11):
sector before I came over to thisindustry, and I brought with me the
absolute, you know, embedded idea thatit is about, that customer experience
is what's gonna be at the core ofyour adoption, of your service.
And coming into this agency and thenand coming into VIA keeping that focus
(11:33):
of what is important to the community,but what is important to the customer.
And the customers will tell you, Paul,that my whole business career, I have
learned early on that the customerswill tell you what's important to them.
They will either sometimes verballytell you or they'll tell you by
their adoption of your serviceor adoption of your product.
(11:53):
And if you listen to that, those, they'rehanding you gifts, they're handing you
what I call a gift of improvements.
And doing something with thosegifts is the way I think we've
distinguished ourselves becausewe take a meaningful approach.
Just as we're doing this year, aswe're preparing our budgets for
next year, we're taking meaningfulapproaches about what're the things
(12:15):
that the customers have just told usrecently that are important to them.
And we're gonna translate thatinto meaningful improvements.
And then we're gonna tell 'emthat we're doing that too as
well, so we can make that fullrounded connection to that customer
suggestion, the customer expectation,and then the delivery of that.
(12:35):
And I think that's in a big way of whywe are experiencing such good customer
experience and relations scores from ourcustomers because, you know, as every
business wants to say it, you know,because we listen to our customers.
But in this case, I will definitelysay, well, not only do we listen,
but we act upon what they say.
(12:57):
And what have they been telling you?
I mean, obviously you've wonthem over 'cause they just
voted to give you money, so-
Yes.
So what are they telling you?
And it's, and that's an importantdistinction too as well, Paul, because you
know, back to your point that, you know,it's less than 5% of the, of San Antonians
are taking the service on a daily basis.
But many of 'em have hadexperience with our service.
(13:20):
You know, on other aspects, maybeit's a park and ride to a Spurs game.
Maybe it's a park and ride to theAlamo Dome, which is, you know, a big
multipurpose facility that we have here.
But then it's at the core ofwhat they know and appreciate is
we're connecting people to jobs.
At the end of the day, that's thenumber one reason folks are taking
(13:41):
our service, is to get to a job.
And recognizing that that'sgonna be power in the economy.
Those are the things that Ibelieve our investors and our
customers have come to appreciate.
And again, we're in a good positionto be getting additional dollars that
they have allocated over knowing thatit's gonna to be dollars well spent.
(14:02):
So you're hearing them saythat's what they value?
And that's what you're providing.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
How many trips would you sayyou're providing a day or a
year, whatever, on your bus?
Do you know?
So this past year, we delivered over 30million passenger trips in this system.
But we know we can do more.
So I'm gonna say that 30million for me is the baseline.
(14:23):
As I come in as president and CEO,I'm only gonna increase that number.
I only want to increase thatnumber from year to year.
Because I know that we can do moreand serve more because we're gonna
get new money and new money's gonnabe new investments into quality,
and the quality of the serviceis gonna attract more ridership.
We deliver good customer experience,as you heard, you know, so that's
(14:46):
a good moment too, that we can beconfident that once we attract somebody
that's not riding us today, and thenthey decide to start taking us in
the future, we're confident thatthey're gonna be handled really well.
And, that's an important part of thisequation of delivering that value to the
community, as Mark likes to emphasize,delivering that value, you deliver
(15:11):
that value, the ridership's gonna come.
And it's not starting off with ridership.
If this was only about ridership,Paul, all of transit in the
United States would be free.
We would open the doors and just leteverybody, you know, ride it for free.
It's not, it's about the quality ofthe service that we want to deliver.
And doing so in exchange for verysmall investment from the consumer,
(15:34):
and to continue to invest in thequality as I keep referencing.
And that will return ridership.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of Transit Unplugged.
Right now we're in themiddle of Super September.
We have an incredible lineup of guests.
Paul is talking to leaders from some ofour greatest transit systems, including
(15:56):
New York, Chicago, San Antonio, and more.
Be sure to subscribe to TransitUnplugged where you listen to
podcasts so you don't miss an episode.
Now, let's get back to this week'sepisode of the Transit Unplugged podcast.
So Mark is big on, that he, he pointedwhen he's done surveys across the country,
(16:17):
by the way, when they've asked the 84%,what do you value most in the public
transit system that you don't ride, butyou still value it enough to pay for it?
Number one is access tojobs, just what you said.
And then number two is helping theelderly and people with disabilities,
which we do through our ADA services,right and our senior services.
Absolutely.
(16:37):
And then third would be helpinglower income people, you know, get
to other appointments, not justjobs, but get to social services
and health appointments and all.
And that's what you allhave made a priority, right?
I mean that's why Mark told mewhen he said the best, I think
he meant the best in terms ofmeeting what the customers want.
Absolutely.
You've proven it, two years ina row through these surveys and
through a big vote from your voters.
(16:59):
You know, Paul, I had this discussionwith Mark that I'm still putting
together this idea of the industry andparticularly, you know, transit ourselves.
To me there's a lot of similaritiesto a college or university.
And what I mean by that is if you takea snapshot of colleges or universities
(17:21):
today, of the individuals that aregoing there, they're gonna be low
income, they're gonna be folks, kids.
And I call 'em kids.
Right.
Because that was a long timeago since, since I went.
Yeah.
But these kids are part-time jobs.
I have one that's in college right now.
And if she were to ask how much shemakes, she would say under 25,000 a year,
'cause she doesn't have a full-time job.
(17:42):
Her full-time job isto go to school, right?
Right.
We don't measure that success ofthat university based upon what that
individual is at that moment of time.
We base that value of that universityafter they graduate and what they become.
So a lot of what transit does is makingthose connections, and a snapshot of their
(18:07):
lives that they need that affordability.
But that doesn't define thegroup that we take for the
entire span of of our existence.
Great example of that is we justhad a chair of our board that was
a tier one supplier of Toyota.
He has made multi-millionsof dollars as a manufacturer
(18:29):
over the course of his career.
But he says, he would pronounce thisevery time he'd gets, if he didn't have
VIA back in the day when he needed to goto the community college, or he needed
to then go to the four year college here,he would not have been able to graduate
and become the path that he went on.
(18:50):
Wo I think that's another great example ofwhere the value of transit is a tremendous
value just like colleges and universities.
But we're not measuring a collegeor university to Mark's point
by their attendance, right?
Or the number of students they have.
Oh, well they got a lot of students.
They must be successful.
No.
(19:10):
What's gonna be successful iswhat their output is, right?
Right.
Who they become, right?
Yeah.
And what they become.
Yeah.
And we have a big role in that inthe community that we serve, not
only for those that are needing thehelp at the moment that they have.
But they're also as they get elderlyas well, that we're that safety net
(19:30):
for them, that they know that theycan continue to enjoy the ability
to get in around this community.
That's another aspect that is a greatvalue we definitely take that serious.
Jon, when I first started, Iworked for Department of Aging.
That was 38 years ago now.
I can't believe it.
And I was a transportation coordinatorand every day I felt wonderful because
(19:52):
I was helping hundreds of people, onaverage, be able to get outta their
homes and go to the grocery store, goto doctors, come to the senior centers.
I mean, we play a bigrole in that, don't we?
I'm sure VIA does in your community.
It's a big role that we play, but it'salso a role that is so meaningful.
And I don't necessarily only meanthat from a social service standpoint.
(20:15):
I mean that from a human standpoint.
I mean that-
Yeah.
I love that.
-economy standpoint too.
Because we're connectingpeople to their doctors.
We're connecting peopleto their grocery stores.
We're connecting people, you know, tohospitals and it becomes a real piece of
an individual's life, where they don'thave to worry about how they get there.
(20:36):
They can worry about the things thatthey really need to worry about.
I think you've done a great job of talkingabout the current status there and the
role you're playing in the community.
Let's look into the future.
You said that, you know, under yourleadership, you're hoping to see
some increases in ridership, anddo you have any exciting projects
or initiatives you're working onthat'll raise the bar for VIA?
Absolutely.
(20:57):
The mantra that we have here,Paul, is that we're in the
middle of some big investments.
These big investments will, for thefirst time, will have an ART Advanced
Rapid Transit or BRT, for those that, myprofessional colleagues that listen to-
Yeah.
-to this podcast.
For the first time, we're gonna establishour very first bus rapid transit
(21:20):
line, we call that the green line.
It's gonna go north, south inour community and go down a major
corridor, major thoroughfare.
Then we're gonna immediately rightafter that establish a second one,
which is a silver line that will goeast west and they'll intersect each
other in our downtown business district.
But those big investments, for thefirst time here in San Antonio,
(21:41):
are gonna be some of the largestcapital projects that this community
has seen other than highways.
Yeah.
But to see that VIA is the onethat's is executing on this program
is an incredible position forus but that's a big investment.
Also, coming along with those advancedrapid transit systems, the BRT systems,
(22:02):
we also are gonna be doubling thenumber of zones that we have with our
VIA Link, our microtransit service.
Oh, very nice.
And so that also is gonnabe a big investment.
And then of course we just launched andour board just approved two months ago a
better bus plan where we are re-imaginingwhat our system should, you know, be
(22:24):
delivering and investing in that moment.
So all of these together are biginvestments that we're making.
Those big investments are gonna becomebig impact because these big investments
are really gonna raise the quality of theservice that we have out in the community.
I keep, you know, telling folksevery chance I get here in San
(22:45):
Antonio is the bus rapid transit linebecause we've only been a bus-only
system our entire life, right?
Right.
In our entire existence, this bus rapidtransit system is as close as we're gonna
get to rail, and it's a rail-like service.
And this community is gonna look at oursystem and the way we deliver service in
(23:06):
a completely different light once we startdelivering that high level of service.
And that's gonna be a moment also,you know, as you're talking about
the future is that broad look thatour community gives us in terms of
what are we doing to keep ourselvesin tune with technology, in tune with
what is indeed possible in the future.
(23:28):
Those are the type of investmentsthat we're bringing, but they're all
gonna come down to, you know, bigimpacts that will continue to have
big positive impacts on our community.
You've had a pretty interestingcareer journey before becoming CEO.
You mentioned you're in youreighth year working for the agency.
Most of that time was a senior vicepresident for public engagement.
(23:49):
And then, but then, like youmentioned, you worked in the
private sector quite a while.
What leadership principles did you pullfrom that and how have they helped shape
you and what you're bringing to VIA?
Yeah, it's a great question.
I mean, it was, it's a number ofapproaches that I find myself now in
this president and CEO spot that Ican tell I've learned, this learned
(24:10):
behavior over the course of my career.
Something I learned early and oftenat the very beginning is empathy.
What is it like to be our customers?
Right?
That's what I mean by empathy.
Walk a mile in their shoes empathy.
Giving that great deal of focus asa leader, will help me design and
(24:33):
develop the types of improvementsor culture that we want to be
able to deliver for the community.
The other part that empathy comesinto play is how you lead a team.
And all of us have had different typesof bosses over the course of our careers.
And I find myself really admiringthose that had a great deal of
(24:56):
empathy and understanding that eachone of us are motivated differently
and each one of us are humans, andwe're all different from each other.
And to treat us that way too.
And I've seen that being brought with meand my type of approach on leadership.
You know, it's so easy sometimes inthis corner office to, try to get
(25:17):
everything done, everything done at once.
I've heard this term many years ago, butI've kept this in the back of my mind.
It's called Boiling the Ocean.
I don't know if you've ever heardthat term that you can do too
much and you would boil the ocean.
And if you boil the ocean, you mayget a lot accomplished and you use a
lot of energy to do it, but you're notaccomplishing what you should be doing.
(25:40):
You'll kill all the land, right?
All the wildlife, I mean all the fish.
So it's this balance that I see myselfin a leadership position of having, of
keeping an immense amount of attentionon the goals and objectives that we
want to accomplish, but having the senseenough to know that those also have
to be done by others, not just myself.
(26:03):
Because if we don't depend on othersto deliver it, I'll be working
80 hour weeks and I won't lastvery long, working 80 hour weeks.
But it is those moments of leadershipthat I've learned over the years.
One more comment onthings that I've learned.
I've also seen how products and/orservices have changed an industry.
(26:27):
And I'll give you an example of that.
I was with the cableindustry for 16 years.
I worked for Time Warner Cable in variousdegrees of responsibilities there within
that Fortune 50 company, that we became.
And one of the moments that I, ithas always stuck with me is when
(26:48):
I joined that industry when wewere just delivering video, cable.
Analog cables, matter of fact,to the community that we serve.
Then we launched this littlething called high speed data.
And high speed data and the internetand the delivery of that really
became that massive focal point forthis industry, and it still remains.
(27:12):
And it very much is that momentthat it changed the the industry,
it also changed the way consumerssaw our industry as well.
You know, just in, in two minuteshere, Paul will explain what I mean
by that is that we would do customersurveys as a cable company and we'd
do customer survey and the customerswould say, "Ah, you could do better."
(27:34):
Right?
Because the cable industry hasn'thad the best, you know, successes.
That's right.
Yeah.
In that aspect, right?
You can do better, you know, is basicallythe kind way of, I'm saying what
customers would tell us but then we'dask them, "Hey, what do you think of the
company that delivers high speed data?"
Oh, I love that company.
That company is innovative.
(27:54):
That company is fun to work, you know, funto, to interact with and fun to work with.
And, and I really appreciatewhat, they're doing.
Well, it's the same company.
Wow.
It's the same companythat was delivering cable.
It's the same company that'sdelivering the high speed data.
So it's that moment.
So fast forward to where we are today,Paul is, I believe what we're on
the cusp of as an industry with thismicrotransit solution that we have.
(28:18):
Very similar to Uber and Lyft.
Is that high speed data momentthat we have in this industry.
I don't believe that we havereally figured out the true
potential of this microtransitsolution and system that we have.
But the fact that we're all findingvarying aspects of delivery and a
(28:39):
success with it, it reminds me a lotof what we were doing back in the
nineties with high speed data andseeing how that changed the industry.
So, and that's
And why was that?
My little long, but short story on that.
But it's something that I bring with me.
Yeah, love that.
Let's just for one more minute, tellme what did you all get out of that?
(29:01):
What was the lesson?
Just as something newpeople liked it better?
What was the lesson?
It was indeed that the consumer'sgonna identify a value.
And they're gonna associate thatvalue with your company, right?
We had too many years.
I think you wrote it away on that value-
Yes.
-on the cable side, on thevideo side, because we, at that
(29:25):
time, we didn't produce thecontent that we were delivering.
So there was no relationshipwith, let give you an example,
whether you liked the show on HBO.
Well, that that wasn't because ofyour cable company back in those days.
Now I think they're all owned,you know, by one or two.
But there was no value.
As soon as high speed data comesaround, now there's value that
(29:47):
that company is delivering.
Okay.
And I can associate that value andI think that's a great a moment in
that industry that I am seeing here.
Granted, we still get valued on ourfixed route, but the fact that we can
deliver this new type of value has putus in a different light with those 95%
(30:10):
of the community that doesn't take us.
We're now a consideration in thoseconversations that we never had before.
So, I see that as someof those similarities.
That's great.
Jon Gary Herrera, thank you so muchfor taking a few minutes with us today
and sharing with us your philosophiesand your experience and all the great
things happening there in San Antonio,one of America's oldest cities.
(30:32):
But it's got some of the newest,coolest stuff going on, man.
Thanks Paul.
Appreciate the time youspent with me this afternoon.
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Transit Unplugged, the world's
number one transit executive podcast.
I'm Julie Gates, executiveproducer of the podcast.
Many thanks to the teamthat makes this show happen.
(30:54):
Host and producer, Paul Comfort,producer Chris O'Keefe, editor
Patrick Emil, associate producer CindyRaskin and consultants Dan Meisner
and Jonas Woos at Bumper Transit.
Unplugged is beingbrought to you by Modaxo.
Passionate about movingthe world's people.
If you would enjoy behind the scenesinsights and updates from the show.
(31:15):
Sign up for our weekly newsletter,which has links to Can't Miss.
Conversations with thebiggest names in mobility.
Head to transit unplugged.com and scrollto the bottom of the page to sign up.
Thanks for listening, and we'll catch youon the next episode of Transit Unplugged.
Are you enjoying Super Septemberhere on Transit Unplugged?
I know I am.
It's been great talking to these leaders,and today we bring you another amazing
episode on Transit Unplugged Podcast.
I'm Paul Comfort, and I recently hadthe pleasure to sit down and talk
with Jon Gary Herrera, who is thepresident and CEO of VIA Metropolitan
Transit in San Antonio, Texas.
(00:24):
One of the oldest andcoolest cities in America.
That's where they got the Alamo,you know, and the river walk.
We talk about all that and it's somereally interesting things about it,
you may not have known about some bigrock musicians and the connections
they have, British rock musicians,the connections they have with San
Antonio, but Jon Gary took over therole of CEO earlier this year and has
already taken it an amazing direction.
(00:46):
They recently won a big referendumwith the voters who have
turned in extra money for them.
And we talk about what theydid to earn that trust.
And we also talk about the fact thatfor the last two years running, they've
led the nation in customer satisfaction.
And we ask 'em, how have you done that?
Because that's big, all that, andmore on this in-depth interview, which
(01:08):
is both philosophical and practicalwith my new friend Jon Gary Herrera.
We're gonna go visit him too nextyear and do an episode of our
TV show there so we can show youeverything we're talking about.
It's gonna be fantastic.
Just like this interview is ontoday's episode with Jon Gary
Herrera, president and CEO of VIAMetropolitan Transit in San Antonio.
(01:34):
Paul, great to be here.
Appreciate the time.
Absolutely, brother.
San Antonio is one of my favorite cities.
My dad spent some time downthere, when he was in the service.
So tell us some about,you know, San Antonio.
I mean, you know, I knowit for the Alamo right.
And the river walk, which is probablywhat a lot of people think about.
But you just told mesomething interesting.
(01:54):
It's vying to be theoldest city in America.
It is.
It's over, we celebrated 300 years as acommunity five years ago, and 300 years
ago this community was established.
Incredible to think that it's older thanour beloved United States of America.
But, it was indeed operating as acommunity prior to our independence as
(02:18):
a nation, and it's a beautiful city.
I'm lucky I get to call it home.
I grew up here as well.
Have many, many relatives in and aroundthis part of Texas and San Antonio.
You know, just a great city.
A great, great community.
Yeah.
So this is where Davey Crockett, washe the one that came to the Alamo?
(02:40):
Is that what I learnedwhen I was in school?
Absolutely.
You know, he there's a number of urbanlegends that happen around, you know, the
Davey Crockett and David Bowie as well.
Oh yeah, the buoy knife.
Jim Bowie, right?
Bowie.
The Jim Bowie.
There you go.
Yeah.
Jim Bowie.
And you're thinking about,you're thinking about David
Bowie the rock star, aren't you?
Yeah.
Well, and maybe I'm doing that purposely,Paul, because he has admitted, the
(03:03):
rocker before he passed away David Bowie-
Yeah.
That wasn't his real name.
He, his, Bowie is his stage name.
He took it from Jim Bowie.
Ah!
-because England, they wouldshow the Alamo, as you know, a
really popular American film.
Yeah.
And he fell in love with the idea.
(03:25):
And so it's interesting he hit it, thatis something that, he's named after.
I mean, to keep on, to keep on thisBritish theme here as well, Paul.
It's also interesting that thegentleman who was with Genesis, oh,
after slipping on his name right now.
The drummer?
The drummer, yes.
Yeah.
Phil Collins.
Is that who you're talking about?
Phil Collins.
There you go.
(03:45):
Yeah.
Okay.
Phil Collins.
He has the largest private collectionof Alamo artifacts in the world.
Really?
He's just been fascinatedwith the Alamo as well.
And he has been buying, you know,Alamo art, artifacts for 40 years.
Yeah.
He has just recently donated abig portion of his artifacts over
(04:07):
to the Alamo for this new museum.
And it's gonna becompliments of Phil Collins.
So they're building, I'vebeen there a couple times.
Are they building something new?
Yes, absolutely.
Big investment happening at the Alamo,and a big investment includes a big
new museum slash visitor center.
There's a whole reimagining of thegrounds itself to bring out more
(04:30):
of a look of what it was indeedas in existence, back in the day.
Yeah.
It's incredible amount of investments anda re-imagining that's going on over there.
Well, hopefully it'll be done.
You know, I'm, I wanna come out thereand film an episode of our show.
I'd love to see that again, man.
Absolutely.
I think it'd a great idea.
(04:51):
Okay.
So we've talked about the city itself.
Oh, and talk about the riverwalk, man I love the river walk.
It's probably my favoriteone in the country.
It's also another moment that makes ussuper, super unique is this river walk.
The San Antonio River meandersthrough our downtown area.
And, it was indeed a moment ofthis community recognizing the
(05:11):
importance of water, over thehistory of this area and this region.
But then developing around it in sucha meaningful way, it's very unique.
There, there are plenty of othercommunities and cities that have
rivers that meander or, you know,go through their urban parts, but
the way that this one has reallyintegrated into the architecture and
(05:34):
the landscape and the actual, you know,businesses themselves is super unique.
I don't know of anywhere else inthe United States much less the
world that is quite similar to this.
Yeah.
A great experience.
I've been there with my wife and kids.
We walked it, you know, in the eveningand rode the boats and all that.
Oh, that's right.
The lights that come over.
I've had so much fun at restaurantsthere with friends of mine
(05:56):
laughing and joking under this.
The atmosphere and thevibe is fantastic, Jon.
It's just something.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So, all right, so tell usabout, one more question.
Do you know like the population of thearea you serve there in San Antonio?
So San Antonio is, also happensto be one of the fastest growing
communities in the United States.
That's what I thought.
What we call San Antonioproper is about 1.7 million.
(06:21):
The county, which San Antonio operates,you know, finds itself within?
Yeah,
It's just about 2 million people.
Okay.
And you serve, VIA serves what?
The whole county or just the city or what?
It's both, but we don't servethe whole county, but we serve
99% of the city of Antonio.
Okay, I gotcha.
So tell us about the transit system.
You know, what servicesdo you offer, et cetera.
(06:43):
So we are the largest system that is abus only system in the United States.
Uh, okay.
As its main mode.
We do have a microtransit systemthat has launched in 2019.
We took a pause during COVID,but now we got about five zones.
And together those five zones orsix zones, are generating a great
(07:05):
deal of interest and ridership.
But the workhorse of our system hereis of course our fixed route bus
delivered routes that we have here.
And do you operate yourselves, or do youhave contractors, or how do you do all.
We operate them ourselves, and weoperate them out of one garage.
So we have something very unique aboutVIA in San Antonio, is we operate
(07:29):
over 500 buses out of one depot.
Typically the size of a depot, orat least a number of buses that a
depot will support around 250 to 300.
Well, we're doing 500 outof one, out of one location.
But that's also because thislocation we've had since 1947.
So it's been around for quite a while.
(07:51):
But we serve all parts of thecommunity with these vehicles and
doing so every day, because ofthe hard work of our employees.
Now when Jeff Arndt was there, Ivisited, I'd had him on the podcast.
I think I did it in person.
And you all have this coolround, like circular building?
(08:11):
Yes.
Are you still in there?
I am.
That is where my offices are at.
That's what we call the Grand Building.
Okay.
That's separate than our main facilitythat I was just referencing in terms of
where the 500, where our bus yard is.
Yeah.
But this facility used to be a turnof the Century Railroad Union Station
and the railroad Union Station,you know, decorated together with,
(08:34):
you might remember the stainedglass that really adorns this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Well, it's incredible, incrediblearchitecture out of this building.
We're we're proud holders of this historyhere and continue to operate out of it.
That's amazing.
Now you've been in that job, you started,I mean, you've been there for a while.
Tell us some about your background.
(08:55):
Yeah.
So you know, I'll be actually,I'm finishing my seventh year
going on my eighth year herewith this agency with VIA.
Right.
But as of January of this year,the board of trustees handed me the
keys to be the president and CEO.
Keys to the kingdom
Hit the ground running in January.
And look, I blinked in eightmonths, uh, you know, later.
(09:16):
But great things happening here at VIA alot of excitement that's happening, Paul.
Because of the opportunity that wehave, we're one of the few transit
agencies, in the United States, Paul,that's actually gonna be receiving
additional money coming in next January.
We're gonna be getting an additionalsales tax percentage coming in from the
(09:39):
citizens of San Antonio who took the voteto reallocate some sales tax in perpetuity
over to VIA, and that starts in January.
So those are gonna lead tobig investments, and those big
investments will lead to bigimprovements for our system.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
I recently had Mark Aesch on the podcast.
I know you know him and work with himfrom TransPro and Mark was proposing
(10:02):
this idea, you know, and it ties inwith the documentary that we hope to
film next year, which is, you know,what's wrong with Transit America?
Why only 5% of Americans Ride Transit?
Sure, sure.
Um, and what we can do about it.
But Mark says, yeah, while less than5% of Americans ride transit, 84%
of the community sees value in it.
And he talks about, you know, making surethat we focus not just on our ridership,
(10:27):
but also on messaging the other 84%.
And when I asked him, Jon.
Who in your mind, mark has thebest transit system in America?
He said You do.
Oh, he said that you, for two years ina row, San Antonio has led the nation
in customer satisfaction, and that'swhat he feels is the most important.
So you must be doing something right.
Talk to us about that
(10:48):
And to get a compliment from sucha professional and somebody who's
actually very passionate aboutwhat transit does and improving
transit is a great compliment to us.
I definitely appreciate Mark sayingthat and being that evangelist as we
call it on the customer experience.
So, you know, I'll describe thisPaul of, I also came from the private
(11:11):
sector before I came over to thisindustry, and I brought with me the
absolute, you know, embedded idea thatit is about, that customer experience
is what's gonna be at the core ofyour adoption, of your service.
And coming into this agency and thenand coming into VIA keeping that focus
(11:33):
of what is important to the community,but what is important to the customer.
And the customers will tell you, Paul,that my whole business career, I have
learned early on that the customerswill tell you what's important to them.
They will either sometimes verballytell you or they'll tell you by
their adoption of your serviceor adoption of your product.
(11:53):
And if you listen to that, those, they'rehanding you gifts, they're handing you
what I call a gift of improvements.
And doing something with thosegifts is the way I think we've
distinguished ourselves becausewe take a meaningful approach.
Just as we're doing this year, aswe're preparing our budgets for
next year, we're taking meaningfulapproaches about what're the things
(12:15):
that the customers have just told usrecently that are important to them.
And we're gonna translate thatinto meaningful improvements.
And then we're gonna tell 'emthat we're doing that too as
well, so we can make that fullrounded connection to that customer
suggestion, the customer expectation,and then the delivery of that.
(12:35):
And I think that's in a big way of whywe are experiencing such good customer
experience and relations scores from ourcustomers because, you know, as every
business wants to say it, you know,because we listen to our customers.
But in this case, I will definitelysay, well, not only do we listen,
but we act upon what they say.
(12:57):
And what have they been telling you?
I mean, obviously you've wonthem over 'cause they just
voted to give you money, so-
Yes.
So what are they telling you?
And it's, and that's an importantdistinction too as well, Paul, because you
know, back to your point that, you know,it's less than 5% of the, of San Antonians
are taking the service on a daily basis.
But many of 'em have hadexperience with our service.
(13:20):
You know, on other aspects, maybeit's a park and ride to a Spurs game.
Maybe it's a park and ride to theAlamo Dome, which is, you know, a big
multipurpose facility that we have here.
But then it's at the core ofwhat they know and appreciate is
we're connecting people to jobs.
At the end of the day, that's thenumber one reason folks are taking
(13:41):
our service, is to get to a job.
And recognizing that that'sgonna be power in the economy.
Those are the things that Ibelieve our investors and our
customers have come to appreciate.
And again, we're in a good positionto be getting additional dollars that
they have allocated over knowing thatit's gonna to be dollars well spent.
(14:02):
So you're hearing them saythat's what they value?
And that's what you're providing.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
How many trips would you sayyou're providing a day or a
year, whatever, on your bus?
Do you know?
So this past year, we delivered over 30million passenger trips in this system.
But we know we can do more.
So I'm gonna say that 30million for me is the baseline.
(14:23):
As I come in as president and CEO,I'm only gonna increase that number.
I only want to increase thatnumber from year to year.
Because I know that we can do moreand serve more because we're gonna
get new money and new money's gonnabe new investments into quality,
and the quality of the serviceis gonna attract more ridership.
We deliver good customer experience,as you heard, you know, so that's
(14:46):
a good moment too, that we can beconfident that once we attract somebody
that's not riding us today, and thenthey decide to start taking us in
the future, we're confident thatthey're gonna be handled really well.
And, that's an important part of thisequation of delivering that value to the
community, as Mark likes to emphasize,delivering that value, you deliver
(15:11):
that value, the ridership's gonna come.
And it's not starting off with ridership.
If this was only about ridership,Paul, all of transit in the
United States would be free.
We would open the doors and just leteverybody, you know, ride it for free.
It's not, it's about the quality ofthe service that we want to deliver.
And doing so in exchange for verysmall investment from the consumer,
(15:34):
and to continue to invest in thequality as I keep referencing.
And that will return ridership.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of Transit Unplugged.
Right now we're in themiddle of Super September.
We have an incredible lineup of guests.
Paul is talking to leaders from some ofour greatest transit systems, including
(15:56):
New York, Chicago, San Antonio, and more.
Be sure to subscribe to TransitUnplugged where you listen to
podcasts so you don't miss an episode.
Now, let's get back to this week'sepisode of the Transit Unplugged podcast.
So Mark is big on, that he, he pointedwhen he's done surveys across the country,
(16:17):
by the way, when they've asked the 84%,what do you value most in the public
transit system that you don't ride, butyou still value it enough to pay for it?
Number one is access tojobs, just what you said.
And then number two is helping theelderly and people with disabilities,
which we do through our ADA services,right and our senior services.
Absolutely.
(16:37):
And then third would be helpinglower income people, you know, get
to other appointments, not justjobs, but get to social services
and health appointments and all.
And that's what you allhave made a priority, right?
I mean that's why Mark told mewhen he said the best, I think
he meant the best in terms ofmeeting what the customers want.
Absolutely.
You've proven it, two years ina row through these surveys and
through a big vote from your voters.
(16:59):
You know, Paul, I had this discussionwith Mark that I'm still putting
together this idea of the industry andparticularly, you know, transit ourselves.
To me there's a lot of similaritiesto a college or university.
And what I mean by that is if you takea snapshot of colleges or universities
(17:21):
today, of the individuals that aregoing there, they're gonna be low
income, they're gonna be folks, kids.
And I call 'em kids.
Right.
Because that was a long timeago since, since I went.
Yeah.
But these kids are part-time jobs.
I have one that's in college right now.
And if she were to ask how much shemakes, she would say under 25,000 a year,
'cause she doesn't have a full-time job.
(17:42):
Her full-time job isto go to school, right?
Right.
We don't measure that success ofthat university based upon what that
individual is at that moment of time.
We base that value of that universityafter they graduate and what they become.
So a lot of what transit does is makingthose connections, and a snapshot of their
(18:07):
lives that they need that affordability.
But that doesn't define thegroup that we take for the
entire span of of our existence.
Great example of that is we justhad a chair of our board that was
a tier one supplier of Toyota.
He has made multi-millionsof dollars as a manufacturer
(18:29):
over the course of his career.
But he says, he would pronounce thisevery time he'd gets, if he didn't have
VIA back in the day when he needed to goto the community college, or he needed
to then go to the four year college here,he would not have been able to graduate
and become the path that he went on.
(18:50):
Wo I think that's another great example ofwhere the value of transit is a tremendous
value just like colleges and universities.
But we're not measuring a collegeor university to Mark's point
by their attendance, right?
Or the number of students they have.
Oh, well they got a lot of students.
They must be successful.
No.
(19:10):
What's gonna be successful iswhat their output is, right?
Right.
Who they become, right?
Yeah.
And what they become.
Yeah.
And we have a big role in that inthe community that we serve, not
only for those that are needing thehelp at the moment that they have.
But they're also as they get elderlyas well, that we're that safety net
(19:30):
for them, that they know that theycan continue to enjoy the ability
to get in around this community.
That's another aspect that is a greatvalue we definitely take that serious.
Jon, when I first started, Iworked for Department of Aging.
That was 38 years ago now.
I can't believe it.
And I was a transportation coordinatorand every day I felt wonderful because
(19:52):
I was helping hundreds of people, onaverage, be able to get outta their
homes and go to the grocery store, goto doctors, come to the senior centers.
I mean, we play a bigrole in that, don't we?
I'm sure VIA does in your community.
It's a big role that we play, but it'salso a role that is so meaningful.
And I don't necessarily only meanthat from a social service standpoint.
(20:15):
I mean that from a human standpoint.
I mean that-
Yeah.
I love that.
-economy standpoint too.
Because we're connectingpeople to their doctors.
We're connecting peopleto their grocery stores.
We're connecting people, you know, tohospitals and it becomes a real piece of
an individual's life, where they don'thave to worry about how they get there.
(20:36):
They can worry about the things thatthey really need to worry about.
I think you've done a great job of talkingabout the current status there and the
role you're playing in the community.
Let's look into the future.
You said that, you know, under yourleadership, you're hoping to see
some increases in ridership, anddo you have any exciting projects
or initiatives you're working onthat'll raise the bar for VIA?
Absolutely.
(20:57):
The mantra that we have here,Paul, is that we're in the
middle of some big investments.
These big investments will, for thefirst time, will have an ART Advanced
Rapid Transit or BRT, for those that, myprofessional colleagues that listen to-
Yeah.
-to this podcast.
For the first time, we're gonna establishour very first bus rapid transit
(21:20):
line, we call that the green line.
It's gonna go north, south inour community and go down a major
corridor, major thoroughfare.
Then we're gonna immediately rightafter that establish a second one,
which is a silver line that will goeast west and they'll intersect each
other in our downtown business district.
But those big investments, for thefirst time here in San Antonio,
(21:41):
are gonna be some of the largestcapital projects that this community
has seen other than highways.
Yeah.
But to see that VIA is the onethat's is executing on this program
is an incredible position forus but that's a big investment.
Also, coming along with those advancedrapid transit systems, the BRT systems,
(22:02):
we also are gonna be doubling thenumber of zones that we have with our
VIA Link, our microtransit service.
Oh, very nice.
And so that also is gonnabe a big investment.
And then of course we just launched andour board just approved two months ago a
better bus plan where we are re-imaginingwhat our system should, you know, be
(22:24):
delivering and investing in that moment.
So all of these together are biginvestments that we're making.
Those big investments are gonna becomebig impact because these big investments
are really gonna raise the quality of theservice that we have out in the community.
I keep, you know, telling folksevery chance I get here in San
(22:45):
Antonio is the bus rapid transit linebecause we've only been a bus-only
system our entire life, right?
Right.
In our entire existence, this bus rapidtransit system is as close as we're gonna
get to rail, and it's a rail-like service.
And this community is gonna look at oursystem and the way we deliver service in
(23:06):
a completely different light once we startdelivering that high level of service.
And that's gonna be a moment also,you know, as you're talking about
the future is that broad look thatour community gives us in terms of
what are we doing to keep ourselvesin tune with technology, in tune with
what is indeed possible in the future.
(23:28):
Those are the type of investmentsthat we're bringing, but they're all
gonna come down to, you know, bigimpacts that will continue to have
big positive impacts on our community.
You've had a pretty interestingcareer journey before becoming CEO.
You mentioned you're in youreighth year working for the agency.
Most of that time was a senior vicepresident for public engagement.
(23:49):
And then, but then, like youmentioned, you worked in the
private sector quite a while.
What leadership principles did you pullfrom that and how have they helped shape
you and what you're bringing to VIA?
Yeah, it's a great question.
I mean, it was, it's a number ofapproaches that I find myself now in
this president and CEO spot that Ican tell I've learned, this learned
(24:10):
behavior over the course of my career.
Something I learned early and oftenat the very beginning is empathy.
What is it like to be our customers?
Right?
That's what I mean by empathy.
Walk a mile in their shoes empathy.
Giving that great deal of focus asa leader, will help me design and
(24:33):
develop the types of improvementsor culture that we want to be
able to deliver for the community.
The other part that empathy comesinto play is how you lead a team.
And all of us have had different typesof bosses over the course of our careers.
And I find myself really admiringthose that had a great deal of
(24:56):
empathy and understanding that eachone of us are motivated differently
and each one of us are humans, andwe're all different from each other.
And to treat us that way too.
And I've seen that being brought with meand my type of approach on leadership.
You know, it's so easy sometimes inthis corner office to, try to get
(25:17):
everything done, everything done at once.
I've heard this term many years ago, butI've kept this in the back of my mind.
It's called Boiling the Ocean.
I don't know if you've ever heardthat term that you can do too
much and you would boil the ocean.
And if you boil the ocean, you mayget a lot accomplished and you use a
lot of energy to do it, but you're notaccomplishing what you should be doing.
(25:40):
You'll kill all the land, right?
All the wildlife, I mean all the fish.
So it's this balance that I see myselfin a leadership position of having, of
keeping an immense amount of attentionon the goals and objectives that we
want to accomplish, but having the senseenough to know that those also have
to be done by others, not just myself.
(26:03):
Because if we don't depend on othersto deliver it, I'll be working
80 hour weeks and I won't lastvery long, working 80 hour weeks.
But it is those moments of leadershipthat I've learned over the years.
One more comment onthings that I've learned.
I've also seen how products and/orservices have changed an industry.
(26:27):
And I'll give you an example of that.
I was with the cableindustry for 16 years.
I worked for Time Warner Cable in variousdegrees of responsibilities there within
that Fortune 50 company, that we became.
And one of the moments that I, ithas always stuck with me is when
(26:48):
I joined that industry when wewere just delivering video, cable.
Analog cables, matter of fact,to the community that we serve.
Then we launched this littlething called high speed data.
And high speed data and the internetand the delivery of that really
became that massive focal point forthis industry, and it still remains.
(27:12):
And it very much is that momentthat it changed the the industry,
it also changed the way consumerssaw our industry as well.
You know, just in, in two minuteshere, Paul will explain what I mean
by that is that we would do customersurveys as a cable company and we'd
do customer survey and the customerswould say, "Ah, you could do better."
(27:34):
Right?
Because the cable industry hasn'thad the best, you know, successes.
That's right.
Yeah.
In that aspect, right?
You can do better, you know, is basicallythe kind way of, I'm saying what
customers would tell us but then we'dask them, "Hey, what do you think of the
company that delivers high speed data?"
Oh, I love that company.
That company is innovative.
(27:54):
That company is fun to work, you know, funto, to interact with and fun to work with.
And, and I really appreciatewhat, they're doing.
Well, it's the same company.
Wow.
It's the same companythat was delivering cable.
It's the same company that'sdelivering the high speed data.
So it's that moment.
So fast forward to where we are today,Paul is, I believe what we're on
the cusp of as an industry with thismicrotransit solution that we have.
(28:18):
Very similar to Uber and Lyft.
Is that high speed data momentthat we have in this industry.
I don't believe that we havereally figured out the true
potential of this microtransitsolution and system that we have.
But the fact that we're all findingvarying aspects of delivery and a
(28:39):
success with it, it reminds me a lotof what we were doing back in the
nineties with high speed data andseeing how that changed the industry.
So, and that's
And why was that?
My little long, but short story on that.
But it's something that I bring with me.
Yeah, love that.
Let's just for one more minute, tellme what did you all get out of that?
(29:01):
What was the lesson?
Just as something newpeople liked it better?
What was the lesson?
It was indeed that the consumer'sgonna identify a value.
And they're gonna associate thatvalue with your company, right?
We had too many years.
I think you wrote it away on that value-
Yes.
-on the cable side, on thevideo side, because we, at that
(29:25):
time, we didn't produce thecontent that we were delivering.
So there was no relationshipwith, let give you an example,
whether you liked the show on HBO.
Well, that that wasn't because ofyour cable company back in those days.
Now I think they're all owned,you know, by one or two.
But there was no value.
As soon as high speed data comesaround, now there's value that
(29:47):
that company is delivering.
Okay.
And I can associate that value andI think that's a great a moment in
that industry that I am seeing here.
Granted, we still get valued on ourfixed route, but the fact that we can
deliver this new type of value has putus in a different light with those 95%
(30:10):
of the community that doesn't take us.
We're now a consideration in thoseconversations that we never had before.
So, I see that as someof those similarities.
That's great.
Jon Gary Herrera, thank you so muchfor taking a few minutes with us today
and sharing with us your philosophiesand your experience and all the great
things happening there in San Antonio,one of America's oldest cities.
(30:32):
But it's got some of the newest,coolest stuff going on, man.
Thanks Paul.
Appreciate the time youspent with me this afternoon.
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Transit Unplugged, the world's
number one transit executive podcast.
I'm Julie Gates, executiveproducer of the podcast.
Many thanks to the teamthat makes this show happen.
(30:54):
Host and producer, Paul Comfort,producer Chris O'Keefe, editor
Patrick Emil, associate producer CindyRaskin and consultants Dan Meisner
and Jonas Woos at Bumper Transit.
Unplugged is beingbrought to you by Modaxo.
Passionate about movingthe world's people.
If you would enjoy behind the scenesinsights and updates from the show.
(31:15):
Sign up for our weekly newsletter,which has links to Can't Miss.
Conversations with thebiggest names in mobility.
Head to transit unplugged.com and scrollto the bottom of the page to sign up.
Thanks for listening, and we'll catch youon the next episode of Transit Unplugged.
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