Transit Unplugged

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) General Manager Scott Sauer joins Paul Comfort to discuss leading one of North America's most complex transit agencies through a period of transformation. After beginning his career as a trolley operator at just 19 years old, Sauer now oversees the nation's sixth-largest transit system as it modernizes aging infrastructure, grows ridership, prepares for major international ...

Leadership transitions are inevitable, but successful ones are far from guaranteed. In this special on-location episode of Transit Unplugged, Paul Comfort visits Delaware Transit Corporation (DART First State) to explore a rare example of intentional succession in action.

Outgoing CEO John Sisson reflects on a 32-year career and the legacy he leaves after more than a decade leading one of America's most unique statewide transit syst...

Access to healthcare doesn't start at the doctor's office—it starts with transportation.

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, Paul Comfort sits down with Steven Feist, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Coordinated Transportation Solutions (CTS), to explore the world of Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) and its growing role in healthcare access. Steven explains how transportation brokers connect Medicaid ...

Former Federal Transit Administration Administrator Marc Molinaro joins Paul Comfort for an in-depth conversation about federal transit policy, funding, and the future of public transportation.

Drawing on his experience as both a member of Congress and the leader of the FTA, Molinaro offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the agency operates, what transit agencies should understand about federal grants, and why building consensus in...

What does public transit look like when you're serving 20 counties across Central and East Texas?

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, Paul Comfort continues his series featuring new transit CEOs with a conversation with Wendy Weedon, CEO of the Brazos Transit District. After spending 17 years with the organization, Wendy stepped into the top leadership role in September and now oversees one of Texas' most diverse transit systems.

W...

What does success look like for transit agencies in a post-pandemic world? According to Christie Wegener, it may be time to stop measuring against 2019 altogether.

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort speaks with Christie Wegener, Executive Director of the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA), about the changing realities of suburban transit, evolving commuter behavior, and why reliability may matter ...

When Steve Fuentes arrived as the new President & CEO of Milwaukee County Transit System, he stepped directly into a perfect storm: major service cuts, labor tensions, budget deficits, and the looming transit fiscal cliff.

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, Steve joins Paul Comfort to discuss how his 30-year journey at the Chicago Transit Authority — from part-time bus operator to senior leadership — prepared him ...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to North America—and for public transportation agencies across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the countdown is already underway.

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, Paul Comfort speaks with transportation journalist Dan Zukowski of Smart Cities Dive about the enormous mobility challenge behind one of the world’s biggest sporting events. From Los Angeles and Boston to New York-N...

Commuter rail is being reinvented—and at Virginia Railway Express (VRE), that shift starts with one big idea: becoming a true regional rail system.

Katie Choe, CEO of VRE, joins Paul Comfort to explain how the agency is moving beyond its traditional peak-hour, commuter-focused model toward a more flexible, all-day, bi-directional network designed for today’s travel patterns.

At the center of that transformation is VRE&rs...

In this quarterly Transit Unplugged Insider, Paul Comfort and Julie Gates break down the most important developments shaping public transportation right now—from Washington leadership changes to emerging mobility technology.

They cover the five biggest stories transit leaders need to know, including:

FTA Leadership Shakeup – With no administrator or deputy currently in place, what does this leadership gap mean for the Fed...

Tiffany Gunter, GM + CEO of Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, joins Paul Comfort to explain how SMART saw a 40% ridership increase on key high-volume corridors including Gratiot and Woodward. She shares the operational changes behind the gains—from stronger on-time performance and improved frequencies to cleaner shelters, onboard Wi-Fi, and a renewed focus on customer experience.

Tiffany also shares her ...

How Transit CEOs Are Tackling Safety, Growth, and Leadership — Live from ThinkTransit

This week on Transit Unplugged, we take you live to Boston for a special CEO Roundtable recorded at the ThinkTransit Conference—featuring four of the most influential leaders in public transportation today.

Host Paul Comfort sits down with:

• Jay Fox — Executive Director, Utah Transit Authority
• Nora Leerhsen — Acting Preside...

Paul Comfort talks with Patrick Preusser, Chief Operating Officer of Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD), to unpack the reality of delivering transit service across one of the largest and most complex systems in the U.S.

Serving over 3 million people across 2,000+ square miles, RTD operates a multimodal network of bus, light rail, commuter rail, paratransit, and emerging microtransit services—all coordinated ...

This week on Transit Unplugged, we continue our “The Doers” series—highlighting the transit leaders who are not just setting strategy, but delivering results on the ground.

Paul Comfort sits down with Shofi Ull Azum, Chief Planning and Development Officer at Cherriots in Salem, Oregon—a mid-size agency achieving something few systems have managed: ridership that exceeds pre-pandemic levels by more than 12%.

Sh...

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort sits down with Amanda Vandegrift, Deputy CEO of Finance & Administration and Chief Financial Officer at WeGo Public Transit in Nashville.

This conversation is part of our “The Doers” series—highlighting transit leaders who are not just setting vision, but actively delivering results on the ground.

Amanda shares her unique journey from private-sector consult...

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort explores a question many transit agencies are asking today: Do operators make the best transit leaders?

Paul’s guest, Michael Dylan Pal, Director of Public Transit for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) in Buffalo, has lived that journey firsthand.

Pal began his career behind the wheel as a bus operator for New York City Transit, eventually rising through...

Welcome to the first part of a series we're calling "The Doers"!

Public safety is one of the most urgent issues facing transit systems today. In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort sits down with Kevin Scott, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Security at Bi-State Development / St. Louis Metro Transit, to discuss a bold initiative that is reshaping safety across the region’s light rail network.

Scot...

In this special milestone episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort celebrates Episode 400 and nearly a decade of conversations with the leaders shaping public transportation around the world.

To kick off the episode, Paul sits down with Mark Miller, President of Constellation Software and Executive Chairman of the Volaris Group. Mark reflects on the early days of the podcast, the thinking behind creating a platform for indust...

Transit’s future is all about people.

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort talks with Geisha Ester, Executive Director of the National Transit Institute (NTI) at Rutgers University, about why workforce development has become the industry’s most important investment — and how agencies and professionals can take advantage of it right now.

NTI, funded by the Federal Transit Administration, delivers n...