India L. Birdsong Terry serves as Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). She joined RTA in September 2019 and brings over 15 years’ experience working in positions of increasing responsibility in the public transit industry. Birdsong Terry began her career in 2006 when she joined the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), where she served in planning, instruction, control center, operations, and finally as Senior Manager of the central region for Bus Supervision and Instruction. In 2015, she was appointed Chief Operating Officer of WeGo Public Transit in Nashville, where she served until coming to Cleveland. At RTA, Birdsong Terry oversees more than 2,000 employees at the largest transit system in Ohio, which provides more than 24 million annual rides to customers using the bus, rail, paratransit, trolley, and bus rapid transit system across the county’s 457 square miles. Responsible for managing the Authority’s $292 million operating budget, Birdsong is committed to transparent leadership, management accountability and sound financial oversight.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
You should know.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Keith Hotchkiss, and there's a whole world behind the
economic engine that is public transportation in the US. And
we spoke about the challenges of navigating a post pandemic
world with urban sprawl and everything from AI bus drivers
with India bird song from the Greater Cleveland RTA, India.
You've been CEO of Greater Cleveland RTA now for more
(00:27):
than five.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yearsh five and a half.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, wow, And that means you started right when COVID hit, six.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Months before COVID. That's the way that I explained it.
That's the only way I remember.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So then you went from out of the frying pan
into the fryar if you will, and talk to us
about how we know how the public transit system adapted
to COVID. But now that we're I guess almost five
years out, now, what have you guys changed, what's better,
what's worse, what's different? Can you talk a little bit
about the growth of the organization since then?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Asluly So, good question. It's a fun question.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Like I said, so, I started in September of twenty
nineteen and then COVID hit I think March or April
of twenty twenty, and then we really it was just
enough time. And that actually was the beginning of my
life in Cleveland as well. Wow, so a lot of
things had changed. I had just gotten married two weeks
before I got here, Wow, ended up having two pandemic kids.
(01:28):
A lot of stuff happened, right, but good stuff. And
I mentioned those things because I think it also lended
to the culture change that we've kind of undergone at
RTA over the last five years. The leadership has started
to look a little bit different. Great leadership before, but
different now. And I think we had to pivot, not
(01:48):
just with COVID, but people want to work from home.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Sometimes we can't do that.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
We can't drive a bus autonomously, not yet anyway, and
so we still have to come in. We still are
public service and people depend on us in a way that
I think COVID forced people to realize is actually essential,
not just a nice to have when your car breaks
down and you happen to take the bus or you
go to the game. So to get to your question,
what has changed, we have totally transformed the way that
(02:15):
we reach out to the community hopefully the community actually
accepts and sees that we have come up with new
policing strategy. We actually have a transit policing team of over.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
One hundred officers sworn officers.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
We have a full ambassador team with crisis intervention specialists
WOW to help out with mental health and social issues.
Like I mentioned, our marketing team is totally different. We're
building a podcast studio right now. We're revamping all of
our stations. We're replacing our real fleet.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Who'd have thought that the public transit company would be
starting a podcast just like this one, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Well, we realized that there's more than just paper, right,
We got to kind of reach out to people in
different ways.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
As I'm listening to this, you know, aside from really
New York and Chicago, most major cities in the US
were built for cars, and you see there's this resistance
towards you know, taking the bus or pair of transit
or transit trains unless you quote unquote have to. Can
you talk about sounds like what the officers you're making
(03:17):
it safer? Can you talk about why people should consider
public transportation as an alternative and why they should consider
our TA.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
So we live in Cleveland, Ohio. And if you haven't noticed,
the weather change is quite a bit. And that's you know,
reason number one, right when it's snowing outside, when it's raining,
when there's inclement weather, we're the safer option, to be
quite honest, we're the ones that can drive for you. Also,
we revamped our bus network back about three years ago
(03:46):
now with the next gen. So that was a system
redesign that usually isn't done but every twenty years. So
we actually made it a little easier for you to
take bus routes, have connections, have a faster ride. Also,
with everything that's going on with gas prices, it's unpredictable.
We are not right your fares to fifty no matter what.
With us, we haven't had fare increases since I've been here,
(04:09):
no layoffs. We're pretty consistent. Also, we are connecting better,
I think with the resources that are out there.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Can you talk a little bit about how public transportation,
though truly is a lifeline for most or for most
who use it a lot of people in the community
and could be for others. Getting people to and from work,
getting kids to and from school, getting elderly to and
from the hospitals, can you talk about for folks that
don't use it every day, or maybe don't live near
(04:37):
the urban core, that don't see buses and have a
train near them, Can you talk a little bit about
how important that is.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
It's absolutely imperative that we continue to have public transit
in greater Cleveland. There's a lot of folks in Cleveland
that are either unseen or unheard. And those are the
folks that are teaching your kids every day. These are
the folks that are serving you at the restaurants. These
are the folks that are making up your rooms in
the hotels. Right, these are the lay folks and the
middle class primarily load to mid income that take our service.
(05:08):
And a lot of these folks, but for RTA may
not be able to get to those appointments.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Right you think about how would they were currently broadcasting
from Euclid Avenue downtown. Most folks who work in the
hotels and restaurants around here wouldn't be able to afford
to take a parking pass every month, and so the
RTA is a lifeline for them. Then it helps a
whole overall economy because people can come downtown and stay
the hotels and eat.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
In the restaurants right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Whereabouts, and I imagine you have senior transit. I know
you do free transit on election day, those kinds of things.
Can you talk a little bit about some of those services.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Absolutely, So we have what we call big bus, right,
those are the forty sixty foot or buses that you
see kind of going up and down the street.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
So we have bus, we have rail, We have the Healthline,
one of the first in the nation to have connection
to the airport.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
We have pair transit like you mentioned, so that helps
out with a lot of elderly folks or ada customers
that are in wheelchairs and need some assistance. We are
actually aging quicker and more rapidly in Ohio than almost
any other state in the nation. Interesting, so when you
think about that, we literally can't keep up with the
demand of folks that are asking for pair of transit services.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It's an amazing phenomenon.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
But being able to give people the option mobility is
what we stand for. We also handle a tremendous amount
of school kids that don't take the yellow bus, primarily
high school that have passes. We have what's called a
upass program, and so they have that pass to be
able to utilize RTA not just to get to school,
but also good to after school programs, and that ox
(06:42):
also kind of sustains that economy you're talking about and
kids keeps kids safe as well.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Sure, I mean think about it.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
We're talking with India Bird Song, the CEO of the
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority also known as the RTA.
When people talk about, you know, you coming to the
game and the rail service that's been improved, can you
talk about, you know, things like Wi Fi and other
areas where it would make sense for people to continue
or to rethink maybe taking the train into downtown.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Super excited, So glad you asked me. We currently have
what is shaping up to be a four hundred and
fifty million dollar project, So four hundred and fifty million
dollar project to replace in the entire rail fleet that
we have. Wow, so every train that you have ever
seen in your life. And I can say that because
the rail cars are forty plus years old, all of them,
all of them, and they were put in it all
(07:31):
the same times. That means that they're kind of aging
out all together.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Oh wow.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Yeah, And so most rail fleets should be able to
be in somewhere between twenty five and thirty years. That's
when they start to show their age. So we're past
the end of the useful life. Our first rail car
will be coming into Cleveland in summer of twenty twenty six. Wow,
and then we'll continue to replace for the next couple
of years until it's all done.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
We're doing the track work now.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
It accesses everything from downtown Cleveland all the way to
Brook Park and beyond.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
We're super excited about it. And that's bike racks.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
That's new technology for fair We're also looking at fair capping.
You just want to mention that that's an equity kind
of mechanism to be able to have people be able
to make it more affordable to pay their fares. But
with those railcars, we're going from nineteen eighty technology to
twenty twenty six all at once, and so we're super excited.
The maintenance folks are stoked about it and just being
(08:23):
able to have it look different.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
You will see the difference immediately, of course.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I mean I imagine people when you see the fresh and
clean and the Wi Fi on there and being able
to throw your bike on, I think you're going to
see a lot more usage in that and that's something
to look forward to as we continue to see hopefully
growth in the downtown core as far as people coming
back to office and people living downtown and getting from
places to places in the urban core.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You mentioned safety.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
You've got more than one hundred officers, which I think
is remarkable for people to know, and I imagine that's
something you guys take very seriously, right.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Absolutely, so those officers that we have, we have a
full command staff, have a Chief of Transit Police, Deutra Jones,
is our first female African American LGBTQ plus chief. It's
amazing and we had a good, solid system for a
very long time.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But I'll give you an example.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Just getting out into the community has been her focus
for that team. And we went from about fifteen or
twenty touch points with a community, different events and so
on every year to over one hundred and fifty annually.
So we're really getting out there and just being able
to just be with the community.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Explain what we do.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
We do Touch a truck events with the kids, We
go out into the school systems, we go to the
elderly homes. When you talk about prom for the elderly.
We actually did that too.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
It's just been really fun and I think being able
to monitor the system is just a perk of the job.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I want to take nothing away from the amazing drivers
of the buses and trains and pair of transit that
do great work every day they show up rain, sleet,
snow or wind to provide this essential service. But we
couldn't probably have this discussion of the future without the
talk of autonomous driving buses and trains. How what is
is that realistic? What's the reality firstus? What is the hyperbolieve?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Right?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (10:14):
So, sustainability is something that is talked about in a
lot of different circles, and autonomy and autonomous vehicles is
something that's been around actually for a long time, but
it's not been really immersed in the United States for
a while. So there are certain agencies within the nation. Jacksonville,
for example, Florida, the warm weather areas tend to pilot
it a little bit quicker than we do, and that's
(10:35):
obvious reasons. But a lot of the technologies, even with
the electric vehicles, for example, I ran a system before
I got here that had electric vehicles in it.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Cleveland is looking to pilot that.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Of course, we're waiting for the funding to come on
down from the folks in DC, but we've won a
ten point six million dollar grant toward research and electric
vehicles already and we're looking to research that and pilot
that out of the Hayden Garage in East Cleveland within
luck over the next year or so. But that whole
autonomous vehicle, we definitely have some work to do. There's
liabilities with that, but there are also amazing opportunities. Most
(11:09):
people run that in people, I mean agencies. If they
do try that far and few between, they usually try
it on a circulator or something that is a little
bit more predictable so you don't have to deal with traffic.
But there are options that operate that way as well. Well.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, I mean you think about the waterfrontline and maybe
that could be a little more easy for people to
move around in and you.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Could almost imagine that.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I know that some airports I believe operates people a
back and forth people mover without a driver.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So it's just it's an interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I know, and there's a lot of people probably listening
that would never get into a train or a bus
if they knew that there wasn't a driver there.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Well, one thing if I could say is that we
have to make sure that we transfer the skills from
the folks that are actually driving now and operating to
something else, right, because we want to maintain that their
skill set actually grows with the technology. But there are
entire rail fleets that are operating at autonomously. Hawaii is
one of those. I got an opportunity to see that
technology and it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
So it's coming the waterfront line though. To your point,
we actually rehab the entire bridge probably about three four
years ago now, and we are operating on the weekends
to be able to kind of bring those folks back
into the flat. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, because the flats is obviously a growth engine. We've
got Mgk's restaurant down their Shooters reopening under his leadership too.
So India Bird Song, CEO of Greater Cleveland ur TA,
we talk a lot on this podcast, and we were
talking offline before we started the recording here about you know,
the job public figure, stressful job to little kids. I imagine,
(12:41):
how does someone like you find time to center yourself
stay destressed?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And decompressed. How do you How does that work for you?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I do not have the magic ball for that one.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I'm still looking for the answer and then the balance
to be quite frankly honest with you, but being able
to have a family that is supportive is really helpful.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
My husband is awesome.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
We do have a little bit of the check our
calendars day and night. But I think it makes a
lot of sense to be able to look at it
like you do work in the fact that you have
to be able to look at it like a Jenga
game and push.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
People in and out.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
One thing I will say is Cleveland is kind of
nice because I think with this industry in particular, the
larger system you have, the closer you are to the
politics and less to the operations, and it's the reverse
with the smaller systems. Usually as a CEO, you're more
immersed and engaged with the operations and maybe less with
the politics. Cleveland allows me to strike that balance where
(13:35):
we're in mid size and I can kind of dabble
in both, which is awesome because that's pretty much my
whole career. It's been one to the other.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Well, Look, it's an important resource that people who don't
live near the urban core or maybe work in these
areas see every day. But when you talk about kids
going after school programs and the elderly getting their medication
and folks just getting to the really important grunt work
that happens sort of unseen but is really important. Uh,
Greater Cleveland RTA is there to take them to and
(14:05):
from work and hopefully home where they can continue to
fund their families as well. So India Bird Song, CEO
of Greater Cleveland ARTA, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
And this has been iHeartRadio CEOs.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You should know today's show is produced by Bob Coates said,
I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
We'll see you next time.
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
You should know.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Keith Hotchkiss, and there's a whole world behind the
economic engine that is public transportation in the US. And
we spoke about the challenges of navigating a post pandemic
world with urban sprawl and everything from AI bus drivers
with India bird song from the Greater Cleveland RTA, India.
You've been CEO of Greater Cleveland RTA now for more
(00:27):
than five.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yearsh five and a half.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, wow, And that means you started right when COVID hit, six.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Months before COVID. That's the way that I explained it.
That's the only way I remember.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So then you went from out of the frying pan
into the fryar if you will, and talk to us
about how we know how the public transit system adapted
to COVID. But now that we're I guess almost five
years out, now, what have you guys changed, what's better,
what's worse, what's different? Can you talk a little bit
about the growth of the organization since then?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Asluly So, good question. It's a fun question.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Like I said, so, I started in September of twenty
nineteen and then COVID hit I think March or April
of twenty twenty, and then we really it was just
enough time. And that actually was the beginning of my
life in Cleveland as well. Wow, so a lot of
things had changed. I had just gotten married two weeks
before I got here, Wow, ended up having two pandemic kids.
(01:28):
A lot of stuff happened, right, but good stuff. And
I mentioned those things because I think it also lended
to the culture change that we've kind of undergone at
RTA over the last five years. The leadership has started
to look a little bit different. Great leadership before, but
different now. And I think we had to pivot, not
(01:48):
just with COVID, but people want to work from home.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Sometimes we can't do that.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
We can't drive a bus autonomously, not yet anyway, and
so we still have to come in. We still are
public service and people depend on us in a way that
I think COVID forced people to realize is actually essential,
not just a nice to have when your car breaks
down and you happen to take the bus or you
go to the game. So to get to your question,
what has changed, we have totally transformed the way that
(02:15):
we reach out to the community hopefully the community actually
accepts and sees that we have come up with new
policing strategy. We actually have a transit policing team of over.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
One hundred officers sworn officers.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
We have a full ambassador team with crisis intervention specialists
WOW to help out with mental health and social issues.
Like I mentioned, our marketing team is totally different. We're
building a podcast studio right now. We're revamping all of
our stations. We're replacing our real fleet.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Who'd have thought that the public transit company would be
starting a podcast just like this one, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Well, we realized that there's more than just paper, right,
We got to kind of reach out to people in
different ways.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
As I'm listening to this, you know, aside from really
New York and Chicago, most major cities in the US
were built for cars, and you see there's this resistance
towards you know, taking the bus or pair of transit
or transit trains unless you quote unquote have to. Can
you talk about sounds like what the officers you're making
(03:17):
it safer? Can you talk about why people should consider
public transportation as an alternative and why they should consider
our TA.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
So we live in Cleveland, Ohio. And if you haven't noticed,
the weather change is quite a bit. And that's you know,
reason number one, right when it's snowing outside, when it's raining,
when there's inclement weather, we're the safer option, to be
quite honest, we're the ones that can drive for you. Also,
we revamped our bus network back about three years ago
(03:46):
now with the next gen. So that was a system
redesign that usually isn't done but every twenty years. So
we actually made it a little easier for you to
take bus routes, have connections, have a faster ride. Also,
with everything that's going on with gas prices, it's unpredictable.
We are not right your fares to fifty no matter what.
With us, we haven't had fare increases since I've been here,
(04:09):
no layoffs. We're pretty consistent. Also, we are connecting better,
I think with the resources that are out there.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Can you talk a little bit about how public transportation,
though truly is a lifeline for most or for most
who use it a lot of people in the community
and could be for others. Getting people to and from work,
getting kids to and from school, getting elderly to and
from the hospitals, can you talk about for folks that
don't use it every day, or maybe don't live near
(04:37):
the urban core, that don't see buses and have a
train near them, Can you talk a little bit about
how important that is.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
It's absolutely imperative that we continue to have public transit
in greater Cleveland. There's a lot of folks in Cleveland
that are either unseen or unheard. And those are the
folks that are teaching your kids every day. These are
the folks that are serving you at the restaurants. These
are the folks that are making up your rooms in
the hotels. Right, these are the lay folks and the
middle class primarily load to mid income that take our service.
(05:08):
And a lot of these folks, but for RTA may
not be able to get to those appointments.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Right you think about how would they were currently broadcasting
from Euclid Avenue downtown. Most folks who work in the
hotels and restaurants around here wouldn't be able to afford
to take a parking pass every month, and so the
RTA is a lifeline for them. Then it helps a
whole overall economy because people can come downtown and stay
the hotels and eat.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
In the restaurants right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Whereabouts, and I imagine you have senior transit. I know
you do free transit on election day, those kinds of things.
Can you talk a little bit about some of those services.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Absolutely, So we have what we call big bus, right,
those are the forty sixty foot or buses that you
see kind of going up and down the street.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
So we have bus, we have rail, We have the Healthline,
one of the first in the nation to have connection
to the airport.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
We have pair transit like you mentioned, so that helps
out with a lot of elderly folks or ada customers
that are in wheelchairs and need some assistance. We are
actually aging quicker and more rapidly in Ohio than almost
any other state in the nation. Interesting, so when you
think about that, we literally can't keep up with the
demand of folks that are asking for pair of transit services.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It's an amazing phenomenon.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
But being able to give people the option mobility is
what we stand for. We also handle a tremendous amount
of school kids that don't take the yellow bus, primarily
high school that have passes. We have what's called a
upass program, and so they have that pass to be
able to utilize RTA not just to get to school,
but also good to after school programs, and that ox
(06:42):
also kind of sustains that economy you're talking about and
kids keeps kids safe as well.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Sure, I mean think about it.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
We're talking with India Bird Song, the CEO of the
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority also known as the RTA.
When people talk about, you know, you coming to the
game and the rail service that's been improved, can you
talk about, you know, things like Wi Fi and other
areas where it would make sense for people to continue
or to rethink maybe taking the train into downtown.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Super excited, So glad you asked me. We currently have
what is shaping up to be a four hundred and
fifty million dollar project, So four hundred and fifty million
dollar project to replace in the entire rail fleet that
we have. Wow, so every train that you have ever
seen in your life. And I can say that because
the rail cars are forty plus years old, all of them,
all of them, and they were put in it all
(07:31):
the same times. That means that they're kind of aging
out all together.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Oh wow.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Yeah, And so most rail fleets should be able to
be in somewhere between twenty five and thirty years. That's
when they start to show their age. So we're past
the end of the useful life. Our first rail car
will be coming into Cleveland in summer of twenty twenty six. Wow,
and then we'll continue to replace for the next couple
of years until it's all done.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
We're doing the track work now.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
It accesses everything from downtown Cleveland all the way to
Brook Park and beyond.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
We're super excited about it. And that's bike racks.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
That's new technology for fair We're also looking at fair capping.
You just want to mention that that's an equity kind
of mechanism to be able to have people be able
to make it more affordable to pay their fares. But
with those railcars, we're going from nineteen eighty technology to
twenty twenty six all at once, and so we're super excited.
The maintenance folks are stoked about it and just being
(08:23):
able to have it look different.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
You will see the difference immediately, of course.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I mean I imagine people when you see the fresh and
clean and the Wi Fi on there and being able
to throw your bike on, I think you're going to
see a lot more usage in that and that's something
to look forward to as we continue to see hopefully
growth in the downtown core as far as people coming
back to office and people living downtown and getting from
places to places in the urban core.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You mentioned safety.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
You've got more than one hundred officers, which I think
is remarkable for people to know, and I imagine that's
something you guys take very seriously, right.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Absolutely, so those officers that we have, we have a
full command staff, have a Chief of Transit Police, Deutra Jones,
is our first female African American LGBTQ plus chief. It's
amazing and we had a good, solid system for a
very long time.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But I'll give you an example.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Just getting out into the community has been her focus
for that team. And we went from about fifteen or
twenty touch points with a community, different events and so
on every year to over one hundred and fifty annually.
So we're really getting out there and just being able
to just be with the community.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Explain what we do.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
We do Touch a truck events with the kids, We
go out into the school systems, we go to the
elderly homes. When you talk about prom for the elderly.
We actually did that too.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
It's just been really fun and I think being able
to monitor the system is just a perk of the job.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I want to take nothing away from the amazing drivers
of the buses and trains and pair of transit that
do great work every day they show up rain, sleet,
snow or wind to provide this essential service. But we
couldn't probably have this discussion of the future without the
talk of autonomous driving buses and trains. How what is
is that realistic? What's the reality firstus? What is the hyperbolieve?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Right?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (10:14):
So, sustainability is something that is talked about in a
lot of different circles, and autonomy and autonomous vehicles is
something that's been around actually for a long time, but
it's not been really immersed in the United States for
a while. So there are certain agencies within the nation. Jacksonville,
for example, Florida, the warm weather areas tend to pilot
it a little bit quicker than we do, and that's
(10:35):
obvious reasons. But a lot of the technologies, even with
the electric vehicles, for example, I ran a system before
I got here that had electric vehicles in it.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Cleveland is looking to pilot that.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Of course, we're waiting for the funding to come on
down from the folks in DC, but we've won a
ten point six million dollar grant toward research and electric
vehicles already and we're looking to research that and pilot
that out of the Hayden Garage in East Cleveland within
luck over the next year or so. But that whole
autonomous vehicle, we definitely have some work to do. There's
liabilities with that, but there are also amazing opportunities. Most
(11:09):
people run that in people, I mean agencies. If they
do try that far and few between, they usually try
it on a circulator or something that is a little
bit more predictable so you don't have to deal with traffic.
But there are options that operate that way as well. Well.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, I mean you think about the waterfrontline and maybe
that could be a little more easy for people to
move around in and you.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Could almost imagine that.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I know that some airports I believe operates people a
back and forth people mover without a driver.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So it's just it's an interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I know, and there's a lot of people probably listening
that would never get into a train or a bus
if they knew that there wasn't a driver there.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Well, one thing if I could say is that we
have to make sure that we transfer the skills from
the folks that are actually driving now and operating to
something else, right, because we want to maintain that their
skill set actually grows with the technology. But there are
entire rail fleets that are operating at autonomously. Hawaii is
one of those. I got an opportunity to see that
technology and it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
So it's coming the waterfront line though. To your point,
we actually rehab the entire bridge probably about three four
years ago now, and we are operating on the weekends
to be able to kind of bring those folks back
into the flat. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, because the flats is obviously a growth engine. We've
got Mgk's restaurant down their Shooters reopening under his leadership too.
So India Bird Song, CEO of Greater Cleveland ur TA,
we talk a lot on this podcast, and we were
talking offline before we started the recording here about you know,
the job public figure, stressful job to little kids. I imagine,
(12:41):
how does someone like you find time to center yourself
stay destressed?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And decompressed. How do you How does that work for you?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I do not have the magic ball for that one.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I'm still looking for the answer and then the balance
to be quite frankly honest with you, but being able
to have a family that is supportive is really helpful.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
My husband is awesome.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
We do have a little bit of the check our
calendars day and night. But I think it makes a
lot of sense to be able to look at it
like you do work in the fact that you have
to be able to look at it like a Jenga
game and push.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
People in and out.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
One thing I will say is Cleveland is kind of
nice because I think with this industry in particular, the
larger system you have, the closer you are to the
politics and less to the operations, and it's the reverse
with the smaller systems. Usually as a CEO, you're more
immersed and engaged with the operations and maybe less with
the politics. Cleveland allows me to strike that balance where
(13:35):
we're in mid size and I can kind of dabble
in both, which is awesome because that's pretty much my
whole career. It's been one to the other.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Well, Look, it's an important resource that people who don't
live near the urban core or maybe work in these
areas see every day. But when you talk about kids
going after school programs and the elderly getting their medication
and folks just getting to the really important grunt work
that happens sort of unseen but is really important. Uh,
Greater Cleveland RTA is there to take them to and
(14:05):
from work and hopefully home where they can continue to
fund their families as well. So India Bird Song, CEO
of Greater Cleveland ARTA, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
And this has been iHeartRadio CEOs.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You should know today's show is produced by Bob Coates said,
I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
We'll see you next time.
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