From 0 to 200: Jeremi Bumpus on Building 207 New Bus Stops with Tech and Tenacity - podcast episode cover

From 0 to 200: Jeremi Bumpus on Building 207 New Bus Stops with Tech and Tenacity

May 07, 202529 minSeason 8Ep. 27
--:--
--:--
Download Metacast podcast app
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

What happens when a millennial with a higher ed background takes the wheel of a legacy transit agency? You get 207 new bus stops, a real-time tracking app, and a fresh vision for Western Kentucky mobility.

 

In this episode of Transit Unplugged Podcast, Paul Comfort talks with Jeremi Bumpus, Executive Director of Paducah Transit Authority, about leading change in a small but mighty system. Jeremi shares how he transitioned from higher education into transit, what it means for Paducah to move from rural to small urban funding, and how he and his team replaced an outdated “wave your hand” bus system with a structured, tech-enabled network. Topics include:

  • Modernizing a hail-based system with 207 fixed bus stops
  • Launching a real-time rider app and 24/7 info kiosk
  • Balancing new technology with legacy organization culture
  • Navigating the shift from state funding to FTA direct funding

If you’re into small agency innovation, smart leadership, or just want to know what goes into transforming transit at the ground level—this one’s a must-listen.

 

Credits:

 

Host & Producer: Paul Comfort 

Podcast Manager & Newsletter Guy: Chris O'Keeffe 

Executive Producer: Julie Gates Special thanks to: 

 

Brand Design: Tina Olagundoye 

Social Media: Tatyana Mechkarova 

 

Got a question or comment? Email us at

inf[email protected]


 

Subscribe to the Transit Unplugged Newsletter: transitunplugged.com/subscribe-to-the-transit-unplugged-newsletter 

 

Follow us on social media:

 


 / transit-unplugged  

https://x.com/transitunplug

https://www.threads.net/@transitunplu... 

 / transitunplugged   

 

 

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...

Transcript

Introduction to Paducah and Transit Unplugged

Hey, do you know where your favorite futuristic ice cream dipping Dots is headquartered here in the U.S. That's right, Paducah, Kentucky, and today on Transit Unplugged. We're heading there to talk with one of Transit's Rising Stars. I'm your host, Paul Comfort, and I'm joined today by Jeremy Bumpus, executive director of the Paducah Area Transit System, or Pats, as it is known, in just three years in the transit industry and only two.

As executive director, Jeremy is already leading a transformation from a ride hail only rural system. To moving toward launching more than 200 fixed route bus stops. Pats is redefining what mobility looks like for a growing small urban region. We'll explore how Jeremy and his team are preparing for big events like the American Quilter Society Quilt Week, and what it means to scale up service in a close knit community, and how innovation and energy are driving the future of transit in Paducah.

Hey, if you like what you hear today, don't forget to follow U.S. on your favorite platform and leave U.S. a review. It helps more people discover the voices of tomorrow's transit leaders like Jeremy Bumps.

Meet Jeremy Bumpus: Executive Director of PATS

Paul Comfort

Great to have Jeremy Bumpus with me today. He's the executive director of Paducah Transit Authority, and I guess you're calling in from your office in Paducah, Kentucky. Huh?

Jeremi Bumpus

I am, I am straight from the office.

Paul Comfort

That's great, man. Well, good to see you again. Uh, Jeremy and I were just together at the TripSpark Ignite Conference, , a week or two ago. And, um, we connected up and he's got such a great operation, a great story. I wanted to get him on the podcast. Um, so, uh, tell U.S. some about your service.

Overview of Paducah Area Transit System (PATS)

Some Jeremy, where you guys are at, like geographically for people can position. Where Paducah is. Everybody's heard of Paducah, Kentucky, but I don't know if people know exactly where it's at.

Jeremi Bumpus

Yeah. So Paducah, Kentucky, we're located in Kentucky, but we're in the far western part of Kentucky. So we are right on the border of Illinois. Um, it's about five minutes north of U.S. and about 30 minutes West is the border of Missouri. So we're tucked off in the far western part of Kentucky.

Paul Comfort

And about how big is Paducah population wise?

Jeremi Bumpus

I always like to say, if you look it up on Google, it'll say Paducah's about 27,000 people. However, that's just within the city limits. The actual city of Paducah. , we're in . McCracken County, Kentucky. The only city in McCracken County, Kentucky is Paducah. Okay. And that consists of about 67,000 people. But you have county versus city, but it's all Paducah. So we're, we're a community of about 67,000 people.

Paul Comfort

That's great, man. So tell me some about your service. , Jeremi Bumpus: Paducah Transit Authority, you know, we operate at, we do business as Paducah area, transit system. Um, 'cause we serve four counties in Western Kentucky. Um, we have two modes of transit, transportation, we do fixed route and paratransit. Of course, you know, those in the transit world, we call it demand and response. But for those outside the transit world, I always like to say scheduled transportation. That seems to.

Be a little bit, seems to be a little bit better to understand. Uh, yeah. So those are our two modes. Uh, and again, we are the largest public transportation provider in western Kentucky. Very good. So again, we cover four counties along with two other smaller public transit agencies.

Jeremy's Journey into Public Transportation

Gotcha. And let's talk about your journey. Uh, how'd you find your way into public transportation and what has it been like leading Pats and now in your second year as executive director?

Jeremi Bumpus

Wow. Good question. Um, I. What I found in transit is, is most people, um, who are in transit never intended on being in transit. It kind of just happened. Yeah, that's true, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And for me, that's, that's what happened. Um, I spent probably 10 years in higher education, , and my wife and I, we, you know, we spent some time in North Carolina. We lived in Tennessee. , we relocated to Kentucky in Paducah is her hometown.

And, um, at the time I was working for a higher education institution here in Paducah. , and then Covid hit. Oh yeah. And I just, you know, I had a lot of times on my hands, like most people, um, a lot of time to sit, think, and reflect. And, um, I, I was just at a point in life where I wanted to do something different. , and so I had known, uh, the previous director, I'd met him while I was in college. Uh, we reconnected when I moved, uh, to Paducah. And, you know, we hadn't spoken for years.

Uh, but when I moved to Paducah, we reconnected and sure enough he was retiring. , and so essentially he had, was, was looking for someone to, um, take over for him. And so he asked me if I would be interested. , and again, I tell people this, uh, I wasn't guaranteed anything. He said, Hey, I'm gonna be retiring. We're looking for an assistant director and hopefully this person will take over once I retire in two years. , he said, you can apply and you know, we'll go from there.

, I applied, I interviewed with the board of directors. . So I was hired as assistant director and that's how I began my, job. In, my first job in transit was as assistant director.

Paul Comfort

Okay. And what did you do in that role? What was your function? , Jeremi Bumpus: we're a small transit agency, so what I found was the executive director wore very, wore many hats. he didn't just push papers. Yeah. So I spent a year and a half as assistant director learning, , not only under the current executive director, but I spent time with the operations manager. I spent time with the accounting department, HR director, office manager, um, our mechanics.

Pretty much learning all the ins and outs of transit and our services. so I did everything that you can think of, that goes on in a transit agency. Yeah. So I spent a year and a half that.

Bringing Fresh Perspectives to PATS

So coming from outside of the traditional transit world, kinda what fresh perspectives do you think you brought into Pats and how has that impacted the way your team approaches service and innovation?

Jeremi Bumpus

So I'm 37 years old. I came in, I was 35. Um, and it's funny, the younger kids think I'm old, but everyone here thinks I'm super, I'm very young. Yeah. Um. Our average age here at the agency is 54, so I came as the young guy. Yep. And a millennial. So essentially when I walk into, when I walk into the building, my generation we're really big on technology and using technology to make life easier. Um, I do that in my personal life.

So that was one of the things that I noticed here, , at our agency. . We needed updated technology and we needed to update some of our practices and things that we did just to make things more efficient. , what I found is that, , people and agencies and, and businesses, sometimes they just, they're, they're. It's used to the norm. Things have been away for so many years, so many decades. And hey, if it's not, if, if it's not broke, don't fix it. , I don't necessarily look at things that way.

I'm always looking at, Hey, how can we improve this and how can we use the technology that's available to U.S. to improve our services and things of that nature. So, um, that's the perspective that I brought in. I think it was essentially my age, , and my experiences with technology and just kind of the way that I live my life.

. That helped me come in and kind of just see things and say, Hey, maybe we could do this differently, or we can add this, or, change this to make things a little efficient. . Paul Comfort: You know, I had the same experience when I started Jeremy. I was a little bit younger than you. I was 22 when I started, and I was in a county about the size of yours, and I was the county's first transportation director.

And, uh, I was just over there today meeting with him 'cause we're gonna be filming an episode of our TV show coming up soon there. And, but I remember everybody that worked for me could have been my parents or my grandparents. And so it's a big deal when you come in like that, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It is. It is. And, and it's funny, um, I, I, I thought there would be some resistance to that when I came in.

because again, when you get sometimes, and I've, I've worked in other places where you come in as the young guy and the people that you're working with are old enough to be your parents or grandparents. And, you know, I've had resistance in the past, but coming here, I experienced none of that. Everyone. Oh, that's great, man. Very welcoming with open arms.

Now some of the changes that were made, you know, everyone wasn't officially, but you know, everyone working with was open in arms and I think some of them really looked forward to some change and, hey, yeah, we're kind of looking for a fresh start and, and new ideas. And the new and the current executive director at the time have, was still have a very, very good relationship with him, have a lot of respect for him. He knew that and he would say it publicly.

He would say, Hey. He would introduce me, he'd say, Hey, this is Jeremy. This is the assistant director. He's the new young guy coming in with the new ideas, and I'm just gonna turn it over to him and let him run. Oh, that's nice. Uh, and I really appreciate him. Yeah, yeah. No, he would joke and say, no, you can't do this until I retire. But, uh, you know, he, he knew that I was gonna come in and change some things and, um, he was all for it. He was very supportive.

Paul Comfort

What's the structure there? So you're a transit authority. Do you report to like a board of directors that are appointed or work for the county government. City government.

Jeremi Bumpus

Yeah. So the structure we're, we're a quasi-government agency. Okay. Um, so essentially, um, the Kentucky Revised statutes allow municipalities to create a transit authority. so we're not owned or operated by the city or county government. Okay. County government. It's our board that governs and directs U.S. but that's the only tie we have to the city. So we're our own independent agency. That has a governing body, that's chosen by the city.

so a lot of people here in this community, um, who are unfamiliar with pets, they always say, Hey, well I'm gonna call the city. And I'm like, well, uh, I communicate with luck. With luck, right. And I'm like, we're our own standalone agency. Um, we, we work very closely with the city, but um, our board is where it stops.

Paul Comfort

Yeah.

Jeremi Bumpus

So, um, that's. Kind of our structure. And then of course we report to FTA and, um, our Kentucky Transportation cabinet, which is our state transportation agency that, um, provides U.S. funding. So. Gotcha. Yeah.

Paul Comfort

where do, where do you get your funding from? Is it a combination? Who provides the most and all that stuff?

Transitioning from Rural to Small Urban Transit

Jeremi Bumpus

Well, uh, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which is the Office of Transportation and Delivery, um, they provide all of our funding, but we are going through a transition period, which is interesting. okay. We are transitioning from rural to small urban, so we'll be receiving funding directly from FTA and from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which makes for some interesting, Yeah, so essentially two pots of two pots of money, which is always, which is great.

But, um, you know, we're not done with the process to become a direct recipient from FTA yet. Okay. Um, hopefully we'll be done, done with that this summer, but, uh, it's been a kind of a learning curve. Uh,

Paul Comfort

so explain that process a little bit. It's an interesting time, uh, to, to switch from, uh, a rural to a small urban. Is it because the last census you had more people? Then explain how all that works if you, if you don't mind. Yep.

Jeremi Bumpus

So the 2020 census data came out and our urbanized area growth. Okay. Um, it, so we surpassed 50,000 people, which I believe put U.S. into the small urban category. Yeah. Um. A portion of that is in Illinois. Okay. Which is right across the river from U.S. So, um, you know, that triggered a bunch of different things and it started receiving communication from FTA. and we started this process a year, probably a year and a half ago. Um, getting everything set up and I didn't realize it.

Yeah. I didn't realize it, it, it's, it's a lot, it's a lot of work. Yeah.

Paul Comfort

and, but will you end up with more money at the end?

Jeremi Bumpus

That's still kind of undetermined. Okay. Because apparently we after, and you know I'm gonna speak in our transit language. Yeah. Um, fiscal. Which the feds, you know, is Sept October one to September 30th. Right. Um, that's when the FTA dollars became available to U.S. We still have yet to access those because we haven't gone through the entire process yet. Okay. So essentially we have two years coming up on three years of money that we can access from FTA.

But we're still being fully funded by the state of Kentucky. Once we're able to access that money, the state of Kentucky is going to reduce the amount of funding, but that hasn't been determined yet. Okay, I gotcha. So we're still kind of in limbo. Yeah. Um, until hopefully,

Paul Comfort

you know, this summer when we, we get an answer. And what part of what FTA region are you a part of? Four. Four, okay. Yeah. Region four. Um, and, and I, I understand that's very interesting. Thank you for sharing that. I think, uh, I don't think we've ever had a conversation about that before on the show, so that's, it's good. A little bit of education for people, how that works. Your, yeah. When your census, uh, of your urban, what do they call that? Your consolidated metropolitan area?

Statistical or something? Statistical area, when it grows above a certain amount, 50,000 and then 200,000 I think is the next one. Right. You, uh, end up in a different category and the funding, you get the formula funding, which comes through the federal government changes. Mm-hmm. It's a, it's actually a good primer for people as we think about reauthorization. So the federal government has their, uh, every five or six years they put out a reauthorization act.

Uh, the last one was, you know, colloquially called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. And inside of that was our reauthorization and funding went up dramatically for most of the categories, 40% in some categories. We were just in Washington recently talking with the House Transportation Infrastructure Committee and they were talking about that. Now they've started the reauthorization process again for the next version, which will kick in at the end of 2026.

So the House Transportation Infrastructure Committee, their highways and transportation subcommittee is working on that. So it's all part of, um, the formula funds that come out of Washington. And it's very important, isn't it, for systems like yours, right. For smaller systems, they rely on a lot of those funds. I.

Jeremi Bumpus

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, without those funds, obviously we wouldn't be able to operate. And then of course, you know, just with limited resources, we don't, we don't receive, uh, any other funding. We receive a little bit of funding from our, uh, city of Paducah. Okay. and as, and we're, we're super grateful for that, those funds. But you know, it's just enough. It's not even enough. It's not enough to cover the fuel. Right. I gotcha. Right.

And outside of that, we don't, we don't have enough to, you know, run our operations or sustain what we have going on. So, we're heavily reliant on that funding. And I'm, I'm hoping you know, the way things look, we'll, we'll be okay. But I'm, I'm hoping that this process is, is done sooner rather than later.

Paul Comfort

How many employees

Jeremi Bumpus

do you have there?

Paul Comfort

I.

Jeremi Bumpus

So we're about 45 employees.

Paul Comfort

Okay, very

Discussing Employee Size and Budget

Jeremi Bumpus

good. 45 employees. So yeah, we're in, and it's funny as a, when I travel, you know, to some that's large and to some, you know, it's minuscule. So, I still feel, extremely small and I still feel understaffed. so I, I'm sure you know, a lot of other transit agents feel the exact same way.

Paul Comfort

Yeah. What's your total annual

Jeremi Bumpus

budget? So

Paul Comfort

about

Jeremi Bumpus

$4 million.

Paul Comfort

Okay. Very good. Yep. That's great. About 4 million.

Introducing Transit Unplugged's New Look

Julie Gates

Hi, I am Julie Gates, executive producer at Transit Unplugged. Thank you so much for listening. You may have noticed Transit Unplugged has a brand new logo and a refreshed look. After nearly a decade of telling Transit's greatest stories, we've made a number of upgrades to keep pace with the industry. This changing faster than ever.

Whether you listen to Transit Podcast for executive conversations, watch transit, unplug TV for food, travel and transit adventures, or get your headlines with the Transit Unplugged News Minute. We're committed to telling transit story in bigger and better ways. Stay tuned. There's even more coming later this year. Thanks for being on this journey with U.S. and thanks for listening to Transit Unplugged.

Improving the Fixed Route System

Paul Comfort

So you've also been working on improving your fixed route system. Right? Can you walk U.S. through what that, uh, what that's happening there and what that'll mean for riders in Paducah?

Jeremi Bumpus

Yeah. Yeah. So when I came to Pat's, as we refer to it, I did not realize that our fixed route system did not have bus stops. And up until last week at Ignite, I met another transit agency in South Dakota that has a similar fixed route. they operate on a hail system just like we do. And so for anyone that doesn't know, a hail system is anywhere along the route. Someone can stand and hail down the bus or flag wave their hand, right? Nope. And just wave their hand. as long as it's in a safe area.

Right, right. When I came on, I said, wow, this is crazy. I said, this is crazy. and I learned, um, over time, uh, for U.S. it, it caused a lot of issues. you know, it's, it's inefficient, it's dangerous. People who come into the community who weren't familiar with the system didn't know where to go because if you're coming from other cities, whether you know, small, large, or medium sized, they have bus stops. And so when you wanna access a fix route, you typically find where the bus stops are.

Through some app or a map or something and you catch the bus to get you where you need to go. Well, that wasn't the case here in Paducah. so I decided, uh, once, you know, the previous director, uh, retired and I explained his plan to him. He's like, Hey, you got it. I want you to be successful. Do it. I said, Hey, we're gonna do it. We're gonna hit the ground running. So as a part of U.S. changing or transitioning to a 53 0 7.

Which is, you know, the, the small urban, as you you're probably familiar, an MPO was formed a metropolitan planning organization in our area. And through that MPO, they received the MPO received, some additional funding and it was decided amongst that exec board that that funding can be used for U.S. to conduct a transit study. To study our fixed routes and essentially to make them more efficient. And this was kind of the, this is the first thing that needed to happen before.

We put in the bus stops. So I worked with the, well I'm on the exec board, but essentially I asked for that funding. Yeah. Um, they allowed me to use it. We worked with a local consulting firm. Actually it's a national consulting firm that has an office here in Paducah. Okay. Um, we started that transit study in December, I'm sorry, in September of last year. Um, we've pretty much finished it up and we determined where those stops should be. . We're almost done.

, I'm working with our local government here to get those, , bus stops made and, , implemented.

Implementing New Technology for Transit

But on the flip side, I also, and this again, this is where the technology piece comes in, I said, well, hey, we need some sort of technology or app that allows people to see the buses in real time and track the buses. We know this technology exists. It's all over the country. We don't have it here, and I'm gonna make that happen. So. That's where TripSpark came in and worked with the TripSpark, purchased the street software, and the My Ride app.

And we're working through that now, and we're about 90% complete on that. So we're looking to launch the app, and the bus stop signs and all of that. I'm looking to launch that all by July one, so Oh, that's awesome, man. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's gonna be a complete game changer for our community, so.

Paul Comfort

Do you know? So you don't know how many bus stops you're gonna get yet 'cause your study's not done right?

Jeremi Bumpus

Oh, well, the study's done. Yeah. Okay. 207, 207 bus stops. Really? Yes. From nothing to 200. Yes. From nothing to 200. So designated stops. Um, again, it's gonna be a complete game changer for our city. Um, in terms of, you know, economic development, you know, uh, the, the morale, the passengers, uh. You know, just the reputation that Pat's has, you know, uh, and it also cut down on calls that we receive here in the office. So our staff, that's just one less thing that they have to do.

yeah, again, you kind of put some of the power back into the hands of the passengers. Hey, they can plan out their trips. They can set reminders on their phone to say, Hey, I catch this bus at this location every day to get to work. Now I don't necessarily need to call. I can just plan it and receive a text notification. When that bus is on its way, and I can ha I can set that to remind me every day when I need to catch this bus at this location.

Yeah. So again, it's, it's a game changer for U.S. and I'm, I'm excited. Yeah, that's

Paul Comfort

wonderful because people then know where to be at what time the bus will definitely be there, right? Yeah. Right. That's great, man.

Cultural Identity of Paducah

switching, uh, switching topics slightly here. Uh, Paducah has a unique cultural identity. When people think about Paducah, Kentucky, I mean, it's in my mind. What, what, what are you known for?

Jeremi Bumpus

Two things. of course you've heard of Dipping Dots,

Paul Comfort

correct? Yes.

Jeremi Bumpus

Yes. Did you know that they're headquartered here in Paducah?

Paul Comfort

Dipping Dots Ice cream is headquartered in Paducah. No, I did not know that. Wow. Yes.

Jeremi Bumpus

Yep. So that's one, which is a co fact. actually, I told someone there at Ignite, there was a dipping Dots stand there and I said, Hey, you know, that's headquarters where I live. Idea. And also the National Quilt Museum is located in Paducah. And so every year the American Quilter Society holds an annual quilt week, and you have thousands of people that travel from all over the country that are really into quilting and the history of it and all these different things.

they travel here to Paducah and it's, it's great for our economy. influx of money and tourism, um, goes up and it's something that we all look forward to this year. And, uh, we play a really vital role in that. our role has kind of transitioned and changed over the years, again, that's, that's one of the things we're known for is quilt week. So, dipping ducks. Yeah.

Paul Comfort

Quilt. So what do you, yeah, that's great. What does your service actually, do? You say you play an important role. Tell U.S. about it.

Jeremi Bumpus

Yeah. Yeah. So at one point we provided all transportation for quilt week. Okay. So we would run our fixed routes and we would run additional vehicles to transport all of the quilters is what we call them. Yeah. Um, all over the city and over time. There were some, and this was, this was before my time, but there were some, uh, things that came up. And essentially we had to reduce our service. So now what we're doing is we have a couple of trolleys that we run.

We start that halfway through the week and we run it through the weekend and it's a complimentary trial, so no. So there's no cost associated with it. Uh, we work with our local visitors bureau and the convention center and the Quilt Museum, and our, we call them our Paducah ambassadors. We hold, they hold this meeting, we all work together and we coordinate this transportation. and again, it's, it's great for the community, it's great for U.S. and people just love to see that trolley.

and those trolleys running around our city, knowing that, hey, when you see those trolleys at this time of year, you know, it's quilt week. So yeah.

Paul Comfort

That's awesome, man.

Marketing and Media Strategies

Jeremi Bumpus

Yeah, it's

Paul Comfort

great. So you, one of the cool things about, uh, that I have found about being in a smaller agency is you get to wear a lot of hats most people in these jobs don't complain about it because it's fun. I mean, I've got a chapter in my upcoming book called, do Not Despise The Day of Small Beginnings. A great quote, you know, from the good book. And, uh, I started out my career in a small transit system and got to wear all the hats. But you there, you do a lot, right?

You're the head of media and marketing for your own agency. And, uh, as such, how do you, uh, spread the word about what's working for you guys and how's it working so far?

Jeremi Bumpus

Yeah, so a couple things. Um, when I started, there was no marketing, and we didn't have any media. The extent of our marketing and media was our local newspaper. Okay. Um, which again, it, it kinda speaks to the generational differences. Between myself and the, the former director. I've come in, I've started the social media pages, which, you know, they're not as active as they were. when I was assistant director, I was a little more active with those.

But as director, I've kind of tapered back a little bit, but, um, our social media pages, and then, uh, using the local media. So again, still using newspaper. 'cause I understand we have a large population of our, uh, community that still reads a newspaper, um, using the local news station. then one of the key things that I've done is I've worked with TripSpark and Message Point Media.

I've added a kiosk outside of our building, which again, for some agencies around the country, that's a complete norm. It's total game changer for U.S. because then we essentially have a 24 hour kiosk that is outside of our building that we can use for advertising, we can use for announcements, so we can use for things of that nature. Also, with U.S. using the app My Ride, we'll be able to put things out to all passengers using that via the, OR using the app.

Um. That allows U.S. to market and reach a broader audience quicker, and it's cheaper. So, um, that's one of the things that I do. And I have a couple of people on my team, you know, that assist with that, but Yeah. Um, again, director, we wear many hats. That's right, man. So when it comes to marketing, it's like, hey, I'm the, I'm the go-to. And, you know, I'm not above it. You know, things have to happen. We all, we all are busy, but you know, it's what I signed up for. It's a job.

That's wonderful.

Balancing Work and Personal Life

Paul Comfort

Well, when you're not leading Pats, I know you're into fitness, I met you and your wife there in, in, uh, at the conference and at the ball game, and you like to travel and spend times with loved ones. How do those passions recharge you as a leader and do they influence your approach to work?

Jeremi Bumpus

They do. Um, the way that they recharge me as a leader is I'm really big into compartmentalization. I, I absolutely believe in work-life balance, and that doesn't look the same for everyone. So I always tell people, Hey, when I'm not working, I'm not working right. When I'm off, I'm off. Um, now that doesn't mean I won't answer my phone. That doesn't mean I won't respond, but I love to enjoy time away from work. And so what that allows me to do is it allows me to decompress.

And it allows me to think, get new fresh ideas, think how I'm gonna do this, what do I need to do tomorrow? It kind of just resets me. So if I go home and I'm able to work out, or I can just spend some time with my kids and I can just not necessarily think of work when I get back into the office, I'm fresh.

Paul Comfort

Yeah.

Jeremi Bumpus

And for me to, for me, that helps eliminate, or it, it helps keep, um. It helps keep me from feeling burnt out because when you're running 24 7 and it's just work, work, work, work, work, it's e it's really, really easy to get burnt out. Especially in transit in a small transit agency where you are wearing many hats. 'cause there are gonna be days where you're frustrated. things are not gonna go your way.

And you know, you know this where in transit it's never if something is going to happen, it's just when That's right. You know, that's a. Yeah, go ahead. Something's gonna happen. No, something's gonna happen. And that's right. You know, to, I, I never wanna allow myself to be jaded. So some, it's good to just step away, compartmentalize, and hey, if I'm in the gym and I'm working out, that's all I'm doing. If I'm playing with my kids, I'm playing with my kids.

If my wife and I are on a date somewhere, we're on a date, I'm not thinking about work. Now. If they call me, if something work comes up, you know, I gotta take care of it. But I just compartmentalize. And I just, I, I, I, I like, I like my life. I like to live my life that way, so

Paul Comfort

very, very good. And looking ahead, last question.

Future Vision for Pat's Transit

What's your vision for Pat? Where, where do you think it'll be in two or three years from now into your leadership? I. Uh, two to

Jeremi Bumpus

three years from now. it's a good question. Where do I see pets? I see pets, um, just continuing to improve our services, looking at technology, how we can use it to improve our services, to make them more efficient. I will say this, one of the things that recently I've come across is some AI software. That will allow U.S. to monitor maintenance issues on our vehicles in real time and not necessarily wait for a breakdown. So as technology improves, it evolves.

Those are the things that I'm always looking into, talking with my team about getting new ideas, um, and not just myself always. I have an open door policy and I communicate with my team and our employees daily. And when people have ideas or thoughts on something, I never shoot them down immediately. I always hear them out and, and people do it often. Hey Jeremy, what do you think about this? And I'm like, okay, yeah, that's a good idea.

Or Hey, yeah, we can do that, but we need to find the money for it or the funding. I see Pats just continuing to move forward, improve our services, and, and trying to catch up to some of the other transit agencies in the country that, that have a little more resources. Um, you know, I don't want people to look at Pats and say, okay, well Pats is functioning like it's 2005. No. I want people to look at Pats and say, Hey, pats is functioning like the times we're in.

They have the technology, they have the resources that they need to provide the best service that they can provide.

Paul Comfort

That's awesome, man. Great vision. I love it. And this has been a great conversation, very informative for people to see a mid-size, smaller, mid-size agency and how you operate. Uh, when you get to your new fixed routes and you implement the software seriously, send me another note and gimme an update on it. We'll, we'll let folks know how it's going.

Jeremi Bumpus

Oh yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Conclusion and Farewell

Paul Comfort

Thank you Jeremy Bump U.S. for being our guest today. Best wishes as you continue to lead Paducah Transit authorities or executive director. It was great meeting you and we, I hope to see you again sometime at another TripSpark conference.

Julie Gates

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the Transit Unplugged Podcast. We're so glad you're here. My name is Julie Gates. I'm the executive producer of the show, and our goal is to create programs that promote the great things going on in the transit industry by providing you with behind the scenes access with industry executive leadership so we can work together to find innovative industry solutions.

We would love to have you be a part of the Transit Unplugged community by having you sign up for our newsletter. Head to the show notes to find the link. Thanks for listening to Transit Unplugged with Paul Comfort, our favorite transit evangelist, and we'll catch you next week. Thanks for tuning in.

Transcript source: Provided by creator in RSS feed: download file
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android
Open in Metacast