Texas Transit Trends
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Introduction and OverviewIntroduction and Overview
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[00:00:00]
Paul Comfort: Hi, I'm Paul Comfort and on this episode of Transit Unplugged, we're bringing you a special episode. I recorded live at the 2025 Texas Transit Association in Macallan, Texas, where I had such a good time. Uh, I was able to meet.
Paul Comfort: So many leaders in the state there, uh, spoke as a keynote speaker and during the conference I got to set aside time to interview this dynamic panel. It features five top transit leaders, and we're gonna be talking about Texas Transit Trends.
Meet the PanelistsMeet the Panelists
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Paul Comfort: First up is Serena Stevenson. She's general manager of Waco Transit Systems and the chair of TTA.
Paul Comfort: This year, Marielle Delgado joins us. He is, um, from the host city Metro Macallan. He's the Transit and downtown services director. And then we were joined with Derrick Majchszak , who is CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority. Vince Huerta also joined, he's director of transportation. For the East Texas Council of Governments Go Bus.
Paul Comfort: And finally, my [00:01:00] good friend, Alan Hunter, executive director of the Texas Transit Association. Each panelist brings a unique perspective on their system and on what's happening across the state, the challenges they're tackling, the opportunities they see and what's next for transit in their communities.
Paul Comfort: It's a smart, real world conversation you don't wanna miss, and it's coming your way right now on Transit Unplugged.
Serena Stevenson: Great to have you with us today on another episode of Transit Unplugged, the world's leading transit executive podcast. Excited to have a live podcast today with four of my friends in Texas.
Serena Stevenson: Uh, we are at the Texas Transit Association Conference We've taken a little break after a funny keynote speech, talking about the differences between generations. And we're gonna talk about what's going on in public transportation here in Texas. Texas is one of the biggest states in the country, and we've showcased some of their leaders, but never showcased these four top transit leaders.
Derrick Majchszak
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Serena Stevenson: So I'm gonna start with Derek, my friend, who is CEO in Corpus Christi. Uh, Derek was reminding me of [00:02:00] a funny story. I visited there a couple years ago, and what did you tell me, Derek?
Derrick Majchszak: I took Paul comfort out to, to go get lunch at, uh, one of our local favorite restaurants. Hi Ho. Which is, uh, very authentic to the, to the region and the CEO at the time found out, and I thought I was crazy and was, uh, quick to chastise me on it until I told him that, uh, Paul wanted to, to experience our, our local.
Derrick Majchszak: Cuisine.
Paul Comfort: That's right, man. Yeah. So it was a good time in Corpus Christi. I remember your staff there were phenomenal. By the way. Remember we had that little session with them, uh, where they were, we were talking about the trends and all, and they were telling me what they do there. So why don't you tell us, tell us some, Derek, about your agency and what you do.
Paul Comfort: Where is Corpus Christi for people who are geographically challenged on the East coast? Yeah,
Derrick Majchszak: right. Corpus Christi is located along the, the Coastal Bend region of Texas. We're about two and a half hours from the, the border, about two and a half hours from where we're currently at McAllen, and it's about a three and a half hour drive from to Houston from where we're located There.
Derrick Majchszak: We serve about 850 square miles in that [00:03:00] across Oasis County and a little bit into San Patricia County. So quite a large service area. We are fortunate that we have a half cent sales tax, so we are one of the, the MTAs within that, the state of Texas there, and we serve a population of about 400,000 across the, those areas there.
Derrick Majchszak: that includes going, getting out onto the barrier islands and servicing some of the, the rural areas there. So part of what makes us unique is, is that that service area, and we have like a lot of Texas, our population is very spread out. We're not very dense there. So trying to provide the essential trips that are needed on, on the islands and also in the rural areas and bring them into the metropolitan area is a.
Derrick Majchszak: One of the major challenges that we always have there. We also work closely with our, our local and state, um, authorities and at the military base and that for emergency services and to help, get, some of the workers onto the naval air station there. We also have a, to call it. The Army advanced [00:04:00] industries, which, uh, helps, uh, retrofit a lot of critical equipment for the US military there.
Derrick Majchszak: So we have Parker rides that take, people on there. And we also, you know, move people back and forth between their, their health facilities and our ones that we have in our, our community there. We operate, combination of fixed route paratransit vanpool plus contracting some of our rural services out to some of the other transit providers in the area.
Derrick Majchszak: We currently have about 70 large buses that we operate on fixed route and about 57 cutaways that we use for a variety of paratransit in our small rural. connectivity out out there. And our van pool program has been one of the, the larger growing programs that, that we have and, and a lot of the clientele served at the federal facilities at the, the Border Patrol, Naval Air Stations in both Kingsville and Corpus Christi and the Federal Corrections facility that is in, located in Three Rivers there.
Derrick Majchszak: I've been CEO since about July 1st of. 2023 and that. So getting [00:05:00] close to two, two years, I've been with, uh, Corpus Christi, RTA since, uh, 2017. And prior to that I started at what was Fort Worth Transportation Authority before they became Trinity Metro and began my career as a. As a bus mechanic and that, and I, I got into public transit by, essentially, when I was deployed to Iraq, I met some of the mechanics and supervisors that worked for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority.
Derrick Majchszak: And they, they told me how good of a job that public transit was and that, you know, you're never going to get rich, but you're always gonna have a good, stable career and that, so I took 'em up on that, the, the offer and here we are.
Paul Comfort: Wow. That's great, Derek. That's exactly what I was hoping you would tell me.
Paul Comfort: All those details. Very interesting. We're gonna come back and we'll dive in just a little bit into some of the details. That's Derek May Jack, who is CEO of Corpus Christi.
Vince Huerta: East Texas Council of Governments Go BusVince Huerta: East Texas Council of Governments Go Bus
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Paul Comfort: Next is my buddy Vince Huerta, who is from the East Texas Council of Governments. Tell us about what you do there.
Vin Suerta: Thanks. Thanks for having us. So my name is Vince. Vince Huerta with the East Texas Council of Governments, the Go Bus division. [00:06:00] Uh, unlike Derek, we're a little bit more, rural system. We, we don't have the benefits of the, uh, of the 1 cent tax. So we're a little bit challenged in, in finding ways to, to match our, our federal funds.
Vin Suerta: The state certainly provides us some support, so that's very helpful. But in our area, we service about a 10,000 square mile, uh, 14 county region. We're up right against, we're about. An hour and a half east of, of Dallas. We, we service a, a very rural population. We have approximately about 16, uh, starting locations.
Vin Suerta: So it is challenging when it comes to communication with drivers and we have two urbanized areas that we go in and out of to, to service folks for medical. Our, our routes are, are more of demand response. We've, uh, our fleet is mostly cutaway vehicles. So a lot of our, our runs are, are scheduled around medical services like dialysis, type of, of services that we do either Monday, Wednesdays, uh, Fridays, on some on, on some service, some service areas.
Vin Suerta: It's a Tuesday, Thursday, and, and Saturday service that we sometimes provide. [00:07:00] And for the most part, again, folks that are riding the service are, you know, it's a, it's very, you know, it, it's, it's a. essentially an essential service that we're providing for them Without, without GO Bus, they wouldn't have any other way to get to, to their medical services and beyond.
Vin Suerta: we've mostly now started to do in-house maintenance. We're transitioning currently from, uh, outsourcing all of our maintenance. Because we're so rural, we have to service a, you know, a very large area. So it creates a big challenge for us to, you know, get our vehicle serviced and actually.
Vin Suerta: maintain the service on the road. our spare ratio is a little high for that same reason. We, we need to make sure that we're able to make pullout. Currently as we, as we enter this transition, we've, we've, uh, started construction on, on a building that we hope to have here in early June. We've also bought a maintenance facility in one of the urbanized areas that we service Tyler.
Vin Suerta: The city of Tyler is like a hub for us because of the medical services that are provided there. So when you think again of that. 10,000 square foot area that, that we service. It's, it's essentially a place where folks are [00:08:00] going in and out to do, uh, medical services. So that helps us to utilize it as a hub.
Vin Suerta: And we recently were able to buy a, a property there where we're able to now start servicing that, that in-house maintenance. I think another thing that, that we focus on doing is, you know, when you think of the social determinants of health and, and, and, you know, one of the, the big factors that. That is in, that is, is transit at the top of the list.
Vin Suerta: So we really, uh, understand that and we try to service the population that, or, or our ridership in such a way that we're able to reach some of those gaps that exist in the transportation services. And again. For the most part, we work with our local officials, with our, with our cities, our counties.
Vin Suerta: We've got, we've got such a big area that combined it's, it's well over 76, uh, you know, cities, counties, townships, municipalities, what have you. So it is, it is a challenge to provide the service, but, you know, it's certainly a very important service that we're providing. We're, we're, we're, we're excited to do that.
Paul Comfort: All right. That was, uh, that was really good Vince. Thanks for sharing with some about your operation there.
Serena Stevenson: Waco Transit SystemsSerena Stevenson: Waco Transit Systems
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Paul Comfort: [00:09:00] Now we're gonna talk to Serena Stevenson, Serena's General Manager of Waco Transit. She's also the president of the board here at the Texas Transit Association this year. Serena, tell us about yourself and your operation there.
Serena Stevenson: Well,
Serena Stevenson: thank you Paul for the opportunity. I am the general manager for Waco Transit System. , we run the urbanized service for Waco. I am also the transit manager from the clinic, county Rural Transit District. We have an interlocal agreement with the city of Waco in order to provide the rural services.
Serena Stevenson: So we have a unique opportunity to be able to make that connection between, you know, the city and the rural area. Um, the city of Waco is actually the direct recipient of the funds. I work for RATP, dev USA , as the management contract for the system. , we provide university service for Baylor.
Serena Stevenson: We also provide, oh, Baylor. Yeah. That's great. We have university service there. We also have, um, we do regional maintenance. For, um, some other providers in the area. I, um, we also do contracting with Central Texas Senior Ministries to [00:10:00] try to bring in some of that 53 10 funding to help the community with, um, opportunities for, you know, economic development.
Serena Stevenson: , we also have micro transit service. We have three different, , zones that we operate in. And so for us it's about, um, connecting the communities, removing those transportation gaps. And being able to work with and management. Um, the rural system allows us to do planning in order to incorporate both areas and have that direct connection without having to ask for permission to provide those services.
Serena Stevenson: So basically we try to do a one one stop shop style transit system where between both systems, we integrate our services, we share those costs between, um, systems based off of, um, the percentage of use. And it's allowed us to be very cost effective in how we perform our services. Uh, Waco Transit has over there, over a $7.8 million budget operating, and [00:11:00] our McLennan County has a little over, um, four.
Serena Stevenson: And so we really try to be good steward of our funds and provide a service that's unique to Waco. . , we are located in central Texas, so we're between, um, the big guys in Austin and we're between Dallas. And so, , we feel like we offer, uh, a viable solution for transit in that central area.
Serena Stevenson: And, , we get a lot of visitors. You know, we have the magnolia blow up and so that's also helped us with tourism and bringing in additional, um, you know, revenues that help us as a transit system. We don't have the privilege of receiving that, , tax either. So we just try to, , do a lot of advertising opportunities with the community to raise those, , local funds.
Serena Stevenson: And Baylor, again is a great partner that helps curate to our success.
Serena Stevenson: We basically have 12 fixed routes and, , we run five, , university services buses. We also, . Provide, , three, , we have our three micro transit [00:12:00] zones, but we have three vehicles per zone. So, you know, that helps us out a lot with meeting that first last mile gap there.
Serena Stevenson: , I just want to say that Waco , our population is. Close to being over 200,000, but this last census kept us, , right on the cusp of, you know, transitioning over to a large. So, you know, that has its pros and its cons. So I'm sure at the next , census will be bumped up.
Paul Comfort: You probably know I started in a small transit system too, and you, you, um, follow every dollar, don't you? In the smaller systems, you know, when, uh, when you're in the bigger systems, like, you know, when I was a Baltimore where you have a billion dollar budget, you know, $10 million.
Paul Comfort: It's not a rounding error, but there's money moving around. But when you're in a smaller agency, man, you're literally are tracking, you know, tens of dollars. Okay, well we spent $50 and you can't spend $50 on that. So, uh, you have to manage your money well, and I, I know you guys are good stewards of the dollars you're given.
Paul Comfort: That's wonderful.
Mariel Delgado: Metro MacallanMariel Delgado: Metro Macallan
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Paul Comfort: Alright, now we're head to Mariel, [00:13:00] Delgado, who is, , general manager of Metro Macallan, which is where we're at. Tell us some about where we're at, and then tell us about your system.
Mario Delgado: Sure. Thank you Paul. Um, yeah, so I'm, I am officially the transit director. Um, one of the unique things about Macallan, uh, transit System, Metro Macallan, is that we are a department of the city of Macallan.
Mario Delgado: Okay. So we're, we are, we don't have the dedicated sales tax necessarily, but we do get sales tax revenues from the city and , we ask monies and we share with, you know, parks department and other departments in the city for that funding. We're a small town, 150,000 population, , but by no means do we look or feel like a small town?
Mario Delgado: I mean, I, I, I hope you guys get, get that impression when you come here. Uh, contrary to some of the perception. , Macon is as safest, one of the safest cities, if not the safest city in the nation. , and our public transit system, it, you know, it's, it's, it's small, but it's growing. Uh, we had, uh, six fixed routes when I started, almost 19 years ago.
Mario Delgado: , and I've been with the city close to 20 years, so I'll be eligible to retire pretty soon. [00:14:00] Not that I would right. So we run, we have 40 buses. We run, uh, fixed route, uh, 12 fixed route and micro transit. We also, so we run in, in the city of Macallan, which is about 62 square miles, but we do provide service, , to one neighboring city in Edinburg for the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley.
Mario Delgado: So we have a route that, that originates in Macallan and takes students to, to U-T-R-G-V. you know, we're, we're close to the border, right? So, on a given day, you know, like I said, our population's 150,000, but on any given day, we, we do have a lot of. People from across the border that are coming over to, to work and shop and, you know, play in Macallan.
Mario Delgado: And so we welcome that because obviously it, it drives, , a little bit of, of our economy as well. We provide about, 700,000 trips on an annual basis. , we have, um, operating budget of about $6 million, just shy of $6 million. And again, we're a department of the city.
Mario Delgado: , it's a unique, , experience being, being, you know, a city as opposed to a standalone transit agency. But, uh, it has its perks. I mean, we have a big city be, well I say a big city. We [00:15:00] have the, the. The power of the biggest city in Aug County behind us. And so, and so it helps, you know, we have, you know, we, we hosted a rodeo, I mean a, a lot of trans small transit agencies, you know, when they host a rodeo, they need a lot of help.
Mario Delgado: We do need a lot of help, but we had support from the public works department, from the parks department, from the convention center, which are all, departments we work really well with. And so we have that kind of behind us to, to help us be, you know, a lot more successful. .
[00:16:00]
Paul Comfort: All
Paul Comfort: right, Derek, we're back to you.
Paul Comfort: Um. So just to, since we got four people here, uh, Derek Majak is CEO of Corpus Christi.
The Role of Public Transportation in Economic VitalityThe Role of Public Transportation in Economic Vitality
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Paul Comfort: I wanna talk about the role of public transportation in the community of Corpus Christi and how, you know, a lot of people. So, you know, we have a TV show, transit Unplugged tv, and we go to a different city every month and we showcase the food, the fun, and the culture of that city.
Paul Comfort: And then we show their public transportation system behind the scenes, talk to the leaders, and we show how the transit system really is like the veins of the city that's moving all the blood around, you know, moving all the people around the heart of the city. it's the network by which people move, not only employees getting to their jobs, but as you were just talking about tourists coming into your town, people coming from outside of town spending.
Paul Comfort: Tell us about the role of your public transit system in the economic vitality of the region of [00:17:00] Corpus Christi.
Derrick Majchszak: ,
Derrick Majchszak: absolutely. And this is something that's, uh, evolved quite a bit over the, the pandemic and coming out out of there. Yeah. , before the pandemic, you know, we had pretty good student ridership, but you probably represented, you know, 10% of our daily ridership.
Derrick Majchszak: But as our university at Texas a and m, Corpus Christi has continued to, to grow it, one of the things they advertise is that they're on an island and they literally are on an island. There's only one way on, one way off. So every time they build a building. On there, it takes up their parking lot space. So, which helps generate even more ridership for us.
Derrick Majchszak: So that, and, uh, with the struggles that some of our local school systems have had, we've offered, uh, free rides for our school children. You know, anybody, you know, K through 12 grade and that, and we have the partnerships with Texas a and m, Corpus Christi in our community college Delmar that, uh, helped pay in.
Derrick Majchszak: So now any given day we're looking at. 25, 30% of our ridership is student based and that, and some of that is not just them going to school. It's a lot of it has been us kind of redesigning some of [00:18:00] our, our routes and our frequencies so that they can get to town, to the shopping areas. And so they can buy the,
Derrick Majchszak: closed the groceries, get to the fast food restaurants, and many of them that are employed get, so they can get to the local Whataburger, HEB, where they're, where they're working at. So that, that's become a, a large portion of our, , ridership. And a lot of the tour tourism industry is really based off of the people that work there.
Derrick Majchszak: And a lot of those are the ones that ride our, our routes. They go to work at the department stores, the ones that go and work at the hotels, they work at the restaurants, at everybody's. Eat eating at there. And as I mentioned earlier, we also, you know, partner with some of our local industry that to offer either park and ride shuttles, or we've offered specific van pools for them at times to help get their workers in.
Derrick Majchszak: Sometimes these large petrochemical plants get, get built and they, they need assistance getting employees on during the construction phase. Um, work with the Naval Air Station to make sure that we can get their employees on, you know, getting through the, the gates, which are, . Troublesome on any [00:19:00] base, but let alone when you basically have one way on, one way off at times.
Derrick Majchszak: There as well struggles. And we've also worked with, uh, the island, which really, the barrier island really struggled to get people to work there because it's not affordable for an average person to live out in Port Aransas around the, the island anymore. So we've developed special express services and gotten priority access to the, the ferry system that TxDOT operates to try to help get workers, .
Derrick Majchszak: Across over there. But really the backbone of the, the whole community is our, our riders in that all the, the employees that get there to help provide the services that everybody wants.
Paul Comfort: All right.
Legislative Initiatives and ChallengesLegislative Initiatives and State Support
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Paul Comfort: Let's get Alan Hunter over here. Alan is the Executive Director of the Texas Transit Association.
Paul Comfort: He's the one that invited me to come down here and speak a little later today. And Alan, uh, I wanted to talk to you about, , what's happening when it comes to current legislative initiatives, what's happening with local governments and state officials?
Paul Comfort: How does your association. You know, work with at the state legislature. I know you just hosted a big kind of day in, in Austin. Tell us about the work of the Texas Transit Association and, [00:20:00] and how it's helping to promote transit in the state.
Allen Hunter: Oh,
Allen Hunter: absolutely, Paul. Well, we just finished up our legislative day at the Capital.
Allen Hunter: We had our biggest turnout, yet we've had about 50 people show up and attend. And, you know, the big thing for us is trying to support our folks by having that constant presence at the Capitol. You know, by the time this is over, we'll end up tracking thousands of bills and seeing how they impact or neg negatively impact our folks.
Allen Hunter: And just to work with 'em to make sure that, you know, that we can, in fact, some positive change for our members.
Paul Comfort: And, um, if you're, if you're able to share, are, are there any big bills in the legislature this year that the Texas Transit Association is, is following and will help transit? Or I know there's something going on in Dallas that could potentially hurt transit in Dart.
Paul Comfort: Are you able to talk of that or is it all I don't wanna go too movement.
Allen Hunter: Yeah,
Allen Hunter: I don't want, I don't wanna go into any details 'cause that's relatively new, but uh, but we are tracking it. Yeah, you're right. There are some that are gonna affect some of the taxes and how that's, uh, gonna impact some of our, some of our, our metros, especially Dallas.
Allen Hunter: So we are gonna be watching those very closely and see how we can support our members.
Paul Comfort: That's
Paul Comfort: great. All right. Thank you, Alan. It's great. And you got a, [00:21:00] by the way, great conference here. Uh, how many people do you have? Tell us some about your conference. Oh, yeah.
Allen Hunter: Well,
Allen Hunter: this is the second day of the conference.
Allen Hunter: We just wrapped up the rodeo this weekend. So we had a wonderful rodeo competition with more than a couple hundred, uh, folks that came out to support on our folks. Of course, our host agency, McCallen, uh, Metro McCallen, has done an incredible job. I think the big challenge that they've done is anybody coming behind them is gonna have a, you know, they're gonna have their hands full trying to, you know, keep up with them.
Allen Hunter: Uh, but today is day two of the conference and expos. We just opened up the expo. Uh, we've had a couple of great general session speakers, and like you said, you'll be speaking at this afternoon. You're actually closing this out this afternoon, so we saved the best for last, Ryan.
Paul Comfort: Aw,
Paul Comfort: thank you. You too kind.
Paul Comfort: , Alan, I noticed when I came, the weather is like, it seems like it's just starting to turn a little hotter this week. What's going on with the Weatherhead, Texas?
Allen Hunter: Oh,
Allen Hunter: well the weather this, the weather right now is actually beautiful.
Allen Hunter: Yeah. But Saturday, actually, when we had our buzz rodeo, I. The weather shifted was, uh, the hottest day on record, I think since 2011. It was 102 degrees. And the folks here at Metro McCallen, you know, obviously when you look at preparation, you know, they brought out buses that we could be used, used as cooling center as to [00:22:00] cool.
Allen Hunter: The staff, they brought out umbrellas to keep people outta the heat. So again, these guys aren't, they're, they're not any strangers to dealing with the heat.
Paul Comfort: Yeah,
Paul Comfort: that's interesting. Well, let's talk about that then.
Handling Texas Heat in Public TransitHandling Texas Heat and Fuel Challenges
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Paul Comfort: Um, Vince, tell us about in Texas here, how do you handle the heat when it comes to public transportation?
Vin Suerta: Sure
Vin Suerta: Paul. So there's a lot of challenges when it comes to the heat, uh, particularly in the, in east Texas. We, again, we run a very rural system, so it's, it's really important for us to stay on top of our vehicles vehicle maintenance, prepare ourselves as best as we can. You know, we do keep, we do ensure that we, uh, do an extra set of, uh, reviews on our vehicles to ensure that they're ready for the, the heat that we have in East Texas.
Vin Suerta: But along with that, we do training for our drivers to ensure that, you know, they're, they're carrying waters on their vehicles, that they're trained to react. Particularly if we have a breakdown or a situation like that. But ideally what we try to do is train our staff, try to be as effective and efficient with the resources that we have, and certainly work with our dispatching folks to ensure that we're being, again, just prepared as best as we can for some of the heat that we're facing.
Vin Suerta: Primarily focusing on, on the [00:23:00] planning part of that, ensuring that vehicles are set and ready to go in the condition to, to, to deal with the, the hot weather that we have in east Texas. Great, and what are you doing with fuel? Are you, what kind of fuel are you using here and for your vehicles? So most of our fleet is just gasoline vehicles.
Vin Suerta: Uh, because we're so rural, there's, there's challenges. We do have a small portion of our fleet that is, uh, CNG. And so we do have access to that. . In our 14 county region, those 10,000 square miles, we have the infrastructure in the city of Tyler that allows us to do CMG vehicles, and that's proven to be pretty effective in the area.
Vin Suerta: But the, the rest of the region is, is, uh, we, we do gasoline and so again, we just, we, we focus on, on, uh, services that utilizing fuel.
Vin Suerta: Yeah. Thanks Vincent. I just wanted to, you know. Maybe share a horror story related to, to the heat. Um, you know, I started with the city, uh, in 2005 and then moved over to transit in oh six, an opportunity to grow. Um, and when I first became manager was in, um, early 2008. I. A manager of [00:24:00] operations and we had a fleet of buses that we had inherited.
Vin Suerta: Uh, when the city took over, the city took over in oh five from, from the, the council governments, we inherited a, a fleet of buses that had ACS that weren't functioning very well. So it was, it was a challenge for a couple years until we can get, you know, a new fleet of buses and, and, uh, be able to have reliable ac I mean, we've, since then we, we've been, in fact, people complain that it's too cold on the bus, but.
Vin Suerta: But we don't, we don't wanna jinx it. So we wanna make sure that our buses are, are cool. And then, you know, obviously it, um, the biggest challenge I think in, in terms of the heat is, is having the ability to, to put shelters on all other stops. I mean, we'd, I'd love to be able to have shelters on all the stops, but the reality is that the, you know, well the costs and then the, the up upkeep of all the, all the, all the shelters, you know, we, so we've established, uh, some, uh, service standards.
Vin Suerta: You know, if there's, if there's 20 boardings. Um, in, in any given, in any given day, then it warrants potentially having a shelter. Ah, that's interesting. And so that was a, so that [00:25:00] was done in, in an attempt to, to objectify that, that, um, putting a shelter out there. Now we, we will take considerations, you know, if, if there's a special need that doesn't meet that threshold.
Vin Suerta: And then we also, uh, have reached out to, companies and, , stores are on the, in the city. If they wanna adopt a shelter where we, we would put in the infrastructure, they would, they would provide the 20% local match required by grants and, and maintain them. We could certainly put a shelter close to their business.
Vin Suerta: I think one of the biggest changes in, in Macallan, you know, we, we, before it was a, you know, they didn't want people that didn't want the bus in, in their backyard. Now, I think more and more we're seeing people wanting, wanting the bus because it brings, you know, people to the, to their business and so.
Vin Suerta: We've kind of seen a shift, you know, in terms of that. And then a shift in, in the city, increasing the investment in public transit. 'cause they see the benefits, the economic benefits. Locally, there's a lot of manufacturing distribution centers, uh, because of our proximity to Mexico.
Vin Suerta: I. And a lot of times when, when, , big companies are coming into town, you know, the, the one of the things they ask is like, how robust is your [00:26:00] transit system? And I think that, you know, we're certainly not to where we need to be, but, but we're working towards it. I'll just share that we recently got awarded a million dollars to do a, a study for bus rapid transit and transit oriented development.
Vin Suerta: And, we've got our work to do to, to get there, but at least we'll be putting a blueprint in place to, to help us, you know, get to that next level. And so again, we're a small system, but we're eager to grow and, and provide, you know, the, the level of service that our community needs. If I could dovetail.
Vin Suerta: Back onto what I guess Mario's talking about. You know, one of the interesting things that a lot of folks in in transit don't necessarily see all the time when you're in these urban settings. When we talk about bus stops in a rural setting, you know, there, there really isn't any bus stops. We've got either flag stops or folks that are waiting out.
Vin Suerta: So something as simple as providing folks with umbrellas is, is, is really helpful. And key to the success of the system and certainly, uh, you know, dealing with the heat that we have in East Texas. So I think it, the idea for us at least, you know, 'cause we do service a population about a little over 800,000 when you think of the [00:27:00] 10,000 square miles that we service and bringing people in and outta these urban areas.
Vin Suerta: So there's really big challenges behind that in terms of how we, we figure that out.
Serena Stevenson: Yeah.
Serena Stevenson: And for Waco, you know, Waco is a very humid area. And so, um, for us, we really focus on trying to make sure our passenger comfort as well as our, um, operators, that they're comfortable when they provide those services.
Serena Stevenson: And so we actually, , make sure that our, , we have some standbys that come in early in the morning. When it's extremely hot, we make sure that we keep some of our vehicles running underneath, you know, our canopy in the back where we wash our vehicles so that we always have some vehicles kind of ready if we need to switch a vehicle out throughout the day.
Serena Stevenson: We also, , work with the community to make sure if there is a shelter that's needed, we provide that shelter, but we do work with them so that they can, uh, make sure that they put the concrete slabs in because. We don't pay for that side of it, but we will provide the covered shelters. , additionally we work with a lot of the, , businesses that are coming in, [00:28:00] you know, in order to try to work and make sure that employers like Hello Beo, , that they have transportation to those areas.
Serena Stevenson: And then they will a lot of times. Put in the curb cut and then we all additionally will put those shelters in. So if their, , employees are waiting for the bus to come, they have a place that they can wait. So for us, it's all about the partnerships. It's about seeing how, if there is an unmet need, we could work together, find that resolution, and, , just continue to provide the type of services that our community needs because it's unique to Waco.
Serena Stevenson: And so we don't take a cookie cutter approach. Yeah, we actually try to find. What will work for you specifically, and then we tailor our service to that. , I know earlier we kind of talked about the economic development side of transit, and so for us, um, operating McClennan County Rural Transit District, we make sure that we go out to, there's 21 school districts.
Serena Stevenson: Um, in our, in McClennan County. And so we go to those schools and we talk to [00:29:00] the, the, the juniors and the seniors so that they're aware of that. McClennan County will come into Waco. So if they're looking for jobs, , we wanna make sure that they understand that connections there, because while Texas is a, you know, car centric state and everybody has their vehicle, we try to make sure that.
Serena Stevenson: Students that may not be in a position to own a vehicle, they're able to use our, um, rural transit system to get into the urbanized area of Waco and maybe go to jobs in the summertime. We work with the school districts and they pay like a subsidized cost. So that the students can utilize our bus system, the independent school districts can use our bus system for, well, the students use their, their id, and so that allows them to be able to use that service even during the summertime.
Serena Stevenson: We're just really trying to find ways to work with all of our community colleges, um, our universities, our, um, ISDs so that they know that if you need transit and you're trying to get to a job or you're trying to [00:30:00] get to work. Or you're just trying to do some socialization, you know, some socializing in the community.
Serena Stevenson: Transit is a viable option, and we try to tell that story. So it's just not about the people that go to dialysis, you know, because that's the perception of what transit is. It's for those people. We tailor our service to. Every rider, you know, the tourists, the students, and so you know that when you get on this bus, you're gonna have wifi.
Serena Stevenson: You're gonna be able to, you know, disconnect from maybe what you're doing, and then just take this ride that's safe and be able to get to your destination.
Paul Comfort: All right. We'll do a lightning round. Uh, great. This is really gives us, I think our listeners a good taste of what it's like to operate transit in Texas, which is what I was hoping this round table could do today.
Fueling and Sustainability in Texas Transit
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Paul Comfort: Uh, Derek, tell us about, uh, fueling down here. You all have a lot of CNG, right? Is it right under your feet? Right.
Derrick Majchszak: Absolutely. It is something that, uh, you know, com locally sourced in, in a sense, so it benefits our, our local and the state economy by [00:31:00] using c and g. And about 2012, we transitioned to having primarily a compressed natural gas fleet for both our, our small and our large buses.
Derrick Majchszak: Currently, we are transitioning. Well, we currently, we have about 50 c and g LEAs and that with more coming and all of our diesels will be taken outta service and put into a, a contingency fleet for emergency purposes, hurricane evacuations or other things, or should we need to transport people to San Antonio or to the Valley during emergency?
Derrick Majchszak: We, we would have that ability. We did attempt to have compressed natural gas on our, our small cutaway fleet that that wasn't a. As easy of a process as we anticipated in that with the engines struggled a little bit more in the Texas heat with, with the compressed natural gas. So we currently operate, uh, unleaded on that, but we are looking at potentially using propane at some point in time or trying a different version of a compressed natural gas engine for that, for that fleet of VE vehicles.
Paul Comfort: .
Engaging with the CommunityEngaging with the Community and Future Investments
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Paul Comfort: Vince, how are you engaging with riders in the community to ensure that their needs are met? You serve such a vast area, [00:32:00] 10,000 square miles. I don't know if I've ever talked to anybody who's operated in a bigger area. How do you connect with all your passengers and make sure you're meeting their needs?
Vin Suerta: I. So we consistently try to do, uh, passenger surveys that, that allow us to have an insight on what passengers are thinking, passengers are wanting, but we also work with our partners in the community to better understand what, what, what is, what are seniors needing. You know, we work with, uh, aaa, we work with, uh, our veterans groups and, and, and that always helps us to have a better understanding of what those gaps are and how, what's the best approach that we can have to meeting some of those gaps in, in terms of ridership as an industry.
Vin Suerta: And I'm sure you're aware, you know, pre pandemic numbers we're roughly about an 80% recovery. But for, for, for us, we, we've exceeded our, our pre pandemic numbers. So we're actually now, you know, gone above and beyond our numbers before, uh, the pandemic.
Paul Comfort: That's great. Well that means you're obviously meeting the community's needs, right?
Paul Comfort: Because they vote with their feet. Are they gonna ride or not ride? Right. That's wonderful. Alright, , Serena, . What's one thing you wish more people [00:33:00] understood about public transit in Texas?
Serena Stevenson: I wish that people would understand that for you to have the transit system of the future, you must invest in transit today.
Serena Stevenson: People want to say, , we want, you know, battery electric buses. We want all of these things. But if you don't start building that foundation today, you cannot evolve into the type of system that , all riders, choice riders, just anyone who sees transit in the community, see it as a viable option.
Serena Stevenson: So invest now so that your people in your communities have what they need in the future.
Paul Comfort: . All right. Final question, Mario. How can, uh, listener support or get involved with transit initiatives in Texas?
Mario Delgado: Yeah, I, I, I think, um, I can just kind of expand a little bit on what, uh, what Serena said.
, I think the biggest initiative needs to be, , funding, more funding for public transit. You know, she also said that, , Texas love the cars. We love our trucks. We certainly do in Texas, but at the end of the day, you can [00:34:00] only build so many roads. And I know as a, as a state, we invest heavily on our roads, which by all means we should, but at the same time, I think a little bit more needs to be invested in public transit so that we could be as efficient as possible.
Mario Delgado: Obviously, the, the, the only way that we're gonna really, uh, combat or mitigate, you know, congestion and stuff like that is, is mass transportation. At, at all levels. And so I think, you know, if people want to get involved, I mean, it's, it's advocating for that, for building public transit, changing the perception and changing, uh, our culture of, of wanting to get in our vehicles and drive five miles, Hey, get on a bus and, and give it a shot.
Mario Delgado: Obviously our jobs then will be to make sure that we build efficient public transit systems, but you can't have one, one without the other. Right. We need the, we need the funding, we need the support to be able to build the, the transit systems that our state needs to be able to move people.
Paul Comfort: Thanks guys.
Conclusion and Closing Thoughts
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Paul Comfort: This has been a great conversation.
Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks
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Paul Comfort: We'll get Alan to, to wrap us up here, Alan, you know, I think, you know, I was the president of our state transit [00:35:00] association for many years in Maryland, and I know the value of state transit associations. Give us some closing thoughts.
Allen Hunter: Well, Paul, the big thing I just wanna say is, you know, you can tell as with any association, it takes us a strong board.
Allen Hunter: And you can tell from the conversation this morning, you know, from some of our board members this morning that we've got a great cross section of folks representing TTA. And it's that strength that I think is really helping to guide and direct us. And so for this conference, we're looking for a strong finish today.
Allen Hunter: I'm looking forward to, you know, having you speak and I'm looking forward to, you know, wrapping up another successful conference. So appreciate you letting us be a part of this podcast today.
Paul Comfort: , normally I do one at a time and it's great to have a full group here. Kind of give us the state of the state of transit in Texas.
Paul Comfort: Thank you all for being our guest today. We wish you the very best as you continue to provide safe, efficient, reliable transit with world-class customer service here in Texas.
Thank you for joining this edition of the Transit Unplugged Podcast Here is a word from Julie Gates. [00:36:00]