New CEO takes the helm at Cap Metro
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Monday was the first day on the job for Capital Metro's new President and CEO Linda Watson.
She said before making any big changes, she wants to do lots of research.
"I need to talk to the riders and the drivers and I need to experience our service, so not only do I plan to do that but make sure that others do that," Watson said.
She said she has already focused on two areas, riders who have disabilities and the union, which is good news to Local 1091 President Jay Wyatt.
"There is no labor relations. There's zero labor relations, so hopefully she can find a way to fix that," Wyatt said.
The union president wants to see big changes in Cap Metro's bus contractor, StarTran.
"In order to improve relations with the union, she definitely has to change the top of StarTran, because everyone at the top of StarTran is anti-union, so you can't teach an old dog new tricks," Wyatt said.
John Meinkowsky, a policy advocate for A Resource Center for Independent Living, said he's more interested in what Watson has to say about MetroAccess, Cap Metro's service for Austin residents with disabilities.
"I would hope that she would want to understand the people who use the service and recognize that these are people who are important and valuable and that the service is valuable in their lives," Meinkowsky said.
He hopes Watson will reject proposed changes to MetroAccess. In an effort to cut costs by roughly 10 percent, the agency is looking at possibly limiting MetroAccess' service area, changing the way it determines who's eligible for the program and taking people curb-to-curb instead of door-to-door.
Watson said she has some background work to do on that subject. She also said she wants to see a gradual overhaul of the fare system.
"So that when we do make changes that it's not so infrequent and unexpected that it comes as a shock to the system," she said.
Before coming to Austin, Watson worked as CEO of the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority. Last month, the Cap Metro board approved Watson's five-year contract. The board has set her base annual salary at $228,000.