How to Translate Transit Funding Into Real Service
Funding doesn’t deliver service—people do.
This week on Transit Unplugged, we’re in Nashville with Amanda Vandegrift, one of the leaders responsible for turning a major public vote into real-world transit improvements. Amanda offers a rare look at what it actually takes to move from funding to delivery.
Plus: ICYMI, we’ve got extended Boston content from Transit Unplugged TV and a standout conversation with Michael Dylan Pal on the path from operator to leadership.
This Week on The Podcast
Paul Comfort talks with Amanda Vandegrift, Deputy CEO of Finance & Administration and Chief Financial Officer at WeGo Public Transit in Nashville. This conversation is part of our “The Doers” series—highlighting transit leaders who are not just setting vision, but actively delivering results on the ground.
Amanda shares her unique journey from private-sector consultant—where she helped design Nashville’s “Choose How You Move” ballot initiative—to becoming the executive responsible for implementing it inside the agency.
ICYMI: Boston Uncut
If you enjoyed our Boston episode of Transit Unplugged TV, dive into extended versions of Paul Comfort’s Live CEO Roundtable from the 2025 APTA TRANSform Conference, plus an in-depth interview with Keolis International CEO Laurence Broseta. Enjoy additional transit insights, leadership perspectives, and behind-the-scenes industry discussion.
ICYMI: Michael Dylan Pal
Paul Comfort explores a question many transit agencies are asking today: Do operators make the best transit leaders? Paul’s guest, Michael Dylan Pal, Director of Public Transit for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) in Buffalo, has lived that journey firsthand. Pal began his career behind the wheel as a bus operator for New York City Transit, eventually rising through the ranks of the MTA, serving in senior leadership roles across multiple agencies, and later helping lead operations at Valley Metro in Phoenix before returning to New York to oversee transit in the Buffalo–Niagara region.
See how those who come up through the ranks of a system provide a grounded 360-degree view as transit leaders.
Register: ThinkTransit Executive Summit
The transit landscape is shifting faster than ever, and it demands leadership that’s ready to move with it. That’s why the APTA AdWheel Award-Winning Executive Summit was created: to curate one day for executives like you to step out of the day-to-day and focus on big-picture conversations with your peers that shape the future of the industry.
Join fellow CEOs, GMs, and senior leaders from across North America for a full day of panels, leadership insights, and roundtable discussions focused on the real-world challenges facing transit today (and the strategies that are actually working).
Whether you’re navigating funding constraints, workforce transitions, zero-emission mandates, or digital modernization, this is where candid conversations happen. Peer-to-peer, executive-to-executive.
