February 28, 2024
Season:    7

Scott Marr and MetroLink Tulsa get their kicks on Route 66 with BRT and microtransit

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In the first of two podcast episodes–and an upcoming Transit Unplugged TV episode–from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Paul chats with MetroLink Tulsa (https://www.tulsatransit.org/) CEO Scott Marr about:

  • His city
  • His career in transit
  • The overwhelming success of microtransit and merging it with paratransit operations
  • His plans for expanding Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to Route 66 for the 100th anniversary
  • And the path to lower emissions with CNG and battery-electric buses

After a long career as a transit fixer across the U.S., Scott returned to Tulsa as the CEO taking the reins of a system revitalized with BRT and microtransit. But it’s not all smooth sailing for Scott and his team. Plans to expand BRT to historic Route 66 for its 100th anniversary in a couple years have hit a bump in the road with a $15M shortfall caused by inflation and price increases beyond his control. Undaunted, Scott is rallying his team and seeking support from the FTA and other sources to make this happen in time.

Tulsa is also our next feature city on Transit Unplugged TV on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@transitunplugged) . You don’t want to miss seeing all the Americana that is Route 66, plus Paul’s standup comedy routine at an open mic night. Check out the episode Thursday, March 14.

Coming up next week, we stay in Tulsa with MetroLink Tulsa Director of Planning Chase Phillips talking about the unique places that make Tulsa one of the most iconic cities in the U.S.

If you have a question or comment, email us at info@transitunplugged.com.

Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo and these fine folks:

  • Paul Comfort, host and producer
  • Julie Gates, executive producer
  • Tris Hussey, editor and writer
  • Tatyana Mechkarova, social media

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Sign up for the Transit Unplugged Newsletter

00:00 Introduction and Background

00:21 Rebranding and the New Name

01:22 Exploring the Transit System

02:38 The Future of Transit in Tulsa

12:29 Reflections and Conclusions

17:56 Coming up next week on Transit Unplugged

Transcript
Paul Comfort:

This is Transit Unplugged.

Paul Comfort:

I'm Paul Comfort.

Paul Comfort:

Good to be with you on another edition of the world's leading transit

Paul Comfort:

executive podcast, Transit Unplugged.

Paul Comfort:

Today we head to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Paul Comfort:

And we talk with Scott Marr.

Paul Comfort:

Scott is the CEO of Tulsa Transit, who after a long career in the private sector

Paul Comfort:

has gone into the public sector as CEO of the transit system there, formerly

Paul Comfort:

known as Tulsa Transit, and while we were there, it was rebranded as MetroLink.

Paul Comfort:

We talked to Scott about his transit system and how he's taken the reins over

Paul Comfort:

the last couple years and revitalized it with a brand new BRT in the planning and

Paul Comfort:

microtransit service coming to the city.

Paul Comfort:

But it's not all smooth sailing for Scott and his team.

Paul Comfort:

Plans to expand the BRT to historic Route 66, in time for its 100th anniversary in a

Paul Comfort:

couple years, have hit a bump in the road.

Paul Comfort:

He tells us about it as a multi million dollar shortfall has been

Paul Comfort:

caused by inflation and price increases beyond their control.

Paul Comfort:

But undaunted, Scott and the team are rallying to seek support

Paul Comfort:

financially and otherwise.

Paul Comfort:

To make it happen in time.

Paul Comfort:

stay tuned for a second part of the episode from Tulsa, when next week we

Paul Comfort:

talk with Director of Planning, Chase Phillips, about the unique placemaking

Paul Comfort:

that made Tulsa one of the most iconic cities in the United States.

Paul Comfort:

If you like what you hear and you want to see it, be sure to tune in

Paul Comfort:

to Transit Unplugged TV next month to take a look at this and plenty more

Paul Comfort:

that we filmed while there in Tulsa.

Paul Comfort:

Enjoy this interview with MetroLink Tulsa CEO Scott Marr.

Paul Comfort:

There's so many cool things in Tulsa.

Paul Comfort:

Thanks for having me and inviting us into Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

Thanks for having me on the show.

Scott Marr:

We're really excited.

Paul Comfort:

So, you and I have known of each other, not really well, but known of

Paul Comfort:

each other, worked for similar companies over the past 20 years or so, and now

Paul Comfort:

you're general manager and CEO of Tulsa Transit, which just today got a new name.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about that.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, our new name is MetroLink Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

It was just approved by our board a few weeks ago.

Scott Marr:

It was just announced today to the SWATA conference.

Scott Marr:

it was great hearing our mayor say our name, but it was important that we refresh

Scott Marr:

our brand, our brand, as we get further away from COVID, as we connect with our

Scott Marr:

youth, our current riders, our future riders, and of course, those choice

Scott Marr:

riders that we're all trying to get.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, we are here, uh, in Tulsa, not just to visit you, but we're

Paul Comfort:

having fun at the Southwest Transit Association with my buddy Rich Sampson.

Paul Comfort:

550 people here from 8 states they represent, and, uh, really some

Paul Comfort:

great awards today, and your mayor spoke, and he's very excited.

Paul Comfort:

Scott, one of the things that really impressed me about, um, his

Paul Comfort:

leadership is, uh, he seems to be very practical, but very pro transit.

Scott Marr:

Absolutely.

Scott Marr:

And, you know, he's just such a great speaker.

Scott Marr:

I'm glad I didn't have to follow him, I went before him.

Scott Marr:

But he's been a huge advocate for public transportation and continues

Scott Marr:

to do so in his last year as he's not seeking re election, but we

Scott Marr:

are proud to have him as our mayor, and, uh, we will miss him dearly.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about your system.

Paul Comfort:

Give us an overall scope.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so we have 65 fixed route buses, 54 paratransit and

Scott Marr:

microtransit vehicles, 24 fixed routes.

Scott Marr:

We have 4 microtransit zones during the day, 6 at night.

Paul Comfort:

More at night because there's less fixed route

Paul Comfort:

buses going around or what?

Scott Marr:

There is, but it replaced an underperforming

Scott Marr:

deviated fixed route service.

Scott Marr:

So to cover the whole city on what those routes were running, we wanted

Scott Marr:

to give our customers better service than what they were getting before.

Scott Marr:

And now the service has doubled the ridership of those routes

Scott Marr:

when they were previously running.

Scott Marr:

So we're excited.

Paul Comfort:

So you started microtransit service to replace some

Paul Comfort:

routes that were underperforming, and you got twice as many people riding

Paul Comfort:

microtransit than you did on the bus?

Scott Marr:

That's correct.

Scott Marr:

What kind of vehicles are you using?

Scott Marr:

We're using voyagers.

Scott Marr:

We're using cutaway.

Scott Marr:

Other ways, um, but you know, it's important to have

Scott Marr:

two vehicles in each zone.

Scott Marr:

One that is ADA accessible and one that also has a bike rack for our customers.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about, um, you mentioned that the mayor announced a new

Paul Comfort:

name today and you had a great video, by the way, which we'll show some clips

Paul Comfort:

of because concurrent with this audio podcast, we're here filming a television

Paul Comfort:

show for Transit Unplugged TV on YouTube.

Paul Comfort:

So if you like what Scott and I are talking about, make sure you take a look

Paul Comfort:

at our video show, Transit Unplugged TV on YouTube and see it yourself.

Paul Comfort:

But, um, tell us about the decision behind renaming the system and how you

Paul Comfort:

came up with a name and you have multiple names for multiple services, right?

Scott Marr:

That's correct.

Scott Marr:

So, you know, I just really thought two years ago when I took over this position,

Scott Marr:

it was time to refresh our brand.

Scott Marr:

We've been Tulsa Transit since 1980.

Scott Marr:

Same look, same design.

Scott Marr:

It was time to refresh our brand.

Scott Marr:

So, Metrolink Tulsa, a royal blue, a yellow, similar to DART.

Scott Marr:

DART is our sister company, but we're not exactly like DART.

Scott Marr:

Link Assist for our paratransit, and of course, Microlink for our microtransit.

Scott Marr:

It was time to change, and our team is excited to embrace this change.

Scott Marr:

We hope the public the same.

Scott Marr:

I hope that they'll embrace this change as well.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, it's awesome.

Paul Comfort:

Well, they have what your microtransit, it sounds like.

Paul Comfort:

And you told me, uh, before that you're thinking about merging micro with para?

Scott Marr:

That's correct.

Scott Marr:

We want to start co mingling.

Scott Marr:

When you start co mingling, we realize in paratransit, we

Scott Marr:

have a lot of cancellations and no shows throughout the day.

Scott Marr:

Right.

Scott Marr:

That leave gaps in routes.

Scott Marr:

Why not?

Scott Marr:

Use those gaps to fill microtransit trips.

Scott Marr:

It'll reduce the cost.

Scott Marr:

And we know paratransit is the most expensive service that we have.

Scott Marr:

So if we increase our ridership or our productivity, microtransit

Scott Marr:

is currently running 3.

Scott Marr:

75 to 4.

Scott Marr:

25 trips per hour, trips per hour, passengers.

Scott Marr:

On the vehicle per hour.

Scott Marr:

If we can get, when we start co mingling that same type of

Scott Marr:

productivity, it'll reduce our costs and use those funds elsewhere.

Paul Comfort:

Absolutely.

Paul Comfort:

That's an amazing thing.

Paul Comfort:

And I know the places like Seattle and other cities are looking at doing

Paul Comfort:

just that because during the pandemic, microtransit was the hottest new trend.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, and now that the funds are running out, the COVID relief funds

Paul Comfort:

from Washington, people are looking at ways to maybe conserve on costs.

Paul Comfort:

if you can figure out a way to do it on a cheaper, cheaper per passenger,

Paul Comfort:

but they get individualized service, I mean, that's a win win, isn't it?

Scott Marr:

It is, and we've had so much success with our microtransit, we're

Scott Marr:

starting to see other organizations come to Tulsa to see how we're doing it.

Scott Marr:

Really?

Scott Marr:

So we're glad to be partners with those other organizations.

Scott Marr:

So we can help them reduce their costs like we reduce ours.

Paul Comfort:

That's great.

Paul Comfort:

Tulsa is a great town.

Paul Comfort:

I mean, I've never been here before this visit.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, like I said, the only thing I really knew about it was the

Paul Comfort:

praying hands at ORU, but, uh, there's so many cool things here.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us some about how big Tulsa is and what, what, what some of

Paul Comfort:

the features are of this place.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so there's 400, 000 people, 187 square miles.

Scott Marr:

A lot of people don't realize Route 66 was born in Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

Wow.

Scott Marr:

It was actually born in Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

And now we have a BRT that we're building up for the 100 year anniversary in 2026.

Scott Marr:

We're building a BRT on Route 66 20 minute frequency.

Scott Marr:

It'll go from east to west, west to east, and we're excited

Scott Marr:

because we think it'll have just as much success as our current BRT

Scott Marr:

. Paul Comfort: Yeah, tell us, we just got off the BRT line.

Scott Marr:

You were riding it from the convention center out to, ORU.

Scott Marr:

Um, tell us about that, the name of the service, how you came up with that.

Scott Marr:

Pretty interesting.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so Propeller was a company that we used for the branding.

Scott Marr:

It is called the Aero.

Scott Marr:

That is our BRT service.

Scott Marr:

A E R O.

Scott Marr:

A little different than what you may think.

Scott Marr:

A R O W.

Scott Marr:

But that service, that BRT is over a third of our ridership monthly.

Scott Marr:

It's been a huge success.

Scott Marr:

The economic development on that route.

Scott Marr:

It's just been amazing, our customers love it, the buses are branded, they

Scott Marr:

look different than anything else, and even with our new rebranding,

Scott Marr:

we will not change the Aero because it's already branded the way it is.

Paul Comfort:

And so the new, so Route 66, or Route 66, I guess is how

Paul Comfort:

people normally say it, uh, is really what they call America's Main Street.

Paul Comfort:

And it's a, it's a central feature of a lot of part of

Paul Comfort:

the central part of America.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, it's, uh, it goes across like from Chicago all the way across

Paul Comfort:

the country to the West Coast.

Paul Comfort:

And, uh, it's, this is like the heart of it here, isn't it?

Scott Marr:

It is.

Scott Marr:

It was born here.

Scott Marr:

You heard our mayor mentioned it earlier this morning.

Scott Marr:

My parents drove it when I was a kid.

Scott Marr:

I probably came through Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

Just don't remember it, but what a great time for the hundred

Scott Marr:

year anniversary in two years that we embrace that anniversary.

Scott Marr:

We put that BRT on that line.

Scott Marr:

And the city of Tulsa is just so excited to celebrate that time.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, and you've got 45 stations?

Scott Marr:

45 stops?

Scott Marr:

So 44 stations, 320, 000 each.

Scott Marr:

Okay.

Scott Marr:

A little expensive, but you know Where are you getting the money?

Scott Marr:

FTA.

Scott Marr:

Okay.

Scott Marr:

We hope to get it from the FTA.

Scott Marr:

We currently have a funding gap, a 15 million funding gap,

Scott Marr:

but that's nobody's fault.

Scott Marr:

Other than inflation and the rising costs.

Paul Comfort:

Yes, things are so expensive now, aren't they?

Paul Comfort:

Even, but I've got to tell you, last night at the hotel, four of us had a

Paul Comfort:

meal and a drink, and it was, uh, 80.

Paul Comfort:

I could not believe it.

Paul Comfort:

I was like, oh, is that cheap?

Paul Comfort:

This is,

Scott Marr:

yeah, that's very cheap.

Scott Marr:

Well, you live in Maryland.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, that's right.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah.

Paul Comfort:

I mean, that would be me going out for a meal.

Paul Comfort:

But anyway, yeah, yeah.

Paul Comfort:

So it's a little bit the, the cost of living here.

Paul Comfort:

Maybe it's a little bit lower, but the cost of those assets I

Paul Comfort:

know are still very expensive.

Paul Comfort:

So, um, uh, the BRT line is coming.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us a little bit more about the town of Tulsa.

Paul Comfort:

Let's keep going on, there's so many neat things here.

Paul Comfort:

You have an art deco district, and tell us about all the kind

Paul Comfort:

of interesting facets here.

Scott Marr:

Yeah.

Scott Marr:

You know, a lot of people forget that the outsiders movie.

Scott Marr:

was made here in Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

The house still stands.

Scott Marr:

It's a place that people go to and see and check out.

Scott Marr:

a student in Tulsa wrote the Outsiders book that eventually became a movie.

Scott Marr:

It's just amazing that, uh, yeah, it's just, we're so excited about that

Scott Marr:

because so many actors and actresses.

Scott Marr:

That was one of

Paul Comfort:

the first things.

Paul Comfort:

That was their start.

Paul Comfort:

The Brat Pack got started there.

Paul Comfort:

Rob Lowe and

Scott Marr:

the boys.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so super exciting.

Scott Marr:

You know, Tulsa's an old oil town, you know, probably, um, fell

Scott Marr:

backwards a little bit in the 80s and 90s, but it's really starting

Scott Marr:

to bow back with our city leaders.

Scott Marr:

You know, we have the Gathering Place off Riverside that is a

Scott Marr:

great family oriented location.

Paul Comfort:

Let's talk about that for one minute.

Paul Comfort:

I thought that was so interesting when your mayor was talking to us this

Paul Comfort:

morning and said, you know, basically in America, because of digitalization,

Paul Comfort:

we almost have a pandemic of loneliness.

Paul Comfort:

I mean, I've read about that.

Paul Comfort:

They've actually called it that.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, people don't connect anymore.

Paul Comfort:

So you all went out and raised money from the private sector,

Paul Comfort:

billions of dollars, and built what's called the Gathering Place.

Scott Marr:

Gathering Place is an amazing place to take your kids.

Scott Marr:

You can just go out there and walk.

Scott Marr:

You can play basketball.

Scott Marr:

They have basketball courts, tennis courts.

Paul Comfort:

He said it's like Disneyland had a baby.

Scott Marr:

So it's hilarious when they say that.

Scott Marr:

But yeah, it's, it's an amazing, we do dump the pump there.

Scott Marr:

We did dump the pump, National Dump the Pump Day in June.

Scott Marr:

Oh, okay.

Scott Marr:

Oh, yeah.

Scott Marr:

Where we encourage, we encourage people to dump the pump.

Scott Marr:

Park your cars and ride public transportation.

Scott Marr:

We do free fares on that day.

Scott Marr:

We've, that's been another huge success.

Paul Comfort:

That's great.

Paul Comfort:

The, uh, the BRT lines, one more thing about them I wanted to mention

Paul Comfort:

was the public support for them.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about the referendums you had here and what kind of support you had

Paul Comfort:

because they had to go to the voters.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so 2016 the Vision Tax, um, was, was approved two thirds, two

Scott Marr:

to one, um, for the approval of that.

Scott Marr:

Our public here in Tulsa, they have really embraced public transportation.

Scott Marr:

and voted yes on measures to help us fund that.

Scott Marr:

Yes, we do currently have a funding gap, but again, that's due to rising

Scott Marr:

costs and supply chain issues.

Scott Marr:

So, um, our mayor's been amazing working with this team at MetroLink Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

MetroLink Tulsa.

Scott Marr:

To help us work through some of that.

Scott Marr:

We are applying for a raise grant that's due at the end of this month.

Scott Marr:

And, uh, the FTA knows that, uh, we are in a bind here with this current funding gap.

Scott Marr:

And they know the 100 year anniversary's coming up.

Scott Marr:

So, we're hoping to hear good news when the, uh, announcement's out.

Paul Comfort:

We're driving around town right now.

Paul Comfort:

Um, and, uh, neither you or I are driving.

Paul Comfort:

I was just going to mention that.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Paul Comfort:

But we're in the backseat talking, I wanted to talk about fueling.

Paul Comfort:

So, uh, you know, we've been on our show.

Paul Comfort:

We've done a lot of discussion lately on various types of new fuels that are

Paul Comfort:

lower, lower sulfur, lower emission.

Paul Comfort:

So traditionally, American Transit worked on diesel, diesel buses.

Paul Comfort:

And then we went to something called clean diesel.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, and now, there's three or four other new sources of energy.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, one of them that my buddy, Kevin Quinn, up in, um, Vancouver is going

Paul Comfort:

to like a, almost like a, I don't want to say vegetable oil, but it's some

Paul Comfort:

kind of natural based fuel like that.

Paul Comfort:

Then you've got, uh, battery electric.

Paul Comfort:

There's a lot of electric buses, which in cold weather climates this

Paul Comfort:

winter, there was a lot of challenges for them in Canada, especially some

Paul Comfort:

of the leaders up there told me.

Paul Comfort:

We were just in Edmonton, and I talked to other leaders near Toronto,

Paul Comfort:

they were concerned about that.

Paul Comfort:

Then there's this all new fuel, I mean it's been around a while, right,

Paul Comfort:

but new for buses, of hydrogen fuel.

Paul Comfort:

There's a hydrogen council, my buddy Dorian Barnes in California and

Paul Comfort:

Kurt Conrad are all about hydrogen.

Paul Comfort:

But there's a fuel that's been around for a long time, in

Paul Comfort:

places like Fort Worth and Tulsa.

Paul Comfort:

That's really clean and it's CNG, Compressed Natural Gas.

Paul Comfort:

So tell me about what you guys are doing.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, out of our 119 vehicles, 84 of them are CNG.

Scott Marr:

We have four electric and we have four diesel.

Scott Marr:

The rest are unleaded gas and most of those are the paratransit.

Scott Marr:

We have no big buses that are our regular gas.

Scott Marr:

CNG buses is where we live on.

Scott Marr:

On top of CNG, long, we were talking about it earlier, Paul, where there's

Scott Marr:

enough CNG to outlast our lifetime, our kids lifetime, and their kids lifetime.

Paul Comfort:

We're driving right through it right now, I think.

Paul Comfort:

We're right by the, uh, the train lines with all the cars over there, and it

Paul Comfort:

looks like the refineries are over there.

Scott Marr:

We have good news, though.

Scott Marr:

We have four diesel buses that'll be retired in June when we get our new,

Scott Marr:

our seven new CNG buses from Gilloog.

Paul Comfort:

They're gonna be electric, right?

Paul Comfort:

Gilloog's

Scott Marr:

are electric, or the CNG?

Scott Marr:

So we got CNG coming this year, and then we have electric,

Scott Marr:

seven electric coming next year.

Paul Comfort:

All right, So you, the CNG works for you.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, we love CNG.

Scott Marr:

My director of maintenance is pro CNG.

Scott Marr:

We know that there's been cases out there that CNG is even cleaner than electric.

Scott Marr:

Really?

Scott Marr:

So we're excited with the CNG.

Scott Marr:

You know, we live on top of it here in the state of Oklahoma.

Scott Marr:

Yeah.

Scott Marr:

Um, so yeah, we want to continue to use CNG.

Paul Comfort:

Last question for this segment would be, um, so congratulations.

Paul Comfort:

Thank you.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, you just finished your second year almost to the day today.

Paul Comfort:

Yes.

Paul Comfort:

And you announced your new name of the service today with the mayor by your side.

Paul Comfort:

Awesome.

Paul Comfort:

And you just got a big contract renewal.

Paul Comfort:

You're like a coach, you know, on the football team.

Paul Comfort:

Tell us about that.

Scott Marr:

Yeah.

Scott Marr:

So the board just approved on Thursday.

Scott Marr:

I got a new eight year contract, four year base with two, two year extensions.

Scott Marr:

So that'll keep me here for another eight years.

Scott Marr:

But Paul, it's not about this contract.

Scott Marr:

It's about the next one after that to get me to the retirement age.

Scott Marr:

But, um, I'm excited.

Scott Marr:

I'm excited to know that, you know, I've been here two years and

Scott Marr:

I've got another eight years here to work with this amazing team.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, thank you.

Paul Comfort:

And so, what's your vision?

Paul Comfort:

I'm sure you had to sell them your vision.

Paul Comfort:

What's your vision for the system?

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so, my vision, and it's not, and I like to tell my

Scott Marr:

team, this is not Scott Mar Transit.

Scott Marr:

This is all of us putting our heads together to figure out

Scott Marr:

what's best for our customers.

Scott Marr:

We want to build a box.

Scott Marr:

We want to build a box of core fixed route service and use

Scott Marr:

microtransit to feed that box.

Scott Marr:

Now microtransit has been a huge hit here and I don't think we have

Scott Marr:

even touched what microtransit is going to be in the future.

Scott Marr:

Wow.

Paul Comfort:

And then expand the BRT, right?

Scott Marr:

Expand the BRT in two years after we get that funding

Scott Marr:

and then co mingling, having those paratransit trips switched to

Paul Comfort:

That's a great vision.

Paul Comfort:

I think you're going to succeed, my friend.

Paul Comfort:

I

Scott Marr:

hope so.

Paul Comfort:

Scott, uh, so you've been here two years.

Paul Comfort:

What did you do prior to this job?

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so going all the way back 28 years ago in 1996,

Scott Marr:

I was a fixed route bus driver.

Scott Marr:

It was the first time I ever got my CDL license.

Scott Marr:

I drove for about six months, but they loved the fact that I

Scott Marr:

was prior military, so I moved up really quickly as a road supervisor.

Scott Marr:

Did that for about 10 or 12 years, and then I got hired by MV Transportation,

Scott Marr:

the private contractor, as a project manager in Lawrence, Kansas.

Paul Comfort:

So that's when I think I remember you.

Paul Comfort:

Uh, was there.

Paul Comfort:

And weren't you kind of like a fix it guy for us?

Scott Marr:

I was!

Scott Marr:

You know, I was single at the time, I had a car, four boxes,

Scott Marr:

easy for me to move around.

Scott Marr:

So whenever there was an opportunity, I'd always knock at the door

Scott Marr:

and say, Hey, I'm available.

Scott Marr:

Well, I had some success in the first, uh, two locations I went to that I fixed.

Scott Marr:

So I continue to move around a lot.

Scott Marr:

I think in about 15 years, I moved around 13 times.

Paul Comfort:

Wow.

Paul Comfort:

So about a year at a spot.

Paul Comfort:

A year and a half.

Paul Comfort:

And what would you do?

Paul Comfort:

Go in and be a general manager, an ops manager?

Scott Marr:

No, I was, I was actually the general manager, but I'd go in there

Scott Marr:

and I would identify what wasn't working.

Scott Marr:

And usually, you know, all of us that have been in the business like yourself, um,

Scott Marr:

those things stand out like a sore thumb.

Scott Marr:

Yeah, that's right.

Scott Marr:

So fixing those It doesn't take long, does doesn't take long, but,

Scott Marr:

so fixing that and guiding them.

Scott Marr:

You know, at the end of the day You have to get people to trust in you and you

Scott Marr:

can only get that to be accomplished by building relationships and building

Scott Marr:

those relationships, getting people to believe in what you're trying to

Scott Marr:

sell and getting them to perform.

Paul Comfort:

you worked for MV for a number of years, moving around the

Paul Comfort:

country as a general manager, kind of, uh, Fixing up the operations.

Paul Comfort:

Fixing up the finance.

Paul Comfort:

Fixing up administrative.

Paul Comfort:

Fixing up, I'm sure, all kinds of

Paul Comfort:

stuff, right?

Paul Comfort:

there's one big problem that you see in transit agencies across America now

Paul Comfort:

that, that you've got a solution for.

Scott Marr:

You know, it's easy to talk about safety because that's

Scott Marr:

what really drives the bottom line.

Scott Marr:

Okay, but usually it's poor management.

Scott Marr:

It's really about the managers that have been around this

Scott Marr:

business that come in at 10 a.

Scott Marr:

m.

Scott Marr:

and leave at 3.

Scott Marr:

Well, how can you expect your employees to respect you?

Scott Marr:

Um, you really got to dig in.

Scott Marr:

You need to be here during pullout.

Scott Marr:

You need to be here when they get back.

Scott Marr:

Those are the types of things that allow you to build those relationships

Scott Marr:

and get them to buy in what you're trying to sell, and they will perform.

Scott Marr:

Happy employees perform well.

Paul Comfort:

and then I had you end up here.

Paul Comfort:

So you did that for a while, and then what happened?

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so still on the private side, I was working in Brooklyn, New

Scott Marr:

York, driving two to four hours each way, because I lived in New Jersey,

Scott Marr:

and I got a phone call from Tulsa Transit saying, hey, would you like to

Scott Marr:

come back and work for First Transit?

Scott Marr:

And it wasn't right away that I thought, eh, you know, I'd already been here twice.

Scott Marr:

But it was that last four hour drive home where I said, you know what, let's

Scott Marr:

go back to Tulsa where my wife is from.

Scott Marr:

Okay.

Scott Marr:

Um, it's a great opportunity, but, but I'll be honest with you, Paul.

Scott Marr:

When I came back to first transit, I had my eye on the

Scott Marr:

prize and that was this position.

Scott Marr:

So I stayed with it for the city.

Scott Marr:

The work for the work for MTTA, Tulsa Transit.

Scott Marr:

So I stayed with first transit for two years.

Scott Marr:

This position opened up and I seized the moment.

Scott Marr:

Here we are two years later, we're having great success, but I'm

Scott Marr:

always going to deflect and say if it wasn't for the strong team

Scott Marr:

I have, I'd never be successful.

Paul Comfort:

Yeah, and so the game plan for you, as we talked about

Paul Comfort:

when we were riding on your BRT, Uh, kind of spell it out one more time.

Paul Comfort:

What's your vision for the next four years?

Scott Marr:

Yeah, so we're working on a, a raise grant that's due later this

Scott Marr:

month to fill in the funding gap that we currently have on Route 66 where

Scott Marr:

we'll have nine CNG buses on there.

Scott Marr:

It doesn't really work for the, for the electric buses on there.

Scott Marr:

It's just too long of a route.

Scott Marr:

But, uh, in the next four years we hope to have that accomplished.

Scott Marr:

A hundred year anniversary for Route 66 is in two years.

Scott Marr:

It's possible we can have that ready by then.

Paul Comfort:

That's great.

Paul Comfort:

So you'll have a BRT line with 44 stations along there, your second

Paul Comfort:

BRT line, and then your microtransit.

Scott Marr:

Microtransit just continues to, uh, meet, expect, exceed

Scott Marr:

expectations and continue to grow.

Scott Marr:

And I, I see that with you today, we have four daytime

Scott Marr:

routes or zones, I should say.

Scott Marr:

We'll probably have 10 in the next couple of years.

Scott Marr:

It continues to grow and the ridership is just blowing up.

Scott Marr:

It's a good problem to have, is what I tell my team.

Paul Comfort:

There you go.

Paul Comfort:

Well, Scott, I'm very impressed with your operation, with your leadership,

Paul Comfort:

with the team you've assembled here.

Paul Comfort:

I think you are primed and ready to go.

Scott Marr:

Appreciate you, Paul.

Scott Marr:

Thanks for coming.

Tris Hussey:

Hi, this is Tris Hussey editor of the Transit Unplugged podcast.

Tris Hussey:

Thank you for listening to today's episode with our special guest Scott

Tris Hussey:

Marr now, as Paul said in the opening next week, we stay in Tulsa with the

Tris Hussey:

director of planning, Chase Phillips, showing Paul around their iconic downtown

Tris Hussey:

and its amazing art deco architecture.

Tris Hussey:

Hey, did you know transit unplugged.com is the hub for everything transit

Tris Hussey:

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Tris Hussey:

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