How PSTA’s CEO Brad Miller Is Redefining Transit for a Changing Florida

Stop Requested. Welcome to Stop Requested, the podcast where we discuss everything transit. I’m your co-host, Levi McCullom, Director of Operations at ETA Transit. And I’m your co-host, Christian Londono, Senior Customer Success Manager at ETA

Transit. On today’s episode, we sit down with Brad Miller, who spent his career shaping transit systems across the country and now leads one of Florida’s most dynamic transit agencies, PSTA.

We dive into how Brad’s early experiences from commuter rail to major multi-modal expansions shape his approach to leadership, innovation, and community-driven planning. He walks us through the thinking behind the SunRunner BRT, the new Clearwater Multi-Modals Hub, PSTA’s full network redesign, and the agency’s push into zero-emission buses, ferries, and mobility on demand. We also explore how he builds a culture where frontline employees feel empowered to innovate and why adaptability is essential in a tourism-driven region. It’s a conversation about leadership, curiosity, and the real impact transit has on peoples’ lives.

We hope you enjoy. Welcome back to Stop Requested. Christian, how are you today? Hey, Levi, doing well. How about yourself? I’m doing very well, and

I am really excited for our guest that we have on today. Today, we’ve got Brad Miller, who is the CEO of Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. Brad, how are you? Doing great. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. This is really our pleasure, quite the honor to have you on the podcast. Christian and I have been following your work at

PSTA for, ooh, it’s been, uh, quite a while now, more than a decade if I, if I remember that correctly. Yes. You’ve got this extensive experience over PSTA and in the, the Tampa Bay region. I’m just really interested to hear, you know, how you got started in, in transit. Like, how, how did you get to this point where you’re making such waves in the industry? Oh, well. Yeah, thank you very much. Yeah.

It’s been a, it’s been a while, but, um, you know, I am probably one of the few that I, I feel like I’ve been in public transportation since birth because my father, uh, was a professor, uh, of transportation in Pennsylvania, and, uh, so I, I kinda grew up with it, and, um, I, I had no i- no, um, goal to follow my dad in his, in his footsteps, but he had been involved with setting up the, uh, CATA bus system e- at Penn State where he was a professor, uh, so he actually set that, that, that transit system up especially for the students, uh, that go to Penn State, the campus shuttles and things like that. And so then I, I tried to fo- do something else desperately to not follow in my dad’s footsteps, and I failed miserably, and, uh, I went to, uh, undergrad and grad school, and then finally I broke down, and, uh, my, uh, father connected me with, um, a, a person at the Virginia Department of Transportation where I was trying to get ’cause that’s where my fiance was, uh, and, um, so I started, uh, my first transit job was for an agency outside of Washington, DC, and I got really involved with the Virginia Railway Express Commuter

Rail. and, uh, Uh, got, uh, it was there in the kinda early days of the VRE, um, it was, uh, it had only been in ex- uh, running for a year, and, uh, I think on, like, my second day on the job, they said, “Hey, uh, new guy. Um, the train is broken down, and you have to go out to the, the train station and tell all the passengers, uh, the customers that, uh, the train’s not coming.” And, um, so

I went out there, and I got yelled at, uh, uh, and, um, that was a very impactful moment, uh, for me in my early career because I could really see, you know, that this, th- this was a service, uh, that really had a big impact on the customers. I h- I had had some prior experience working in the state capital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and then also in, uh, for, uh, my congressman in Washington, DC, and I just, I really had a pa- passion and that, that experience sorta showed me that public transportation was actually something that really had a direct impact on many, many people, people getting to Washington, DC where they could make, uh, a living and, uh, support their families, and so that really kind of, um, was very inspiring, and, uh, that led me… I worked with the VRE for eight years, uh, then I went to Charlotte, North Carolina where, uh, they were also, uh, really expanding their transit system, and I got to work on a lot of different projects there, um, both, uh, expanding the bus system and working on their light rail, um, project, project which they, uh, now have up and running there, and then from there, I got called from a recruiter saying, “Hey, would you like to consider being a CEO of a transit system?” I was like, “Sure. Where?” “Uh, Des Moines, Iowa.” “Uh, no, and thank you.” You know? I, um, had to look on a map, and, uh, I’d never been there.

It’s very, um… But, I went out to for the interview just to sort of see what that was like, and lo and behold, I got it, and, uh, my family moved there for five years, and that was fantastic. Des Moines is an awesome, uh, city and, um, uh, some really great people there, and we were doing great things there. The on- only problem with

Des Moines really was that it was very far away, 1,000 miles away from my whole family and my wife’s family, and so then when the Florida job down here at PSTA opened up-… uh, we were like, “Okay. Well, we’ll go down there and do the interview. Either take a vacation to Florida or maybe I’ll get the job.” And shocking to me, I got the job, and, uh, it’s been great ever since being down here in, uh, St.

Petersburg, Florida. Wow. That’s, that’s very impressive. That’s, uh, you know, quite a career. And, and those things that, you know, you, you might not be 100% going for that job, but you end up being the right person and, uh, being able to, to fill the, you know, the, the need and, uh, you know, help advance the transit system, but also build your experience, right? Like, seeing different communities, different challenges in how you apply mobility to, you know, uh, help the community. Uh, so thank you for sharing that, that experience. And like you said, you’ve led different leadership roles across various transit agencies. You talk about DART, you talk about CATS, uh, and, and now being at PSTA. So, what lessons and experiences from those positions, um, help you for your approach at PSTA today? Oh, yeah. Well, I, I certainly have, uh, learned so many things from every step in my career, you know. Um, starting off, um, in Charlotte, I was the, the manager and then director of, uh, operations over the growing system. You know, it was, it was sort of a incredible time in Charlotte, because they had passed… They had recently passed a half percent sales tax for transit and with the goal of building, um, light rail and bus rapid transit lines all throughout the city, really expanding it. And, um, I had had some experience with commuter rail, so I got to work on a commuter rail project, got to work on, um, you know, uh, coordinating the rail and the bus networks together and lots of things like that that really kinda gave me, uh… Really kind of opened my eyes to lots of new innovations that were coming on, uh, in, in transit. We were able to kind of capitalize on that. And then, then to move to Des Moines and be a… Become the CEO where, you know, the moment you become CEO, you kind of never get to work on actual, like, uh, specific transit things. You become a generalist. I was a general manager, so to speak, and, uh, you know, uh, that just takes a whole nother level of skillset. Working with a board of directors, trying to coordinate.

Out in Des Moines, they had, um, they had recently become… Switched from a, uh, uh, uh, local transit authority to a regional authority over, uh, uh, many cities in the, um, Des Moines area. And, uh, so, you know, working with different mayors and, uh, city managers and city councils from all around the, uh, region, that, that was, that was a new experience for me that I really enjoyed. Um, and yeah, we, we, we, uh, did a lot of things there. You know, I think what it… What I learned from both of those experiences that have certainly helped me when I moved to S- um, St. Petersburg in Pinellas County was, it, it just takes, um, great partnerships with your community. You have, you have to really, um, make sure the transit system is supporting whatever the community wants, um, you know. And, uh, you wanna be a leader in, in, in showing what transit can do, but you also just need to be really listening, uh, to what the, um, what the community wants. Like, for example, like, down here in Florida, uh, we’re certainly different than… Really certainly different than, uh, Charlotte or, or, or Iowa. Um, we’re obviously have a very high number of tourists riding our public transportation system here, where we’re a big, uh, vacation spot for spring break. And other times people come to our, our fabulous beaches.

It’s a tourist economy in many ways. And, um, we need to design our transit services to meet, uh, that, that demand. Uh, that’s just different than, you know… Charlotte was, and Des Moines are, are… Is a commuter. Um, they… The people were coming into the center city to work, um, in, in jobs, and that’s the focus there. Here, it’s… Uh, we do have that, certainly, people getting- uh, using public transportation to get to work, but then they’re also… Um, we have this tourist element that really, uh, really was new to me, but, uh, it was something I, I,

I learned. And I was able to bring those other experiences from my, my career to help with that. Yeah, I can see, you know, like you said, uh, working with, uh, multimodal projects, like, being able to put new services, uh… Eh, you know, like light rail, right? You have bus, you have light rail. How do you make sure that those systems are connected and are helping the community? Uh, and, and I can see that on the Sun Runner and, and how successful it was. But to your point, it cannot be the agency’s plan. It has to be the community plan. And, and, you know, with different people that I had the opportunity to interact with that, uh, have been successful implementing these type of projects, that’s, that’s pretty much a key message, is it has to be e- the community plan. You have to have that, um, eh, support from the community to get to that success. Um, so, you know, let me ask you this question more related to, uh, your tenure at PSTA. Uh, how has public transit evolved nationally, uh, during your tenure, and how has PSTA adapted?

Yeah. Well, I… You know, I think, uh, transportation in general has certainly evolved over my, um, my career. Um, there, it is constantly changing, uh, with new technologies, new innovations, changing travel patterns, um, and, you know, I thi- I think that…… uh, that has, uh, affected PSTA just like it has the entire transit industry. We have had to move and, uh, adapt. And I’ve, I’ve always been very open to, uh, seeing what new technologies are out there that can help our system. I try my best not to, uh, just go for the shiny new object, uh, the new, uh, technology, uh, just for technology’s sake, but, uh, uh, trying to find out ways in which it could help our riders, help our community do better. Um, you know, whether it is, um, zero-emission, uh, electric buses that are saving us tons of money on, uh, by operating them instead of, uh, diesel, uh, buses, that, that was a huge benefit, uh, efficiency for us, whether it’s, uh, our all of our Mobility on Demand stuff that we’re doing with Uber and Lyft and taxis and, uh, really taking that to the paratransit space and kinda just completely changing the mobility for people with disabilities in our community. I, I, I think all, all these, um, changes in, uh, transportation have, um… You, you gotta try to look at how they can, you can take advantage of them rather than, you know, sorta worry about it or worry about that they’re gonna, uh, you know, put you out of business. I, I, I think it’s better to feel how you can adapt.

So Brad, you mentioned several of the projects there that I think PSTA is known for nationally. Uh, one that’s been in the news in the, in the last, uh, you know, year or so is the Clearwater Station. Uh, that you’re new multimodal transit hub. Yeah. Can you walk us through the, the history and vision of that project? How did that come to be? Yeah, so I think, um, our, our, uh, service area here on the West Coast of Florida in the bu- in the beautiful Tampa Bay region, uh, with our beaches and everything, um, is, as I’ve mentioned, very heavily focused on, um, a, the, a tourist economy. And we, we always have our highest ridership during spring break periods in March and April. And, you know, I think we’re one of the only transit systems in the country that has a wet bathing suit policy, ’cause our trolleys and buses go right along the beach, very close to the, to the water. And, um, uh, one of the key, um, hub, you know, the key hub or the, the linchpin of that whole system is our transit hub in Downtown Clearwater. Clear- Clearwater is a, a city that, uh, has a downtown and then, then there is a barrier island called… And Clearwater Beach is part of the city. That’s where all the hotels and the beach and the restaurants and everything are, and where the traffic, uh, all wants to go. And so to have a… We have a hub in Downtown Clearwater that, uh, you know, transit lines from around the whole region come into and then they connect over to the beach. And, um, and so it… Unfortunately, that, uh, facility was built, uh,

40 years ago and, uh, it was dilapidated and really run down and just probably the worst, you know, um, part of our infrastructure or our whole system for a very long time. It was also way too small. Uh, the, uh, trolleys and buses, many had to park around the, uh, surrounding streets ’cause there just was no room in it, and, um, I think there were three or four CEOs before me that were trying to come up with a viable replacement, uh, for that, um, and unsuccessful. And I was unsuccessful for a long time as well, but finally, in, uh, 2021, um, we, uh, went to Washington DC with a partnership with the City of Clearwater, and we were able to get a, um, RAISE grant for, uh, $20 million that finally we are able to, uh, build a new, modern, uh, sustainable, lead-certified, uh,

Clear- uh, station in Downtown Clearwater that is now under construction, so very historic. It took a very long time to get that done, but we are now… We can see the, uh, future. It’s going to open probably at the end of next year. So we’re very excited about that. Oh, that sounds like a very exciting project. And it’s just persistence. You, you have to stick with it and it sounds like you all did. Even though it took a while, you’re, you’re going to get there, so that, that’s really exciting.

I, you know, I’m, I’m curious, Brad, how, how does the Sunrunner fit into that Clearwater Station? Do- uh, is there some overlap there? Did you think about how those, those projects intertwined? Yeah. Well, uh, that, that’s a great question. You know, I think, uh, we want to create a whole network of services and the, uh, Sunrunner, uh, bus rapid transit line is actually in sort of the southern part of our county, not very close to the Clear- Clearwater, but, um, it is in St. Petersburg, Florida, uh, in that area, and it also goes to the beach, uh, beaches down, uh, in the southern part of our service area. So the Sunrunner BRT has been… Uh, is, is really something we’re incredibly proud of because, uh, I think the success, and it has been a success ever since it started, um, is due to how well it, uh, reflects and fits into the, the community. It is beloved by the, uh, city of St. Petersburg for what it’s made the city, um… Changes in the city, the, uh… There is transit-oriented development. The city is very invested in transit-oriented development around the stations of the BRT, and it, and it, it basically is a 10-mile-long BRT that goes from downtown St. Petersburg on the Tampa… Which is on the Tampa Bay side…… To the Gulf of Mexico. And goes straight across, uh, 10 miles to the west, to the beaches, right to the beach. And so it’s, it is also one of, um, taking advantage of the tourist, um, economy and getting pe- uh, people to jobs at those hotels and restaurants on the beach and then also tourists. We, we have, uh, U-Pass, uh, deals where, um, with, with many of the hotels and restaurants on the beaches where their employees and guests can ride, uh, our bus, our buses for free and our trolleys. And, uh, so, uh, by showing your room key on The SunRunner or any of our services you can ride for free. And so we, we do have thousands and thousands of tourists that ride the BRT, but we also have workers. You know, workers, uh, either at the beach or in downtown

St. Pete. We, it goes right by the Tropicana Field baseball stadium, so we, um, carry hundreds of, uh, fans of the, uh, Rays when they’re there. Of course, their, uh, stadium got wrecked by the hurricane, so we’ve had a year delay on that. But it’s gonna open this, uh, coming spring again, uh, and will be re- uh, car- uh, carrying a lot of folks to that too. So the… I just think, uh, sort of what we were talking about, about how, uh, the transit needs to, uh, really fit into, uh, what your community is about, I think The SunRunner does that better than almost anything we’ve done, is, it, it really is exactly a perfect solution for what, um, for what the, the P- Tampa Bay economy and what the Tampa Bay, uh, residents, uh, wanted. Yeah. It sounds like you’re really thinking about the travel experience holistically, and I, I appreciate your perspective. Uh, we recently had on Jacob Hlebica, uh, from your agency, from PSTA. Yes. Yeah, right.

And, yeah, uh, that was a few months ago. Uh, he said at the time that you all were about to revamp your, your bus system, redesign it for the, the first time in some 40 years or so. Um, perhaps it was around the same time that the original cre- Clearwater station was, was built.

Probably, yeah. Uh, by the time, by the timeline I’m, I’m hearing. Uh, but I’m curious, how is that going now? Yeah, yeah. Uh, Jacob, who was the project manager for a complete redesign of our whole, uh, transit network across our county of o- uh, a million people, um, uh, he did a great job in bringing that, uh, forward. And, uh, we just implemented it about two weeks ago, it went live. So, uh, right now we’re at sort of in the middle of, um, you know, uh, finding what we, uh, did wrong or kinks in the system. We, like, we have a, uh, sort of a mini hub in one location that had five bus bays when we really need six, and things like that. Um, uh, but, uh, it’s going, it’s going, it’s going fine. You know, the goals of our, uh, redesign were to reflect the changing demand, travel demand, that we’ve seen since the pandemic. And, uh, in large part, which is a lot more ridership and demand on the weekends than we used to have, and a lot, and not really… and, uh, uh, less demand in sort of the traditional peak periods, Monday through Friday, you know, ni- uh, nine to five. Um, we, because we are a tourist economy, we didn’t have a lot of that, but we had some of that, you know, to our major, uh, city centers and, uh, that has completely gone away. And now, and now we basically reoriented the, the routes and the services to serve, uh, the, uh, workers and, and, um, s- serve eh, for all other transportation, uh, needs on the, especially on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We have a lot more service, a lot more span later into the night, um, and, um, we’re, we’re very hopeful that that will prove results. It’s probably still too early to tell. We, um, we have seen some ridership increases already uh, on, on some of the services and especially on, on the weekends, which is what we were expecting. So, uh,

I think that’ll, that will es- essentially modernize our, our transit infrastructure, uh, for the, for the future, um, at least for now. Um, you know, we always want to be monitoring it and see what other tweaks we need to make, but, uh, so far so good. Uh, that’s good to hear. And, and, I mean, I don’t have to tell either you or

Christian this, but the, the pandemic changed a lot of things for a lot of people, and for transit especially, it changed those, those travel patterns. Uh, you know, one thing though that sticks out to me about PSTA, and since I’ve been following, you know, PSTA for more than a decade now, uh, just, you know, working in, in Florida, y- you all are all over the news and in a good way.

The, the thing that sticks out though is your ability to adapt to situations around you. You introduce new technologies, you’re very innovative.

Uh, can you speak to some of the projects, um, m- maybe even some of the ones that you’ve already mentioned that you’d wanna go into a little bit more. Y- you know, w- why are you known for being so innovative? Where, where does that come from?

Well, I, I don’t know where it comes from. I think it comes from, you know, me being very passionate about public transportation and very, um, curious about, uh, whatever, uh, new innovations are around. And then, uh, fantastic, uh, staff and, uh, partners that I get a chance to work with every day also sort of drinking that Kool-Aid. And, uh, uh, they have done some amazing things. You know, we talked a little bit about sort of the innovations that I’m really, really proud of with our, uh, paratransit, that for, you know, forever-… uh, par- paratransit was often looked at as sort of not, not the primary focus of the organization. And, uh, but there are no more loyal and, uh, demanding customers than on your paratransit system. But the system where they had to basically run their lives around their transportation, where, you know, you have to make a reservation the day before for traditional paratransit, and, uh, you know, and get, get the ride, take them to your doctor, um, and then make the reservation at a certain time to come back home. But it’s very difficult to lead a life like that. So when, when we were able, we, we were recipients of an FTA Sandbox Grant to test out the possibility of using TNCs and other real-time, um, transportation options on paratransit and when we basically layered the ability to get a ride right now rather than have your entire life or- orchestrated about making reservations, that has just been so positive for so many people who, you know, have really just… I’ve seen it, that- that they can, they’ve increased their, uh, mobility so much. Now they… Before they basically just used paratransit to go to doctors’ appointments. Now, they- they- they use paratransit to, and- and Mobility on Demand to go to Applebee’s or go to a movie or to a baseball game.

They, they, they, they have so much more boat mobility and that has been through… PSTA was the first transit system in the country to sign a contract with Uber and, uh, to partner with Uber and, uh, we’ve just really expanded on, uh, from those early beginnings, uh, of a first mile, last mile to all this stuff with paratransit. Now we got Uber and Lyft and taxis and, um, lots of other, uh, partners that, that help with that.

Uh, that- that’s been something that’s been very rewarding to me. Like I, I mentioned before, we have, um, zero-emission buses. Uh, we got our, we got a loan out grant in 2017, got two buses, electric buses, to see how they would go. They were BYDs. Um, they, they went okay. Um, they were kind of early days. And then we have invested, um, substantially and now we have about a third of our fixed-route bus fleet is zero-emission battery electric buses with, uh, Gillig being the, uh, bus we have most, most of. And, um, we have now,

I think, 82, um, electric buses as part of our fleet of 230, uh, buses and trolleys. So we’re very excited about that and, and, and the electric buses have been going great here in Florida. Um, they are saving us so much money on our, our diesel fuel expenditures that, um, we’re, we’re constantly looking at trying to be as efficient as we can. Uh, so we… I think that has been very, um, very innovative. I’m really great… We have got a fantastic group of maintenance technicians and leaders who, um, have, have found a way to, to keep those, uh, vehicles running and I’m grateful to them. And then this opportunity came up, uh, recently, most recently, to expand our modes that we have. And not just, uh, any modes, but, but go get into the ferry boat business, and, uh, so we, uh, are open to that. Working, again, working with our partners, we, um, oversee a ferry system in

Clearwater, uh, the… to the beach, just like I was talking about before. There’s now a ferry option that can take you or, or you could take one of our trolleys. Either way, they go to the, they go to the beach and then we connect to another city that’s up in, uh, near Clearwater called Dunedin, uh, up the Intracoastal Waterway with a ferry line that goes there. And what I’m working on right now, uh, and we’re about to go to the, um, my board with an approval, uh, uh, in a couple weeks is a, uh, ferry service connecting St. Petersburg and Downtown Tampa in the, across the Tampa Bay waters. And that, that, that will be a, um, eh, exciting, um, exciting advance once we get that up and running, uh, because, uh, you know, it’s very, very popular. It’s a… It- it’s fun. It’s a fun mode of transit. I tell people it’s the only mode that says, “Hey, there’s a dolphin. Stop.” Our buses don’t stop uh, like that, so it’s pretty cool, uh, just to ride it and then it, it makes a connection, um, between, uh, Tampa and St. Pete, something, uh, that it’s just another way to really avoid the traffic, uh, that is across our whole region. But it is another, uh, option for people, and so we’re very excited to bring, uh, ferries to our transportation system.

Yeah. That, that’s very exciting. I mean, you talk about multimodal and, you know, you’re touching on different things like from the electric vehicles, uh, from MOD and, and I remember when we were, eh, uh… When I was at

Pomfret and we were kind of like educating our boards on what MOD was, right? When, when everybody in the industry started talking about it and why we should look into it and how we could potentially make us more efficient and just save- Right. … some dollars.Um, and, you know, a lot of times we’ve referred, uh, eh, to PSTA as an example of, you know, how it can be implemented. And ultimately, Palm Tran ended up doing, uh, many things with it as well, including micro transit and partnering, uh, you know, with TNCs and, and so on. And, and to your point, is, is, you know, one thing, par- transit is expensive and you do need to try to manage that cost. And some of these programs could help, uh, both with increasing the quality of the service because when you partner with TNCs and, and, you know, all these different other ways to provide mobility, uh, or MOD, then you get, like, almost like an immediate expansion of your fleet, right? Like when you have Uber and so on, that you’re not using your fleet, that a lot of times is very constrained. Uh, but also there, there’s opportunities for savings and, and especially if you do some, uh, subsidizing, if you do all these different things that could help you, uh, reduce costs. But to your point, at the end of the day, it’s about the service and people that ride a par transit are the most fragile residents of any community. Uh- Yeah. That’s right. … and, and when you give them more mobility, to your point, right? It’s like, “Oh, no, no. Th- that service is fine.” You know, they, they only need to go to the doctor. No, th- they need access to life and everything the life offers. And, you know, if you had to plan all your life the day before and make sure that you make that call and put everything in, if not you don’t get to go anywhere, uh, then you would reconsider, you know, eh, how those services are provided because it is a lifeline. So that, that’s very impressive and for leading the way for Florida, right? Like, we know

JTA is a great innovator in our state and they also do a lot of cool things that we all get to learn from- Indeed. … and piggyback from. Yes. So PSTA does- Autonomous vehicles, they are, they are the king of that. Uh…

I don’t know. I mean, PSTA, it stacks very closely with different things. I mean, you talk about ferries, you talk about all these different things, uh, electric vehicles and, and zero emissions technologies. And, and one thing I do wanna highlight because in my, uh, tenure at Palm Tran, I had the privilege of being appointed by, um, you know, Clinton Forbes, our executive director back then, to lead our zero emissions effort and, you know, build, uh, working with consultants- Okay. … our zero emissions transition plan and our strategy to get electric vehicles. And at some point we were considering getting our own RFP out, uh, but PSTA did that, uh, you know, contract for the state for all the transit agencies to be able to order electric vehicles from. And, and that’s how Palm Tran, uh, you know, ended up, eh, procuring their first electric vehicle.

So i- it’s just- Okay. Okay. Yeah. It’s, it’s- So glad that worked out for- I’m happy with you guys… I’m sorry?

Yeah, no, um, that, the, the Florida does a great thing by, uh, doing those consortium procurements for buses and, uh, we were happy to do that. Glad that Palm Tran was able to take advantage of it.

Oh, yes. No, that, that, that was awesome. So I wanna ask you a little bit about your leadership and how do you get your agency to be so innovative, like all your employees to be innovative and thinking? A- and it seems like in your culture, it’s an option, right? Like, it, it seems that in some places it might be like everything is the status quo, nothing changes. But in some cultures, like in your organizations, eh, innovation is actually required. Like, you know, e- you’re asking for people to participate. So how do you foster innovation and employee engagement, uh, within PSTA?

Well, thank you. Um, thank you for that. Yeah, I… That… I want our agency to be known, uh, throughout, throughout the organization as innovative and, um, you know, one, one of, one of the ways I think we are able to foster that sort of perspective and, and, and embed that in the culture of PSTA is by constantly investing in our workforce. And that is something that I have been really, really passionate about, you know, throughout my career but certainly over the last, say, my time at PSTA is the only way we’re gonna get any of this stuff done is if we have, uh, the, the best, uh, workforce, that I get the best people to, uh, make me look good, right? You know, that, that is the whole key of it. And, um, so we, we, uh, created… Um, it was actually sort of built at sort of, um… It’s an amazing thing that our, my, uh, HR director, uh, came up with, but, uh, our board, uh, was… Uh, this is six or seven years ago, was very interested in coming up with, uh, me, coming up with a succession plan for, um, myself and, uh, for them to use, uh, to possibly replace me someday. Hopefully never. But, um… And then, um, and then, uh, the other key leaders of the organization develop a succession plan and then what we came up with was, well, let’s not only come up with a succession plan, um, where we’re sort of like identifying the future leaders, but let’s create a… In parallel, a, uh, sort of mini, um, workforce development program, which is called Leadership PSTA, which is, um, modeled after Leadership APTA, uh, which, you know, is, uh, a fantastic program that I’m, uh, a member of the committee, uh, Leadership APTA committee on. Um, and, um, but it’s smaller. It’s, uh, six, six up and coming PSTA, uh, leaders each year go through a, uh, uh, leadership development program. They, uh, work on an individual project and a group project. They have a whole curriculum and, um, it’s just been fantastic. I, I get a chance to meet and have coffee with each of them, uh, and talk to them about their careers and, uh, their future. And, uh, I think… I think it’s… I think not only it’s been effective in…… helping to train and develop employees, but it’s also, uh, seen by the organization as, the organization is investing in, in me, or in, in I, I can be, get invest- invested in me and my career. Um, and that’s what I love about it. They, I, I, I think that they, they, that is the best way for them to start drinking the Kool-Aid is if they feel like we are looking out for them and trying to grow their career, and that they have a place in this.

So, I think even though it doesn’t specifically focus on innovation, I think that, that method, and then, uh, of investing in them fosters open-mindedness and thinking of what’s, what’s the next thing that we can do, uh, for our folks, eh, you know, for the riders, uh, of our system and, and, uh, for our employees. And, you know, so we’ve really expanded, uh, from leadership p- we have Leadership PSTA going I think on its seventh or eighth year now. Um, it, it’s still going great. And then we have expanded that to, um, programs for frontline employees, for bus operators, for maintenance technicians. They have training curriculums for them. We, we have, uh, uh, things that you can do after you’ve graduated from Leadership PSTA on, um, on managing people and, and things like that. So w- we’re constantly, uh, even looking to innovate on workforce development stuff too. So, I think that’s probably one of the keys in which we’re able to sort of like create a really positive, um, culture at PSTA.

Yeah, I think Leadership PSTA is just an amazing program and, and you do have, uh, great people at your organization. I, I really like what you said about investing in your workforce pays off, right? Because an organization is not the computers, the buildings, or the buses. It’s, it’s really the people that drive the organization. And, and, and something that you said about the innovation in these programs that you, you know, grow, um, grown and expanded over the years is that innovation comes from all different places throughout the organization, right? Like the- Correct. … innovator is not the

CEO and that he’s the innovator. Like there’s people at different levels. Even technicians, right, like mechanics that they observe things and they’ve seen things and they raise their hand and they said, “But Mr. Miller, you know, I’ve noticed this, this, and that. How come we don’t do this?” Or, “Oh, how about we implement this to reduce,” I don’t know, “like, eh, car backs or, or, or, uh, mechanical breakdowns?” And then sometimes, you know, when we take a look at their ideas, like, they end up being award-winning ideas. Like, they really drive improvement.

And it’s because it comes from all the different levels in the organization, and it’s about empowering people, like letting them know they’re part of growing the agency, right? No matter what your title is or position in the organization, like, you are important. You contribute to it and, and this program’s help for that. So, you know, thank you-

Yeah. … for describing that, uh, Leadership PSTA. That, that sounds very interesting. And modeling after Leadership OPTA, that, that’s also a good way to start. That’s, that’s another phenomenal program. So, let me ask you this other question. There’s, there’s definitely several challenges with leading an organization as complex as yours and, and the size of yours, right? So, what are some of the biggest challenges that you, uh, face on a day-to-day managing the transit agency and also, you know, being in a growing and tourist-heavy region like Pinellas County?

Yeah, well, the- it- h- every day is, brings on different, uh, challenges, um, for, for every, every general manager across the country, I kn- I know that. Um, you know, I, I think specifically in Florida, there’s al- there’s a lot of pressure and there’s constant pressure on us being more efficient. You know, funding is not where we, uh, m- a- anybody, any of us want it to be for public transportation investment, whether locally or from our state, um, or even the federal government. So, uh, we’re constantly looking at ways in which we can be more efficient, uh, reduce costs, um, come up with more innovative ways to save money and still provide the best possible service we can provide to our customers. Um,

I think that is, yeah, you know, obviously my number one, uh, focus. The o- the other thing is sort of, um, constantly communicating my job as CEO is working with our board of directors. I have a, I report to a board of elected officials, 15 of them from around Pinellas County. Uh, those are mayors of, uh, cities or city council members or county commissioners. And, um, you know, over- I, I, luckily I’ve been around for, uh, a while now, uh, over a decade, and so there’s, there’s constantly turnover. There’s, there’s new, new people get elected or new, new, new perspectives come in from the board. I, I,

I do want them to feel really engaged and part of our decisions. Um, and so kind of getting to know them and, and communicating with them about the value of public transportation, but also to hear from them on what their perspectives are is, um, a, a huge part of my job, and, um, I think that, that, that helps, um, helps us, you know, really get embedded into the community like I want. But, um, it, you know, it, it certainly is a, um, a, a big challenge always in, in trying to understand, uh, where sort of the tea leaves are going, where the, what, what, what is behind the next bend, uh, as far as funding or policies coming from Tallahassee, uh, at the state government or, or Washington

DC…. and then trying to work with my, my folks here at my organization to respond to those. I think that’s probably the biggest challenge we all, we all face.

Yeah. And, and I think the CEO’s, um, role, uh, to your point, eh, the most important piece is, is that communication aspect, but particularly working with those stakeholders, right? You, you have all the staff under, uh, your leadership to take care of the operation and, you know, make sure… Because it’s every day. It’s, it’s being able to deliver those services every day and, and making sure that, you know, everything is running, that, you know, vehicles are not breaking down, that we’re meeting the customers’ expectations, eh… But the, the, the CEO’s role has to be, uh, working directly with those boards, right? If you don’t have them fully understanding, um, you know, transit services, the impact to the community and, you know, the vision, like, where we need to go next, then, you know, tha- that’s how things get stuck in time in, in projects to move forward. Uh, I’ve forgot. I’ve read, um, statistic a while ago that said something like 80% of transit board members in the country don’t ride transit.

Oh. Yeah. Uh, so, it, it, it’s, it’s, it’s sometimes very challenging for CEOs in your position to try to communicate the value to public transit to people that don’t use it, you know, don’t care for it, and, uh, and then get their support. So, it’s, it’s really critical to show that value, uh, of their investment.

So, um, a- any, any suggestions, eh, that you could give some of our listeners when it comes to working with s- the stakeholders in general, but particularly, um, elected officials? Eh, you know- Yeah.

… something that you can think of? Well, I, I, I guess, uh, my philosophy is that, yeah, they, they may not ride the, uh, public transportation very much, um, but that doesn’t… That doesn’t mean that they, uh… That their, their perspective does not, uh… We shouldn’t take… L- listen to them and, um, take their perspective, uh, into consideration. I mean, the… That they are… They’re elected officials or they have a key… They’re leaders in our community and, uh, we, we… I, I constantly am trying to find a way to connect with them. You know, one, uh, one issue that’s happened, uh, throughout our, uh, my time here is that, you know, uh, public transportation, uh, one, one of the key benefits to public transportation is that it incentivizes economic development. And, um, you know, uh, we see it, uh, the investment in transit-oriented development, around our BRT, or, uh, the, uh, tourist, uh, services we provide to the beach bring, uh, tourists, uh, you know, to spend money at the restaurants and things like that. Well, sometimes development is not what the, uh, residents want. And, um, they, they sometimes elect folks that don’t necessarily want more development, uh, in their community. They like the way their community is. They don’t want, uh, transit bringing more people, uh, to, to them, to them. And so, that, that’s been a real challenge, uh, to try to, uh, message and to work with. But then, you know, very unfortunately, tragically, we had some major hurricanes hit our, um, hit our county, uh, a year ago, in 2024, and, uh, they r- really messed up, uh… Yeah.

Really, lots of infrastructure, uh, got destroyed. Hotels, restaurants still closed down. We’re over a year since the hurricanes hit and, uh, we got many things closed down. The Tropicana Field, uh, the, the baseball stadium roof, uh, flew off.

I, I saw that. I was at home and, oh my gosh, the, the noise inside my house of the wind was so incredible. It was like a train… It was like a train going through my house. But, uh, um, that was obviously incredibly tragic. But, um, you know, PSTA is a member of our emergency operation center of our county and a, and a key member of that, uh, for transportation, uh, and evacuations of people out of harm’s way or, uh, after the hurricane comes, getting, uh, providing transportation to people to get to food and water, uh, which is what happened on the beach.

You know, the… E- everything was shut down and, uh, destroyed and, uh, public transportation, PSTA, was really the only transportation that could get to go to the bathrooms in some, some parts of our community ’cause their sewers were all messed up. And, um, so we worked with FEMA and, uh, the county officials and really stepped up in a time of need. And that was, that was a, um, opportunity that, uh, we took advantage of with some of the same sort of usually anti-transit folks, um, about how it is important to have a good transit, uh, network in place to help out in times of emergencies. And, um, you know, so we were able to find a way to connect with many people, um, because of the way we were able to help out during the hurricane. So,

I, I, I think that’s s- that, that’s the key to it. You gotta just keep trying to find ways in connecting with, um, all your stakeholders in a way that they, they can see value in public transportation.

That, that’s really, uh, insightful, uh, Brad. A- a- and that’s true. You know, like, sometimes for that board member is not, uh, talking about expanding services. It, it might be, you know, safety enhancements. It, it might be, you know, an infrastructure that will help you eh, eh, respond to disasters, uh, such hurricanes. So, it’s, it’s finding that connection. Finding, you know, what is, uh, that they care about, that you could connect with and, uh, you know, convey that value. So, eh, on that, on that, uh, train of thought, I wanna ask you, what advice do you have for transit leaders aiming to lead transformative change in their communities?

Well, you know, I, I, I think it is … Uh, the, the, the key that I have used throughout my career, uh, is to, um, be open-minded, be inquisitive, um, be passionate about, uh, public transportation, you know.

Um, like, I could’ve told this story early on, but, you know, uh, like I said, I, I, I have been involved in public transportation since, um, a very early age, because my father was involved in transportation, and, uh, so I was a bus for Halloween, not one time, but two times. Uh, so, um, I have been in this, um, for forever, and, uh,

I love it, you know. I, I, I l- I very much love the value and … of the Mm-hmm. … what transportation can bring to people, and, uh, grateful to talk to riders, talk to, uh, employees, and, um,

I, I think that that is, I, I hope, I think it does, I, I think that is infectious on the people I work with to also be interested in, um, making improvements and, you know, working to make things better, uh, at our organization. And that’s what I, that’s, that’s what I love. That’s what I,

I think all leaders should be, um, be open-minded and open-minded to new things, uh, curious in their own system and just constantly coming in every, every morning and trying to make it better.

Brad, as we move to close the podcast, I, I wanna ask you some lightning round questions. Just really rapid fire here. What’s a memorable transit story that you’ve got from your career that you’d wanna share with the audience? Oh. Well, I, I think

I told some, some stories. Um, you know, we were talking a little bit about … I was thinking earlier in the podcast about, you know, um, certainly we’re, we’re constantly under, uh, uh, cost, uh, cost increase, uh, stresses, and, um, about a year ago, we were having a public hearing about putting some fare increases on our, uh, very successful mobility on demand programs for paratransit, and, um, uh, you know, we were just trying to … The demand, the popularity of it is so great, uh, that we were, you know, just trying to come up with ways in which we could, could, could kinda manage the demand. Anyway, we had this public hearing, and there was a line of, uh, uh, uh, very, um, passionate riders, users of it, uh, that, that, uh, came to the podium to give their public comment on it, and, and they, they all kept getting up there, and they’d say, “Um, hi, my name is, um, Mary, and I am the number one user of your paratransit program, your MO- mobility on demand program. I love it. I, I, and I am the number one.” And then the next person would get up, and they’d say, “I am the number one user. That lady is not the number one user. I am the number one.” And that there was kind of like a, a contest to see who c- who was using it the most, and some of my staff were like, “No, no, no. We, we, we, we, we, we don’t want you to use it. That’s why we’re increasing the fare.” And, um,

I remember saying, “We are grateful that you are all, you are all number one in our book, of course, uh, and we love that you take, take advantage of this service, and we want to come up with a way that we can keep it sustainable so that you can keep riding it.” But

I just love the passion, you know. Anytime some- somebody comes to one of our board meetings and is complaining or yelling at me or complaining, I, you know, I, um,

I am grateful that they came to the meeting. That shows that they are invested, and they wanna make the service better. Get probably tons of people that we do, don’t provide good service to every day, and they just leave. They just stop riding, and, um, it, it, it’s the people that care, uh, that come talk to you, and, um, so, I don’t know. I, I think that’s just something that I

… I enjoy and that, that experience, uh, when we were talking about mobility on demand just made me think always of that. Excellent. No, I ab- absolutely love that story. Thank you for sharing that. Uh, do you also have maybe a valuable life or leadership lesson that you can share with aspiring transit executives? Your story is truly inspirational, a so I’m sure people are gonna be listening to this, and they might wanna follow your footsteps. Do you have anything to share with them? No. I would, I would just say, when the opportunities, uh, present themselves, um, be, uh, be a yes person. The, the, uh, wi- willing to, um, take a shot, you know. Um, when that recruiter

… Uh, I, I, I was very happy working as a, in Charlotte, uh, on lots of exciting projects and, um, making a difference, and then that recruiter called me and said, “Would you like, uh, the opportunity to maybe try, try to become a CEO?” And, um, you know, it was, it was nerve-racking, and, uh,

I didn’t know, uh, what I was doing exactly, but, um, I said yes, and I went out there, and, you know, got that job. It was great. Uh, same thing, you know, um, when I, when I applied for this job or same thing when I go into each one of my board meetings, you know, is, um, folks bring up ideas.

They, either citizens or board members are constantly getting ideas. Uh, my, my first response is to say, “Yes. Let’s, let- let’s take a look at how we can do that,” and then seeing maybe there’s some kind of, uh, some kinda way we might be able to implement that, and I think that is, that is probably the number one thing that I see from young people, um, people that are moving up and successful, is that they’re open to

… Uh, yes, that they’re willing to try to take on, um, you know, new, new things and, and try, try new things.

Absolutely. I think that’s a unique perspective that, uh, probably, uh, contributes to why PSTA is considered one of the most innovative transit agencies in the country. And just lastly, Brad, what is one thing that might surprise our listeners about you? Oh. Um, well, um, may- I don’t know if this is surprising. Um, I mentioned that, um, well, uh, in college,

I was… I went to college at, uh, College of William & Mary in Virginia. And, uh, uh, when I was there, I was the William & Mary mascot for the football team. They, I was a… Chief Powhatan, I was a Native American

Indian chief, and if you’ve ever seen me, you know that I don’t look anything like a Native American. So, it was kind of a joke, uh, that I was running around on the football side trying to pretend to be Chief Powhatan, but, hey, you know, may- maybe that was the, uh, maybe that was a, uh, forecasting to when I would become a chief executive officer. I have no idea. I don’t think so.

I think most of the little kids that followed me around thought I was a duck. So, um, yeah. I- I would say that was a prediction.

In a give, in a, in, in some sort of way. Some kinda weird way, maybe. I don’t know. Yes. Yeah. Uh, well, maybe that’s what I need to do to become a CEO one day.

Uh, I’ll consider that. Uh, well, Brad, thank you very much for joining us in our stop requested, uh, podcast, and for sharing your insights and journey with our listeners. It, it’s been a pleasure to have you on. Um, I have a few key takeaways that

I wrote down from the conversation. You had several, and I came up to 10, but I’m gonna try to shorten it to six. And please, uh, help me fill the gaps if I miss something. Um- Okay. … I think that one of the first things you said, and, and you earned, uh, you learned early in your career is, uh, transit is very important for people’s lives.

And, and understanding that i- is critical just to be successful in this industry, right? Like, the value of the service that we provide. Um, I think for transit professionals in general, and especially aspiring, uh, to lead organizations, uh, being a generalist is very important. Um, you know, hearing your, um, different experiences with different agencies you worked for, you had an opportunity to l- you know, learn rail, learn BRT, learn, you know, working with boards, doing presentations, elected officials, and all those things, wearing the different hats and doing d- different things made up the professional that you are today. Uh, so I think that i- in many ways, we do have to become generalists. Um, another takeaway is listening what the community wants, and that’s the key for success. It’s not an agency plan. We’re talking about a community plan, and that’s how you get the support to get a lot of these, uh, things going.

Um, another key takeaway was persistency and, eh, constantly engaging with stakeholders. So, a lot of times, the transit agencies in, in… I feel that I can relate in times where we presented initiatives or proposals to our boards, and they said no to it, or they came up with questions that were frustrating, like, “You didn’t really listen to my presentation because we said that.”

Uh, but you have to be persistent. You have to continue being engaging. And then that persistency at the end wins. Another really important key takeaway is investing in your workforce pays off. Best agencies have the best people. So I really like that and, and I think, uh, that’s gonna resonate very well with a lot of our listeners. Um, and the last one is seize the opportunities, right? Be a yes person. Take the chance. You know, a lot of the times, it’s, uh, uh, you get that imposter, uh, syndrome, right? Like, “Oh, I’ve never done that,” or maybe, you know, “There’s other people that, you know, are way better than, than I am,” or, you know, “They have more experience than I have.”

But if you don’t say yes and take the chance, you’re never gonna gain that experience and, and learn from it. Exactly. Exactly. So, those were my key takeaways. Uh, I wrote many more, but like I said, uh, I don’t wanna make it too long. I wanna ask you, do you have any that you wanna add or do you think that list is, is good? I, I, I think you pretty much covered me.

Exactly. Uh… Awesome. Sounds good. Well, uh, Brad, uh, thank you again for joining us. I wanna ask you, uh, how could our listeners get in touch with you or learn more about PSTA? Yeah. Uh, please, please do so. Uh, reach out to me, um, and, uh, at bmiller@psta.net. Uh, that’s my email address. Or you can, um, uh, connect with me on LinkedIn or, um, a- any possible way and I will get you to the right person, but we… Uh, psta.net is our website. Um, we’re, we’re constantly interested in, uh, working with the transit industry, um, to learn new and innovative things and to, uh, get ideas that we can take back here to Pinellas County. So, look forward to hearing from any of you. Thank you for, uh, sharing that information, Brad. And to our listeners, I would strongly suggest to, uh, keep an eye out for PSTA, especially if you’re working in any, uh, interesting innovative project. There’s a lot to learn, uh, from our team at Pinellas Sun Coast, uh, Transit Authority. And, um, to our listeners, uh, we’ll, uh, have a new episode next Monday where you’ll have an opportunity to continue learning about our industry. Thank you for listening.