Building Transit Technology and Trust with John Maglio

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

Today’s episode is a special one for us. We’re sitting down with John Maglio, founder and CEO of ETA Transit, and someone who’s played a major role in shaping how modern transit. technology works today. John came to transit. through technology and problem-solving, and helped move CAD/AVL from closed on-prem systems into the cloud-based tools many agencies rely on now. We’ talk about leadership, culture, disciplined growth, and what it really means to be a long-term partner in this industry. John has also been a longtime supporter of Stop Requested. Quite honestly, without his support, this podcast wouldn’t exist in the form it does today.

With that, let’s get into our conversation with John Maglio. We hope you enjoy it. Welcome back to Stop Requested. Christian, how are you today? Morning, Levi. Actually, very excited of recording our first episode of 2026 of Stop Requested. How about yourself?

I’m doing very well. Also excited to get 2026 underway here with our first recording. Uh, this is gonna be a blast because we have John Maglio, CEO of ETA Transit, Systems, on the call today. John, how are you?

Good morning. Ha- happy New Year, fellas. Happy New Year to you too, John. Christian and I are very familiar with you. But can you introduce yourself to our audience and also describe what your role is at ETA Transit?

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, but, but first, thanks so much for having me. As you guys know, I’m a huge fan of the show. I, I, I really think Stop Requested, uh, is becoming the definitive voice in our space. I, I learn so much by, by listening to, to the show. You know, experts we have from lots of different walks. You know, leaders in transit, experts in technology, academia. I- it’s just been w- a real treat, you know, to, to consume this pod, and, and I’m just so grateful to have both of you, you know, on the team. You guys are… You guys are really special. Uh, and what, what gives me a chuckle is you’re both so different, but, but you share a common love for transit, and it’s palpable. And, and, and, and I’m just really grateful to call you guys colleagues and friends. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Thank you for the kind words, John. Really appreciate that, and glad that you’ve, you’ve been listening to them. Uh, it is something that Christian and

I really enjoy doing. Let’s, let’s turn it over to you. Le- let’s put the spotlight on you, John. If, if you would, just, you know, introduce yourself to the audience and, uh, and tell them about what you do at ETA. Yeah, absolutely. So, my name is John Maglio. I am the founder and CEO of ETA

Transit. Started my transit journey in my late 20s. Before that, I started life as, as a software developer. Worked for, for Mickey Mouse writing some software for a while, and then not long after graduated… uh, after graduation, started a, uh, a business to… .com inner company, uh, with some friends. And, uh, when I sold my position in that company, I went, I went back down to South Florida a- and took a job with a company named GeoFocus. GeoFocus was, you know, one of the first CAD/AVL vendors, uh, here in the US. They were a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, which, which is a large Japanese conglomerate that sold train cars here into the US.

A- and I gotta tell you, I listen to this show and I hear these amazing stories of people who’ love trains and buses from the time they were five years old. A- and to be honest, that wasn’t me. Uh, I didn’t know a lot about transit, you know? My, my first love was technology and problem-solving, you know? But once I was introduced to, to transit and realized, you know, mobility is the, the foundation of opportunity, a- and I saw how, you know, I could apply my problem-solving, skills a- and my passion for tech to, to safeguard that opportunity for people, I, I was all in.

You know, that, that’s an interesting background, and I, I think most people would say, you know, that they haven’t had a linear path to transit. Of course, you have your outliers. Uh, you know, I’m thinking Brad Miller, who we had on- the podcast not too long- ago, and as you mentioned, he was… He was one that, uh, was kind of all in from the age of five. Of course, he, he grew up around public transportation, but yeah, no, I think for the most part, you know, you kind of snake your way into it and, and figure it out as you go.

Um, you know, what, what was it about the technology aspect that, that, really drew you in? Was there something in particular that you found, you know, fascinating about applying the technology to, uh, public transportation that, uh, made it an… a career that you wanted to pursue? There was. The folks that started ETA Transit all came from GeoFocus, right? And, and this is going back to the mid-’90s. So if you think about a CAD/AVL system back then, there were no smartphones, there were no Google Maps. There certainly wasn’t GTFS. We had to build the computers from the ground up. You know, there was no Verizon data network. It didn’t exist. So, so if you think about systems a- at, at that time, you know, they’re… they were very rudimentary, right? We’re talking about on-prem servers, proprietary equipment, a- and, and data was very much siloed. So, when I acquired GeoFocus in the end of 2008, you know, the thing that got me really excited to continue my journey in transit was the fact that, you know, uh, web standards were starting to evolve, right? It, it had become possible to host these types of systems in the cloud and make them accessible from a browser. And, and, and that’s really, you know, why ETA exists. That’s how we started.Transit tech was kind of in the basement, right? And ETA needed to exist to kind of break those chains. A- and so by way of being able to do that, we could bring this kind of big city transit intelligence, make it accessible, web-based and cloud-native, so that our customers could access these systems from anywhere, right? Just freeing up information. We wanted to solve this problem of accessibility, making it really powerful, you know, to deploy and maintain these things, so that you can bring this tech to the masses. As you might imagine, you know, the, the agencies that bought CAD AVL i- in the ’90s and early

2000s were only those largest agencies. Many of your smaller, smaller transits didn’t have CAD AVL. Applying, you know, web-based technology to this problem of CAD AVL w- was an, interesting problem to solve. My career hadn’t started at that point, but I could really see how that was a, a blossoming of transit technology, uh, in those, you know, in that period that you’re describing there, in the ’90s and early 2000s.

You know, we’re, we’re seeing a lot of the benefits from that time period now, where those smaller agencies are able to, uh, afford and have the personnel to be able to, you know, get CAD AVL as a part of their transit ecosystem. You know, I, I think a lot of us probably take it for granted now that it, it just exists, right?

Transit agencies put out an RFP and then they, they go and get bus tracking. But a- as you describe, that, that wasn’t always the case. I, I’m curious, is there a leadership, uh, type component to maybe when you came up as a software developer and, you know, started working your way up that still resonates today? Is, is something that still holds true for you and you apply it at, you know, in ETA at, in 2026? With respect to leadership type and lessons, I do- I don’t know if they’ve changed much. Um, you know, when I think about m- my, my style of leadership, a lot of it’s just born from my personality, right? You know, kind of a hard-charging Marine, former athlete who expects a lot of himself and, and as a result, a lot of those around me. But the one consistent thing, uh, has been, you know, it, it all starts with, uh … And I’ll use the word true love for the people around us. Think about the dynamics of ETA Transit, right? You, you had a group of people that had been working together. They were all in their 20s. A- and are still together all these years later. Had families. Kids grew up. Went to college. A- and so as, as the company grew, we brought people into this ecosystem that started with – and, and I hesitate to use these words – this real family feel. A- a- and I really do think it’s a intersection of truly caring for and loving the people around you earns you the right to challenge them directly. I think if people feel safe and there’s a culture of voice, they can express themselves, they have autonomy to be creative, but also that, that accountability. I think those things need to co-exist, and, and that part of my leadership style hasn’t changed and probably never will. Yeah, that’s very interesting and, and very dynamic, right? Like having the trust in your employees, but at the same rate, everybody being accountable and chipping in to make sure that we’re making progress. Uh, it … That leadership component, very important to build ETA Transit to what it is today. Uh, could, could you tell us now a little bit about the mission of ETA Transit? Like, what’s

ETA Transit’s mission and how has that focus evolved during the years? Yeah, I mean, on a bumper sticker, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re trying to get folks out of automobiles and more efficient means of moving people around, right? And there’s a lot of good reasons for that, not the least of which is environmental impact. But in a word, mobility, right? Mobility is opportunity. You know, i- it’s really easy to get behind the idea that if I do my job well, we’re giving human beings more opportunity to live life, to go to school, to get the medical care they need or, or just interact within their community. That’s why we exist. Yeah. Th- that’s a great answer. And, you know, just thinking that that’s the purpose of transit, right? Is, is just provide an access to opportunities for folks in different communities. And that the technology is one of those key components that actually, can m- amplify that, uh, capability. So, you know, I, I really love our mission. I wanna ask you, as the company has been growing, ETA Transit, what’s one trade-off you have to make as a company, uh, to define ETA Transit’s direction? Like, who we wanna be in the market as a transit technology solution? That’s a great question, Christian. I, I would say, the decision to grow responsibly, you know, whi- which means slowly. I, I, I never wanted to create an organization that couldn’t support its customers. I, I think we see this in, in business in general, right? There, there’s a real rush to grow. You know, it, it was a conscious decision we made not to raise investment, right? We’re founder-led, bootstrapped.

A- and we wanted to make sure that we grew only quick enough to support our customers. How we define what good looks like at ETA Transit is a great product with really happy customers and really happy employees. And, and that takes discipline. There have been many jobs that we could have pursued that we didn’t. And, and I’ll give you one of the, the, the leading reasons. Oftentimes, I’ll see technology companies chase business that have requirements that outpace what the p- product currently does well. Or they’ll chase business where maybe the budget to satisfy those requirements, it doesn’t make sense, so you can’t do it, uh, you know, at, at, at a reasonable margin. Like I said, we’ve, we’ve had a really disciplined approach to how we grow, keeping our eye on making sure we’re, we’re really focusing on those customers we do have, uh, so that we can always provide a great product and a great service. So staying focused versus trying to pursue anything that is out there. And, and that’s also being focused when it comes to development and how all the software and the tools-

… grow. Co-could you speak a little bit about how CAT AVL stays in its own lane? They try to be best in class CAT AVL, and then integrations come into play. C-could you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, absolutely. You know, what is CAT AVL? I think it depends who you ask, right? We- we’ve also heard o-other terms like intelligent transit systems, right? Um, a-and oftentimes, we’ll see

RFPs that include lots of different types of transit technology, and, and I think tech organizations can decide to try to invent all of those things themselves.

You know, we, we’ve seen over the years, companies that had a pretty strong presence in para-transit who decided, “You know what? We’re gonna do fixed-route CAT AVL as well.” Or CAT AVL vendors that, you know, chased micro-transit. Uh, i-it’s, i-i-i-it’s a really important part of our disciplined approach, stay in our lane. Let’s, let’s develop the best CAT

AVL product we can. Because our system is built on open standards and built with integration in mind, let’s partner up with those providers that do what they do best, a-and you guys know how it is, right? If I try to be all things to all people, I end up not doing anything particularly well. So John, I wa- I wanna move to some of the day-to-day reality that you experience as CEO of ETA Transit. W-what does that look like in practice, b-being the CEO of a transit tech company? What are you working on most of your time? Number one, i-is defender of the culture. Create an environment where people can thrive. Number two is remove blockers, right? So, so I spend my time with, you know, the different parts of our organization, whether it’s product development, customer success, sales, marketing et cetera, a-and just try to be the conduit b-eetween those groups to make sure we’re, you know, reducing friction wherever we can so that, you know, we can innovate at, at the best pace that we can. Yeah. That, that makes sense, and, a-and I think from, you know, maybe finding Christian’s perspective, maybe some of our listeners who are familiar with the role of a CEO or, you know, general manager, whatever you wanna call it, at a particular agency, w-we have some more familiarity with that because we’ve, we’ve worked a-at, at those places. But, uh, I think for probably quite a few of our listeners, that the, the CEO of a transit tech company is not something that we’re, we’re so, uh, familiar with. It, it’s not something that, that, th-we, we know what they do. So I’m glad you’re able to give that, little bit of context there. Just a, a follow-up question to that too. What is the most complicated part of your, your day-to-day role? What, what do you find is most challenging? Depends on the day. No, I, I, I, I, I do think that balanced scorecard, right? Making the main thing the main thing. I think this is true in any job, particularly in this day and age. We’re just inundated with requests for our attention, whether they’re email, text messages, et cetera, and focus and time management. You know, a-a-as it turns out, there’s not a whole lot an organization can do and do well.

in any given year. If you’re not careful, it’s really e-easy to, you? know, a-allow the noise to seep in and distract you. I would say that’s the thing I, I, I need to be most aware of a-and guard the most. It is making sure we’re working on the right things. You know, is there a- particular part of a, a project that you would say is, is most challenging for you? Not necessarily, you know, overseeing the, the business, but once you get to that implementation phase, uh, of a tran-transit agency’s CAT AVL or AVA system, something like that, is there one that really is the, you know, that you have to muddle through rather than, like, “Oh, we got this”? Yeah. So I’m gonna answer that two ways. So part of this disciplined approach I have, you know, sell what you’ve got, a-and if anybody’s ever built a custom home, right, you’re starting with a white piece of paper. Should probably expect budget overruns and delays. But if you buy a home from a spec home builder, and they’re just cranking out the same house over and over, th-that turbulence i-is reduced, right? It, it, it gets easier. You know, you guys always hear me say, right, repeatability yields quality. So for that reason, you know, w-we don’t hit a-as many bumps in the road, certainly, as. we did when, you know, all this technology was being invented for the first time back in the geo-focused days. But because it’s, it’s not feasible for an RFP to capture the intent and need behind every requirement, when you get into projects, y-you learn more about this particular agency, this new partner, and every agency is unique. Y-you know, the, the thing that we really have to pay attention to as we implement new projects is, how does this new partner need this to work, right? We, we don’t want them to adjust their way of working for the way our system works.

W-w-we want the opposite. And so, understanding that nuance, i-is something you have to be aware of in every project. And, and just a follow-up to that, kind of the other side, like, what would be your definition for a successful project when, you know, you’re replying to the RFP, you get this proposal out there, you get selected for, y-you know, shortlisted rather, present, you’re, you’re selected as the vendor. F-from there, what really defines success for you? So long-term success,

I, I, I think can be measured, you know, certainly by KPIs, the, what are, what are these systems being procured for, right? What are we trying to accomplish and how do we measure those things, right? So Christian, you know, recently, you had the privilege of, you know, kinda co-accepting award from one of our customers, right? For innovation and technology. That same customer saw, you know, a huge increase i-in customer satisfaction, right? Those are things where you could really draw a dotted line to the, the ROI o-on the investment of the project. Now beyond that, guys, i-it’s those customer net promoter scores. Are your customers working with you in a spirit of partnership where there’s free-flowing exchange of ideas, a-and we’re just making the product and service better and better? A-and I think that’s measured by the duration of the relationship. You know, as you guys know, y- more often that one would think, agencies are switching from vendor to vendor, technology to technology…. I, I think if you’re doing your job right, you’re creating partners for many, many years. And, and I wanna talk to you a little bit more about that, uh, customer-vendor relationship. Uh, I wanna talk about your philosophy when it comes to the trust and, and that partnership. You just alluded to it. You know, sometimes it’s not a true partnership, and when it is, it’s supposed to be for a long term of time, and, and all those things.

So, so could you tell me about your philosophy about that trust and, and those relationships? Yeah, I mean, I think it starts with what all of our parents taught us, right? Your word is your bond. Try as we might, we don’t get it right every time.

But you earn the trust by doing what it takes to make sure it’s right. You earn the trust by being there when your partner needs you. I’ll give you an example. I think it was two days ago, New Year’s Eve, uh, Levi, gave everybody the day off. One of our customers needed some help, I guess a configuration had changed, and, uh, I got a text message, grabbed my phone, responded. You know, I had you and other leadership on the call.

I think that that’s where the rubber hits the road, is do what you say you’re gonna do and be there to support your partner. Like, be, be truly intentional about helping each other succeed, right? Like, because, you know, when, when, um, your customer is looking for you, I mean, it’s because they need you, right? And being there and being able to do as you promised, like you said, keep your word, those are the two things that build that, that relationship. And, uh, so, so that I would think is how would- you would define that separation between just being a vendor and really becoming a partner, right?

Like, doing things in conjunction versus, you know, just, just, uh, selling a product. Yeah, and these things, Christian, they, they, they all tie together. You know, if, if you’re a technology vendor that’s chasing new contracts that require a lot of customization or new product, all right, the first time you build the house, there’s gonna be some issues, right? Is that what you got? Well, that reduces the inbound flow of technical support need, which makes you more av- available to be there for, for your customer when there is a problem or when they have an idea they wanna share with you. And the other thing we haven’t talked a whole lot about, you know, going back to your earlier question about what, what lessons still exist from those old days when, when CAT AVL was in its infancy, a- and that’s the reliability o- of the, the equipment. That part of the formula is like if we don’t have a properly engineered system on that train or on that bus, the volume of technical support needs will spike. It all starts with a reliable onboard system. And, and so it, it’s some of the discipline that we’ve had in growing our business that creates an environment where we are available, you know, for our customers. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. A- and I wanna ask, so on all that, uh, all those changes and, and that growth and that reliability increase since the infancy for CAT AVL, I, I just wanna know also was the role of the customers’ feedbacks, those, those agencies that, you know, were asking for this or for that, how that changed, uh, ETA Transit’s approach to both software development but also, uh, you know, onboard hardware?

Yeah, so that feedback we actively seek. So, so as you guys know, last year, we released our NTD surveys tool, Tally, a- and how that came to be is we actively sought feedback from not only our existing customers but other market participants.

As we meet with our customers on site and they give us feedback about any part of their system, you know, we bring those ideas back, and, and we do some R&D, and we say,

“You know what? We think we can do better.” That’s the lifeblood of, uh, of our innovation engine, uh, you know, is the feedback we get from our customers. So, John, when it comes to the RFP process, right? That’s, that’s the way that, um, you know, most of the CAT AVL vendors get, they start that relationship with an agency, uh, what would be one consideration you think would lead to better outcomes for agencies when they’re out selecting CAT AVL vendors? I think clarity on, on the requirements. You know, t- transit? professionals are, are, are, are really stretched thin. It, it’s not uncommon to see RFPs that maybe were stitched together by downloading or, or, you know, getting copies of, you know, other RFPs in, in neighboring areas.

But, the clearer the requirements are to the community of vendors that might bid the job, oftentimes I think the agency will find the right partner more easily. The other thing I th- I think is advantageous is focus on the big things. A phased approach is okay. Think about the 80/20 rule. There’s a big chunk of this- th- this implementation that’s going to have a huge impact on helping the agency achieve its goals. And like I said a moment ago, the doubt’s in the details. Every agency is unique. Get the core stuff working really well, and, and then work in the spirit of partnership together to really dial in that, that remaining 20%. That would be my guidance. So, John, just wanna think about the future a little bit, uh, and know, that we spend a, a good amount of time thinking about what the transit industry is going to be like in, in 10 years or, or more in some cases. What do you think are some of those biggest opportunities for transit agencies? Boy, there’s a lot. There’s no shortage of problems to solve and huge disruptions in, in technology, right? So starting with the latter, you know, obviously AI is on everybody’s mind, electrification, eventually, you know, automation, uh, AVs.

And, and then just looking at the, the mounting issues, you know, we have in our space. of, uh, workforce shortages and, and, you know, kind of latent transit, insecurity.I, I, I think in the short term, the, the best way forward i- is to, integrate technologies in a way that data moves seamlessly. You, know, going back to the old days, like I said earlier, th- these data were really siloed off and just kinda locked in, and it, was, it’ was very difficult to turn data into information. So if agencies can create an interoperable ecosystem, where data from the planning software, system micro transit, fare collection, all, all these data kind of marshal across these systems, agencies are going to be able. to make better use of that, data to improve service delivery. And then I think just being open to and staying abreast o- of different ways of, of solving problems. You’ know, we’re, we’re, we’re steeped in tradition in our industry, a- and it’s really refreshing to see the leaders out there, you’ know, several, you.

know, o- on this show, you, know, that are really looking forward to see how we can best leverage emergent changes in technology to better solve these problems. I really like your sentence, “There’s plenty of issues to solve.” And, uh, that’s where I thank you for, for that overview of the different technologies in your mind and, as you mentioned, it. pretty much resonates with a lot of the messages that, we’ve heard from different leaders on the show, in terms of what’s coming and what are some of those technologies that are disrupting our space. I wanna talk to. you a little bit about

Stuff Requested as, a show. Um, we just mentioned, you know, we were just talking about resonating with folks that previously went here on the show live. You’ve supported Stuff Requested as it’s grown, uh, supported the idea since the inception. What do you think the podcast does well for the industry today? So like I said, I, I mean, I’m, I’m a real fan. And- and I learn a lot. What

I find really special, it is just the breadth of expertise you guys have brought on the show. Experts from different areas of academia, technology, leaders of some of the most innovative transit properties, you know, in America.

And this is, you know, the show’s, you know, barely, what, a year old, guys? Yeah, year and change now. A year old or … Yeah. Yeah, year and change, right? So w- you know, we’re still in our infancy. Like I said, bringing in all these really interesting guests with, eh, you know, uh, just expertise in these diff- different niche areas, I, I think what it does really well is it just brings to surface a, a lot of cool things that are going on in our space that, without this platform, many of us. just wouldn’t know about. Yeah, I, I think that one of the things that I would want to highlight to what you, just said also is bringing all these different folks from, you know, different, uh, applications of transit, and, and different levels of, uh, involvement with transit, is the, is highlighting the, wealth of knowledge, right? Like, there’s so many things out there that are happening, you know, technology, operations, you know, vendor solutions, and there’s so much to, learn, right? Like, the, the most, the more people, that, we have on the show from diverse ways of, uh, contributing to the transit. industry, the more we learn like, wow, we didn’t learn all these things before about like ferries or, you know, a, a lot about challenges with electrification. But when you highlight those folks and give them a voice and opportunity to share their thoughts, then you’re also highlighting that, knowledge and, and, making people at, least aware about all those sort of things in, uh, that, are out there in? the industry and, and all those good practices that are taking place. So John, you mentioned we’ve brought a lot of different folks into the show, and, uh, you’re a fan, so you’ve been listening to, the episodes. Are there any episodes or, or moments that, stood out that you can think of from the shows? Yeah, absolutely. S- so listen, it, it’s always great to see our friends on the show, guys like Yash and, and, Shelly at Bloomington and Lucas at Charta. And, and then, to hear from folks in, you know, spaces like ferries that, frankly, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about, you know, j- just some of, some of the folks from academia, right? A number of PhDs with, with a lot of great experience in statistical analysis and, and other interesting topics like that. But if I had to pick a few of my favorite episodes, David Karr from CapMetro. His reservoir of knowledge in electrification blew my mind. Th- th- that, that was one of my favorite episodes. And then of course, you know, Brad over at PSTA, and Steve at Cincinnati. It’s just really an honor to have these folks on the show a- and, uh, get to dip into their bucket of knowledge, so, to speak. Yeah, lo- lots of moments from lots of shows that, that have been really special, guys. You did a fantastic job.

Oh yeah, no, we, we had fantastic guests. That’s, uh, one thing that we can agree on, uh, and, their wealth of experience is just incredible, right? It’s, it’s better than going to the j- ChatGPT. Now, you get it right? from, you know, the best source. So let me ask you this other question is what kinds of conversations do you think the transit industry needs more of right now? Like, what type of conversations do you think we should be having potentially in the show, uh, in 2026? You know, I- I- I was going back and listening to some o- older episodes, and, and two really, jumped out. Workforce shortages, right? Th- there are jobs available to people without a CDL that’ are high-paying to go drive an Amazon van, a- and we’re having trouble, you know, retaining, finding and retaining drivers.

We just have to pro- solve that, problem, so we should talk about it more. And then of course just, you know, lingering transit insecurity. You know, there, there’s always gonna be a lot of cool things to talk about with respect to innovation and what’s next, a- and those are all really exciting episodes, but these, these really lingering, difficult-to-solve problems, I’d love to hear more about, because they’re not solved. And, and of course, you know, as a, as a technologist, I’m always looking for ways to, you know, try to come up with solutions to these really pressing problems, a- and I haven’t yet. So I’d love to hear from more smart people.

Yeah. We’ll try to get people like that on in 2026 for sure. Eh, so as we start to close, John, I got a few takeaways that are written down as we’ve had our conversation today. You know, feel free to add to any that I may have forgotten or if you would state them differently. But the, the three that I wrote down that are very powerful for both the, uh, transit technology perspective and from an agency perspective is to build a strong culture, uh, it’s important that, you know, even if you’re in the public sector, that y- you have, you have developed and molded th- this culture where, you’re in it for your customer, right? For the transit agency, it, it would be, um, for their, their riders, the riding public, and then o- of course, for us, the, as, uh, transit tech provider, it would be for those transit agencies who are trying to provide this public service. The second that I, uh, one that I wrote down is just be intentional and focused. Uh, I know, from personal experience at a transit agency, I think Christian too, you can be stretched pretty thin, right, from all the different projects, and you’ve got your TDPs and it lists 50 projects in there that you’re supposed to do. Narrowing that down, staying focused i- is going to be your best avenue for a success. And then finally, I, I think this is true for, you know, just living your personal, uh, and, of course, professional life as we’re talking about here, but do what you say you’re going to do. You know, your, your word is your bond, and I, I think that for transit agencies, I’d like to use

Yash and I think this is originally Clinton B. Forbes’ quote, but it’s your social contract with your customer, right? That, that timetable is what you’re supposed to live by.

So that’s how a transit agency could, uh, apply that particular, uh, bit of, uh, takeaway to, you know, what they do. But i- in our context, it’s delivering what you say you’re going to deliver to the agency, so they w- that way they can provide a better public service.

Did I miss any? No, I don’t think so. And, uh, lastly here, uh, what advice would you give someone who’s early in their transit career, either on the technology side or, you know, maybe they’re just working their way in as a, a planner or a supervisor or as a, um, at a transit agency? Do you, do you have any bits of advice there? Yeah.

So just, just drawing from my own experience, try lots of different things, right? So, so as youngsters, you know, we’ve, we start our career often with an idea of what we might want to do. And at least in my experience, right, I studied finance before I got into technology, and, and I thought my future was on Wall

Street. But I got to try a lot of different things. I did a lot of unpaid internships. A- a- and when we find that thing that we have a passion for, then it’s just about putting in the work. You, you really have to hustle. And, and so… God, I, I remember being in my 20s at parties, you know, with, with books that were six inches thick on database theory kind of sitting in the corner. I, I, I think, I think it takes hustle. There, there’s no shortcuts, right? It, it requires elbow grease, particularly if you have ambitions to go down an entrepreneurial path. Yeah. And that’s actually one that I could apply, uh, to the, the takeaways that you just said there. There are no shortcuts. You gotta put in the hard work. So I really love that. Uh, that’s one that could be put on a shirt too.

We’ve had a few of those types of quotes. I’ve got one more I wanna add. Oh, yeah. Please. Um, evidenced by, by my colleagues here today, surround yourself with really smart, really dedicated people who, above all else, are genuinely curious. Curious about the daily lives of their customers, curious about how things, work. If, if we find our passion, that curiosity comes naturally, and if we surround ourselves with people that make us better, I think that’s where, where the real magic happens. And you guys have heard me say this a lot, you know, that, that’s one thing I’m really proud of is, uh, uh, folks like you that just make me a better technologist and a better man day in and day out. I appreciate that, John. And, y- you know, this is something that we do because we love it. Uh, Christian and I are curious. We want to be able to help our customers and also hear from non-customers to see what the challenges are that they go through. So I really appreciate your answer. Uh, and for audience members that want to get in touch with you, John, how did they do so? How do they learn more about ETA Transit? Yeah, sure. You can find us online at etatransit.com and, uh, feel free to reach out to me directly if I could be of service in any way. You’ll find me on LinkedIn. Excellent. Thank you, John. This has been a really delightful conversation. And again, thank you for helping to, you know, promote the podcast and to make the whole thing possible. You know, without you and without ETA, we wouldn’t be able to have these interesting conversations with folks. So thank you so much. And to our listeners, thank you as well for listening and tuning in each week for these interviews. We really appreciate it, and we look forward to your continued support in 2026. We’ll be back next Monday with another episode of Stop Requested.