And at times, you know, people would find out about it when the bulldozers and, uh, backhoes showed up. And that is no way to run projects, and we will never run projects, like that again. Stop Requested.

This is Stop Requested. by EPA Transit. I’m Christian. And I’m Levi. These are real conversations with the innovators, operators, and advocates driving improvements in public transportation. Today, we’re talking about Broward County Transit, what it. takes to move from a bus-focused agency toward a more connected multimodal future.

Our guest is Cori Cuff Lonergan, CEO and general manager of Broward County Transit. We’ talk about Transit, Forward 2040, Primo and Broward County’s plan for bus- rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and stronger connections between the airport, seaport, convention center, and surrounding communities.

We also discuss Broward County Transit’s role during the FIFA World Cup, including express service, park and ride options, and regional coordination with Miami-Dade Transit, Tri-Rail, and Brightline.

Here’s our conversation with CEO and general manager Cori Cuff Lonergan. Welcome back to

Stop Requested. Today, we’re joined by a truly phenomenal guest, uh, Cori Cuff Lonergan, the CEO and general manager of Broward County

Transit. And Cori leads, uh, more than over 200 employees and is serving over 2.1 million riders, and also advancing the Primo project in Broward County, which is a major $5.2 billion investment, adding over

200 miles of premium transit. This is phenomenal. Uh, Cori, it’s a pleasure to have you here. How are you doing today? I am so well,

Christian. Thank you so much for having me. And we’re very excited about this conversation. And, and thank you for participating. Uh, Cori, for listeners who might not know you yet, uh, if that’s even a possibility, c- can you introduce yourself and your role at Broward County Transit?

Sure. Um, and, and so Christian, you did a wonderful introduction there, and thank you for acknowledging some of the, uh, of my accomplishments in my career that I’m so humbled and proud to, uh, have received. Uh, I am the, uh, CEO and general manager for Broward County Transit.

Uh, for those of you that don’t know where Broward County is, it. is a county’ sandwiched between Miami-Dade and, uh, Palm Beach Counties.

But, uh, we’re, we are, uh, a lovely county. Uh, we are bordered on the, uh, west by the beautiful Everglades, and on the right, if you’re facing north, the, uh, uh, the ocean, the Atlantic Ocean.

And we have some of the most stunning beaches in Florida. So Cori, I could not agree more with you. I mean, South Florida’s a beautiful place to be, you know, pristine beaches. And, and Broward County is, uh, at a great time right now in, uh, everything that is happening with the growth o- of the community and the numerous transit, projects. It, it, talking to folks around the country, sometimes they, uh, don’t feel like they’re in a position where they can actually put in place projects and, and help grow transit, uh, within their community. And it seems that you’re in a position where, you know, you have a lot of opportunities to actually do things to improve transit’ in your, uh, position. So you step into this role with big expectations and also big opportunities, right? Coming to an agency, uh, as, as important as Broward County Transit, and, you know, dedicated funding and a lot of projects.

What does it mean to you personally, uh, to lead the agency through this moment? Uh, you know what? I feel like I’ve been preparing my entire career for this moment, and I have been so fortunate to have some amazing colleagues that I’ve worked with along the way, um, and as well as, uh, the opportunity. I’ve worked at, you know, a variety of organizations from the public, uh, to the, the private sector.

Um, and, uh, you know, I’ve worked for s- some of the largest transit, agencies in the country, WMATA in Washington, DC, um, you know, uh, affectionately called Metro, uh, Washington Metro. I’ve also worked for SEPTA, uh, in, uh, the city of Philadelphia. And, and so I’ve had the, the greatest opportunity to also be a consultant and to help my colleagues in the industry, um, build out projects and, and get transformational efforts, uh, completed.

And so when this opportunity came along to me, given what you exactly just said, Christian, um, we have a community that has the will, uh, to want to, uh, change and to, uh, to provide multiple mobility options. Um, we have leadership in place. Our county commissioners, uh, are amazingly dedicated to, uh, really, uh, trying to improve mobility across the county and in South

Florida. Um, I- was fortunate to, um, uh, work with a team of transit professionals that are also dedicated to that same cause.

Um, and, you know, um, from a career perspective, it felt like the right place at the right time. Um, and so you, you touched on the fact that, you know, we are growing. Um, the county itself is growing at about a 15% population growth, um, year over year. And, um, we are expecting to be, uh, a lot larger than the 2.1 million people we have today, uh, in, uh, by 2020- by

2045. In addition to that, you know, our number one industry is tourism. Um, we are in South Florida. The weather never is bad. I’m just kidding. It’s always very lovely here. And so a lot of people enjoy spending, you know, their vacations, their weekend getaways, or their winters. In fact, uh, we have our snowbirds that, uh, travel from the

North, uh, stay here’ during the winter months, and then go back home in the summer months. Um, and so, you know, it, it’s a nice mix of, um-

Of a community of, you know, residents and visitors. And, and one of the things that we have that’s, that’s quite challenging is that as this growth, um, continues, um, we are already seeing our roads, uh, at capacity. Uh, I don’t know that it was contemplated when a lot of our roads were built that this area would be, become as popular as it is now.

And so, uh, not only are we seeing people move here, we’re seeing corporations move here. And so that’s like the perfect storm for a lot of congestion. And so our county commissioners recognized that and, um, took the lead in trying to, uh, come up with solutions to address the, uh, the challenges, uh, getting around.

Um, and, uh, a- as part of that, uh, the, uh, county commissioners approved, our Broward County commissioners approved a referendum to, um, assess a penny sales tax for all sales that happen in Broward

County. And so every time you buy something in Broward County, a penny of that goes toward transportation. And, uh, that is a fund that is going to be with us un- for at least the next thirty years. And so we are, uh, leveraging those, uh, dollars to, um, und- uh, to kinda as a foundation for our transit mobility plan. And I, I’ll talk about that in just a little bit. But, um, I, I wanna at this point really focus on something that you said, Christian, in the lead-in to this, this discussion, was, you know, um,

Broward is different from the perspective, and I’ve worked where there weren’t dedicated, um, local funds available. Uh, and we did a lot of ideation, uh, and we did get things done, but it’s always helpful to have, uh, at least some, uh, understanding of where money’s coming from at some rate, uh, and at some surety. Uh, and it’s also helpful when you use that money to leverage grants such as those from the Federal

Transit Administration, the capital investment grants, uh, the, um, uh, low and, um, no and low/no, um, uh, emission grants, uh, et cetera. So when we’re able to, uh, leverage some of those opportunities, um, we can, um, use these funds to, uh, provide even more than what we could do with, if we were just focusing on the funds that we have locally available.

So Cori, you, you clearly have a community there in Broward County who’s very forward-thinking. Your, your, as you mentioned, your leadership there, the organization as a whole is thinking about what comes next. What is Broward County going to look like? And, uh, you kind of touched on this in your response to Christian’s question, but there’s a, a mobility plan, and, uh, there’s also this Primo service. Can you kind of untangle those for us? Give us what this vision, uh, and I believe it’s called Transit Forward 2040, what that vision plan entails and how it’s going to impact your organization and community. Thank you for that question, Levi. Um,

I love talking about these two programs that you mentioned that we have in play right now. One is a vision plan. Um, our Transit Forward 2040 vision plan defines how we are going to grow over the next fifteen years. Um, and we also have a Primo plan, which, or now it’s a program, which, um, really outlines premium service that we’re gonna offer the community within the next fifteen years or so. And so let me start with Primo, because that predates Transit Forward

2040 vision plan. Um, our Broward County Board of, of Commissioners voted in 2023 to support a plan that allowed us to build out our system to include commuter rail, light rail, bus rapid transit, and, um, high-frequency bus service. Uh, they agreed to allow us to build out about two hundred miles of new transit service, um, to put in, um, intelligent transportation systems, to, uh, look at opportunities to, um, connect communities, and, uh, more importantly, to look to the future, uh, to see how we could leverage innovation to, uh, to support the, uh, the growth that we anticipated coming, um, from people and businesses moving to Broward County.

Um, and so we presented that plan to them in 2023, uh, around June of 2023, and they voted unanimously. All nine of our commissioners voted yes to premium mobility. And, and the definition of premium m- premium mobility in, in our world means that it’s just like kinda, you know, state-of-the-art, top-notch transportation that moves people as quickly and efficiently as possibly, as possible, um, and that is reliable and available to people when they need it. Um, and so right now, uh, as you, you probably know, Levi, we are a bus company, um, or, um, rather a bus, uh, agency. Uh, our, we have, uh, buses, and then we have our paratransit service, and we have a limited, uh, amount of what we call microtransit service, uh, through our, uh, Late Shift Connect, uh, service, which, uh, provides door-to-door service for people that work the third shift, pa- particularly after our service shuts down if, if they’re Broward County residents. And then we have a rider’s choice program, which is also a door-to-door service that complements our paratransit service for those of our passengers who have special, um, circumstances that they cannot use our traditional fixed route service. Um, and so, uh-

The Primo, um, program, as I mentioned, was launched in twenty twenty-three, and, uh, I outlined, uh, the, uh, deliverables. Uh, and so one of the things that that program gives us is the opportunity to, um, add these new modes and to be truly an intermodal system. And that is so exciting for us as we, as we grow and we, uh, start catching up with some of the other, uh, transit agencies around the countries that are multimodal, right?

You know, some of the bigger New Yorks and the, um, um, DC and Philadelphia and Chicago and, and Los Angeles. We, we may never be as big as they are, um, but we’re gonna try. And we, uh, our plan helps us get there, and the, and the money that we’ve collected through the surtax also helps us get there. Um, and so right now, um, since twenty twenty-three, we have about two point nine, uh, billion projects either in early engineering, engineering, final engineering, and soon to go to construction, and we’re super excited about that.

Um, one of them actually is our Copen’s, uh, um, uh, maintenance facility, uh, which is, uh, we have it now, um, but we are going to, uh, basically tear it down and build something modern and new. Uh, and in that, we’re gonna have our integrated command center, which will, um, support all of the modes that I just mentioned.

And our, and state-of-the-art, uh, training center will also be there. We’ll be using, uh, virtual technology to help us, uh, and virtual reality to help us with some of our training of our bus operators, our mechanics, and other staff. And then the best part of it, and the part that I’m super excited about, is that we will have a brand new, uh, state-of-the-art, uh, maintenance, uh, garage that will be able to support many of our buses and a new BRT system that we’ll be, uh, putting into service.

So, uh, we’re pretty excited about that. The staff is very excited about that. And the, the other one that is super, uh, exciting in that, in that, uh, first cohort of projects is our airport-seaport connector. Uh, believe it or not, Broward County is the only county in the country that has mass transit, airport, uh, seaport, which is the Port Everglades, and the convention center all under one, uh, leadership, uh, chain and under one organization.

Yes, exactly. Um, and so, uh, many people are maybe familiar with Fort Lauderdale International Airport. Um, that is another crown jewel that we have here in the county. And so this project is going to connect the airport, the seaport, and the convention center with transit.

And that is like the super definition of intermodal. You can’t get any more intermodal than that. Um, our port alone attracts about forty million visitors a year, uh, to take advantage of the cruise lines and other services that are, uh, available at the port.

And so, uh, not only does that port service, uh, tourism, but it also is a, is a, is a traditional port where goods are moved in and out of that facility.

Uh, the other thing is our, our Fort Lauderdale International Airport is an amazing airport. We have a lot of, uh, high-profile transit, uh, high-profile air carriers that, uh, are, are there.

Um, and then our convention center, which is, um, um, something we’re also very proud of here in the county, just underwent a one-million square foot expansion. And we built a new hotel, and that hotel houses, houses eight hundred and one rooms.

It is owned by the county, and it is managed and operated by the Omni, uh, Corporation. And so the name of the hotel is the Fort Lauderdale Omni Hotel. Um, it is an amazing, uh, location.

If you, uh, ever get a chance to, uh, come down to, uh, Broward and wanna have a, uh, weekend away, a getaway, I would encourage you to stay there. It’s a beautiful hotel, and it’s just an amazing place.

And so, you know, um, these are some of the economic engines that really drive our community. And to be able to connect those with transit is, is, is excellent. So if you’re a traveler, business traveler, and you’re going to a convention, it’s gonna be really easy for you to get off, um, the, uh, off, you know, leave the airport, hop on our, um, connector, um, service, and it’s gonna be elevated state-of-the-art service and, um, go to the hotel, and, um, you’ll be in your room in minutes, right? Um, so that’s, that’s something that we are, we’re proud of and to make travel even more seamless than, um, it is today. And so I know a lot of people are super excited about that coming to fruition.

But you know, one of the things when you do these kinds of projects, you can’t lose sight of some of the local opportunities here. So we know through, um, the efforts of the American Public Transportation Association that for every billion dollars that you invest in, uh, infrastructure projects such as what we’re talking about here, um, you end up generating about forty thousand jobs over the twenty-year life cycle of that asset. And what that means is we are going to be looking at a substantial number of new jobs Uh, and other economic opportunities here in Broward that will be direct beneficiaries of this investment. Um, and at the end of the day, these types of investments make Broward County even more attractive for visitors, and so we anticipate there being large impacts on our tourism.

Um, and so, you know, these are win, win, and win, uh, efforts. And, and then, you know, I, I, I would be remiss to say that we have our BRT project, our Bus Rapid Transit project on the Oakland Park, uh, Boulevard. That one is underway. And we also have our, um, Broward Commuter Rail South project, which, uh, is linking up with Miami-Dade’s Northeast

Corridor, um, which will, um, be able to provide commuter rail service on the eastern, uh, portion of the county. Um, and at some point and someday you’ll be able to go all the way from West

Palm, uh, to, uh, Miami Beach on, uh, a new rail line, uh, commuter rail line, and we are in the middle and the center of that effort. Uh, so these are the programs and, and, um, projects that we have, uh, currently underway. And so I really appreciate you allowing me to talk about them.

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Primo, that, that premium mobility because it, it talks about making public transportation relevant, right? Uh, it- it- sometimes when, uh, you know, public transportation is the afterthought and we don’t give them that, those priorities when it comes to, you know, designing infrastructure then, and how we share the space in the road, then transit becomes just the option for the few. Uh, but when, uh, communities grow and density is growing, you have this major, uh, origin and destinations, like, uh, uh, these major attractors.

You have to have premium transportation, premium mobility because a big geometry problem. You’re trying to move great volumes of people through the same space, and it’s just now more, uh, difficult when e- everybody’s is, is taking a single o- o- occupancy vehicle.

So, y- you know, I like the fact that you talk about connecting and, you know, that’s why being the, uh, big attractors origin destination, you know, like the seaport, and you’re talking about the airport and, like, convention center. All of these are venues that attract, y- attract in a year, you know, millions of people. A- and we’ve noticed the base of… the best applications of public transportation and the best examples are in, uh, communities where they have these major, uh, attractions, either a stadium or, you know, big places where a lot of people, uh, conglomerate or travel to. And then transit is there, it’s convenient, and it’s premium, whereas, like, it’s fast and, and, you know, it, it takes people directly where they wanna go. So,

I mean, altogether very exciting. And just kinda like contrasting a little bit of what’s happening in, uh, Pinellas County in our conversation with Brad, where they’re even, you know, doing, you know, ferry service, like enhancing the ferry service, and they created this whole umbrella of mobility for the community, right? Where you’re just thinking holistically.

Like you said, we’re moving from being like a bus company, like we have buses and there’s some buses around that transport people, to actually being like mobility managers that are fully, um, you know, mobility rich and multimodal, like different options, and options that work for visitors, but also options that lo- uh, work for residents and empower those businesses in the community as a whole. So I, I love the vision. I wanna see, uh, all these things being, uh, implemented and put in place.

Liba and I, we’ve been invited in the past to go to agencies. Uh, not too long ago, we went to Miami-Dade, and we rode some of the BRT, uh, new line along with some of the staff and, and got, uh, that opportunity. I look forward, Corey, to, uh, get that invitation as you’re putting some of these services in place to come and try it out. I mean, we’re just, uh, you know, a few minutes away from you guys, and, and we’re transit nerds. So you tell us, “Go and try the service for me. Tell me what you think.” We’ll be more than happy to do that. Well, Christian, you’re always welcome anytime you like to come, and we’d also love to have you, you here when we launch these services as part of the, uh, the celebration. So, um, please, uh, keep your calendar open for that invite. Um, one of the things I wanted to circle back to, ’cause I spent a lot of time just talking about Primo.

Um, and so we have this Primo, and Primo’s kind of like the, um, the, the foundation or the framework, um, that is going to, uh, kinda give us some guidance on, you know, what else can we do to make transit even more attractive, um, than it is going forward into 2040. And so this vision plan, um, was put together with that in mind, right? So using the Primo, um, program as kind of the foundational, uh, tool. We took a look at our existing networks and said, “Okay, how can we make that better too?” Um, because the Primo service, while great, um- Is not gonna serve everybody in Broward County all at the same time. Um, and so we wanted something that w- w- we wanted to take a look at our existing network and see what do we need to do to improve it. And so we, we did just that. And so we did this, this study. We’re in the pro- we’re in the process of wrapping up that study.

Um, but the goal of that study, uh, is to, um, make sure that we eliminate transit deserts throughout the county, and that we provide the connectivity, the convenience, uh, the reliability of new service based on the changing demographics of our community. So those origin and destination locations have changed. As I mentioned before, we’ve got new people moving here. We also have new businesses moving here. We’ve got commercial centers and other types of, um, uh, businesses popping up here and there, some large corporations to some of the more small businesses, and their employees need to get to work, and their customers need to get to them as well. And so we have, through this, um, Transit Forward 2040 visioning effort, identified these new, um, origin and destination spots, and, uh, identified ways to, uh, change our network, to smooth it out a little bit, to, uh, expand it where necessary to serve these new locations.

And we also looked at increasing the frequency of our service because that was some feedback that we got early in the process, that our service is not, uh, frequent enough. And we also got feedback that it, the connectivity is a little challenging. So this, uh, Transit Forward 2040, uh, it, it’s set up to address the connectivity issues, the re- reliability issues, and the things that mean the most to current and future passengers in terms of elevating the customer experience so that when they ride us, um, when there’s a choice to be made between a car and, and us, we would prefer that choice be us.

And, and with premium service, that, that’s where, uh, there’s more likeliness, right? Because I, I think one of the assets people are more careful with is their time. And, you know, you see people in, in a lot of the major metropolis that they choose public transit because it’s quicker. It’s just more efficient.

And, you know, the, the cost part is also, or is a factor, right? Like, you don’t have to pay all this money for parking and all these other inconveniences.

That, that’s part of the mix. But I think, you know, travel times is, is one of the things that, that make the chi- the choice riders choose transit versus drive their own cars. In a community like Broward County that is getting, you know, is growing in density, I mean, it, it gets harder and harder just to only move cars. Uh, so I, I want to ask, uh, something you mentioned that is very important when you’re putting together these visions, uh, you know, these plans, uh, and, and also when the community’s investing, is choosing to, to invest in public transit, is the community involvement in the process, in capturing their feedback, you know, uh, being able to do the outreach and let people know about these things that are happening and how their, their, uh, tax dollars are being spent. So, uh, could you tell us a little bit about the, uh, outreach and engagement effort? Like, how did you approach, uh, that challenge of, you know, capturing everybody’s vision for the future of transit and kinda getting them behind it? Sure. Um, and again, that’s another great question, and thank you for it. Um, you know, you’re right. When, um, we’re, uh, looking to do these types of programs and make these investments, we can’t do it without, you know, engaging the community and getting input from key stakeholders so that we know that we’re on the right track and that we haven’t missed anything. Um, and so that has been a very important piece of all of our initiatives from the early stages of the, uh, Primo program development when we were doing the system-wide study, uh, up till now with the Transit Forward 2040, uh, vision plan. And right now, you know, we’re in the phase of, of the, uh, Transit

Forward 2040 vision plan, where we’re kind of wrapping up. But, you know, early on, um, we reached out to the community, um, to, through various channels to connect with them and, and say, “Hey, what do you want this to look like? If, if we could have a clean slate and, and wipe the board, what would it look like?” And so we took that input, and we factored that into, um, to the plan that we developed, and then we went back out more recently and said, “Hey, tell us what you think. This is, this is what we heard. Uh, this is what we’ve done. Um, is this what you, what you were expecting?”

And, um, it, we were able to, uh, touch customer, I mean, touch the community in multiple ways. Um, we’ve had the traditional meetings where we invited people to come to the public meeting, uh, to, uh, uh, see the, the, the plan and, um, hear a presentation on it. And we were fortunate at those, uh, public meetings to have our commissioners join us. And so we hosted, uh, nine, uh, large meetings, uh, for our, uh, community to physically come and, uh, hear from not only us, the transit professionals, but our, uh, our policymakers who are our, uh, Broward County, um, Board of

Commissioners. So that was great. Um, but we didn’t stop there because not everybody’s gonna, you know, take the time to come to a meeting. We all have busy schedules. We, you know, life is life. Uh, and so they’re, you know, we recognize that there, uh, we need to have other opportunities to, uh, reach out and touch people. Uh, and so we did a virtual meeting as well. So we opened that up to the public, where anybody who wanted to, uh, get the information could participate in that.

Uh, and then we’re out in the community. We’re attending, um, community events that are just happening around the, uh, community and, uh, we are, you know, uh, going to those and, uh, you know, being available to answer questions about it. We have our stakeholder, uh, conversations.

We have listening sessions with, um, key stakeholders from municipality leaders to municipality staff leaders to, um, our, uh, um, leaders in the community. Some of the organizations that… here that really are, um, the s- uh, um, backbone of, you know, the community, we’re also having listening sessions with them. So we’ve got this process that we have that we’re using, and then we’re also leveraging your traditional channels such as social media, the media in general, uh, and digital, uh, connections to, uh, further engage with people. And we have surveys, uh, and we are trying to capture as much data as we can and get as much, uh, feedback on the plan as we have it today, so that we’ know when we finish this effort that we’ve done the best we could with the information we have at the time, and that the community will be excited to get it. And so I have, throughout my career, have always been, um, very intentional about community engagement. I, I, I come from an, era at a time that sometimes the community was overlooked and didn’t have an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process of what was happening in their neighborhoods. In fact, in, at times, you know, people would find out about it.

when the bulldozers and, uh, backhoes showed up, and that is no way to run projects, and we will never run projects like that again. And so I’m proud to be part of this community, uh, and this county, Broward County, where we take that process so seriously and we are intentional and very interested in hearing what the public has to say. So Cori, one thing that you, uh, in your answer there that perked up my ears was the listening sessions.

Uh, can you… Can we get into the weeds a little bit, and can you tell us about the listening sessions? Sure. You know, what, what happens there? What are you trying to get out of, uh, y- their feedback that you’re receiving?

So guess what happens at a listening session? We listen. So, um, and that’s the purpose of the listening session. So, um- Mm-hmm … it is, you know, you might describe it as kind of a one-on-one interview, um, or a one-on-a-couple-people interview, where we are engaging with, um, as example, uh, a city leader or a city staff person or a group of staff people, where we talk to them about our ideas and our vision and our plans, and then we ask them a series of questions and we get their input. Um, and so it’s like kind of a one-on-one almost, but it’s a little… You know, there’s usually more people than one-on-one. But if you could think about a one-on-one conversation, how enriching it can be when you don’t have the distractions of anybody else’s interests in the room but your own when you’re communicating what you’d like to see. And so we’ve found this to be a very powerful tool to allow people to talk to us in a forum where they can be candid. You know, sometimes, um, in a room of a lot of people, uh, depending on the position you hold, you’re not able to be as, uh, upfront about your concerns or, um, forthright with your, uh, your ideas.

And so this gives, uh, people a safe space, uh, to have a conversation without having to have, um, you know, a lot of different people, uh, or compete with other people’s time to, uh, get their points across. I, I mean, I appreciate that perspective and approach. I, I don’t think I’ve heard it described, uh, quite like that.

Uh, and I, I think that there’s a lot of value in having those, uh, close, uh, you know, very intimate conversations with people that, uh, you know, you don’t have a large room. Someone might not be, as you mentioned, uh, free to speak up a- when there’s, there’s a lot of people around, and in this case, y- you know, it’s a smaller group and you really get to see that, um, how, how people really think, um, that maybe they wouldn’t share in, in a larger group. So thanks for sharing that. I really appreciate that.

Um, you know, one, one of the things that you’ve, you’ve mentioned in our conversation thus far is that you have a lot… You have these programs, and I know for, for some of our audience, they probably understand what a program is, but, you know, m- maybe other people just know it as, like, we have a series of projects. How do you bridge the gap between those two, where it’s not just individual projects, but you’re building a program that’s funded? Yeah. And so I think the m- the major difference between a project and a program is the integration that happens with a program.

So a program is just a bunch of projects. Um, but what makes it program… What makes it a program is that you are intentionally, uh, integrating the various aspects of those disparate projects into one thing.

Um, and you, and you have a funding, uh, plan or a financial plan that allows you to deliver these discrete projects over a series of time. The other thing that a program does is that it allows you to identify risks that you would see at the project level.

You can fold that up into a program level and address them at a larger, um, um, concern. And, uh, you can put a mitigation in place that’s more comprehensive than when you’re looking at it- At, at the project level. Every project has its own unique risk, but sometimes there are common risks that you can address when you’re looking at something from a programmatic perspective versus just the project perspective.

Uh, again, the other thing is, is that how things happen over time. You’re able to manage the schedule of the deliverables of those projects when you’re under a program. So it’s really looking at the interrelationships between, um, these distinct projects, uh, that, uh, at the programmatic level and integrating all of those, um, particular interests. Now, at the project level, obviously a project is, would be, as example, the bus rapid transit line on, uh, Oakland Park Boulevard.

That would be a project, and it’s, in the delivering that project, it has its own unique set of, uh, discrete interests, concerns, and opportunities, um, which any project has. And, uh, when you’re looking at those, you’re addressing those at the project level, um, and you are addressing them incrementally also at that project level. So, uh, I love this question because I… You’re right. A lot of people don’t know the difference between a project and a program, but a program is, like, lots of bus rapid transit, and a project is that one bus rapid transit line.

I see, and that’s a great explanation of it. I, I think that, uh, you know, we oftentimes will, uh, just in the, um, in the comfort of our peers, right, we’re using acronyms and terminology that other folks may not know. So think it’s good to break it down like that and, uh, just explain what each of those mean. Um, you’ve, you’ve talked about in our conversation thus far, y- you know, about im- improving these, this rider experience and making it feel more premium.

Um, you know, what, what elements do you think that you’re focusing on to make a, a service feel premium? Like, do, when

I get on a bus, do I, how do I feel that it’s different from, you know, your, your standard experience? Or, you know, is it mode-based where you’re, uh, you know, the premium part of that would be that it’s more rail and, and less bus? I’m, I’m curious how you kind of find the nuance between those ideas.

Okay. So I just wanna say this. Um, when you walk on one of our buses, our goal is for every passenger to have a great customer experience. So if you, when you, um, walk on a, um, bus rapid transit bus or when you enter into one of our stations of the future, we would also like that same, um, customer experience to be elevated and, and, um, and good, right? Um, that you feel welcome, that it’s clean, that it’s safe, that it’s, uh, gets you where you need to go, um, that you feel comfortable being in the environment that you’re in, and that you have the, um, the comforts that you need to, uh, function in that environment. You know, you have a seat, uh, you have ability to connect to the internet, uh, and take advantage of, um, you know, other things to do while you’re, while you’re sitting there, um, reading your, uh, waiting or dr- or riding on our system, that you can relax.

You know, at the end of the day, if you’re on our system, you left the driving to us, and so, you know, we want you to relax and, and be able to, um, disconnect from the stresses of the day and enjoy your ride. And so regardless of whether it’s these new services that we’re bringing on, that’s just the day-to-day thing that we try to do, uh, and we will continue to do that. When you talk about premium service, um, we’re just talking more about the type of equipment, the frequency of that eq- of that service, uh, as well as the fact that it’s a different mode and, um, than what we have today with our buses. So that is the kind of the distinction between, um, premium service, uh, and, and, uh, what we’re doing today.

But I wanna just overemphasize the fact that, you know, at the end of the day, our goal is to make every customer experience pleasant, uh, and to, uh, make people wanna just, uh, and, and choose us when they, when they, um, wanna travel.

So Cori, looking ahead, when you think about the next decade, what does success looks like for Broward County, Transit, Transit. Forward 2040, a- and Primo? You know, when I think of, uh, looking ahead to the next decade, I am so excited about all the things that we have that are at various levels of implementation now. Um,

I see a world where we have light rail connecting our airport, seaport, and convention center, and so that it’ll be super easy for someone who is traveling, uh, into, um, the, um, airport here, the, uh, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and, and, and going to a cruise line or going to the convention center to, uh, very easily hop on our service and, uh, transfer up from the airport to those other, um, attractions in our community, those economic engines in our community. Um, for the business traveler, as example, who may be going, uh, to the convention center for a major convention, they’re gonna be able to go to the convention center. Um, their, their experience for transportation will be seamless. They won’t have to wait for an. Uber. They won’t have to wait for a taxi. Um, they can just go right there on our service, uh, and get there within minutes of arriving, um, and getting their luggage if they happen to have luggage. And not only will they get to enjoy the, uh, convention center, which by the way, uh, we’ have expanded, uh, recently, uh, and, created an, an additional million square foot of, um, convention center space. To, uh, host events. Um, and that’s the Broward County Convention

Center. And then from there, not only will they be able to, uh, go to the convention center, but they’ll also be able to, uh, take advantage of our brand-new hotel, which is the Omni

Fort Lauderdale Hotel, and it is beautiful. And like I said, it’s brand new. There’s over 800 rooms there, and again, a great destination which will be minutes from the airport.

So there’s so many, uh, great things happening, uh, in Broward County right now and that’ general vicinity, and I do think that, um, those are the things that we will be so proud of, um, when we, uh, uh, talk about, uh, things 10 years from now. Also, uh, fingers crossed, we’ll have commuter rail service, uh, on the eastern side of the county, uh, and then we’ll also have some of our bus rapid, uh, transit? service up and, running.

So, um, there’ll be a lot more opportunity for people to, move around using different modes than just our buses to get where they need to go. Also, as part of the, Transit. Forward 2040 initiative, we’re, targeting making sure that we have no transit deserts, uh, in Broward County. And so we’re looking to use alternative, uh, forms of transportation such as, um, the, micro transit services, such as the Ubers or the

Lyfts or those types of services to accommodate locations where it’s just not practical to send a large bus, and certainly not practical to send light rail or commuter rail. And so it’s my hope that within that 10 years, we will have, um, really made a dent in eliminating transit deserts in, um, Broward

County. So- Right, … that’s what I see for the, future. I see it’s gonna be bright. We will also be having, uh, conversations by that point about autonomous vehicles, not only in Broward, but across the country. And, uh, we’ll be looking at how to weave that into the fabric of our transportation solution. So, uh, there’s a lot gonna happen in the next 10 years, and I can’t wait for it all to, to move forward.

It sounds very exciting. And, and, you. know, having premium transit service that, that, that is truly mass transit, right? Like, because the, the whole problem mass transit, um, resolves is moving a lot of people to, you know, from one place to another. And, and, having, like, a large convention center, it means a lot. I mean, you’ve, you’ve seen… We’ve been at APTA Expo in, Orlando, and then they, choose to be an event such, you’ know, humongous event like, uh, you know, Transit Expo, uh, I mean, APTA Expo. They, they choose a large convention center. So now, I’m imagining with where the convention center is gonna be located in Broward County and the premium transit,

I mean, the amount of, um, events that are gonna take place are gonna be incredible, and all that is gonna be increasing your, ridership, so that, that’s all very exciting. And, you know, it’s, it’s the whole purpose of public transit, and, mass transit, right? Like, you see these biggest stadiums or, you know, like you said, convention center, and it’s always a problem, right? Like, when, when we’re talking about stadiums, sometimes you could be talking up to even 90,000 attendees. You know, 40,000, 60,000, and moving all those peoples are a challenge.

So, um, since the World Cup is taking place right now, and, um, you know, you guys are, you know, right here in South Florida, you know, uh, close to the stadium where this is happening, could you tell me a little bit of, you know, what’s the support or, or the planning that is going around the FIFA World Cup and, and how is Broward County participating? Sure. I’m, I’m excited to really share this with you because th- this is… We all have soccer fever here in South Florida right now. It is absolutely-

Oh, yeah. … amazing how excited all the fans are and all of our visitors that are here just for this event. So, um, the, uh, the stadium that’s being used, uh, for to host the festivities, uh, and the matches is called the, uh, Hard Rock Stadium, but for this particular event, it is being called the Miami Stadium. So for the World Cup 2026 efforts here in the US, they’ve taken on the name of the city that the events are in as the name of the stadium.

And so we have a variety of ways that we are participating in the mobility options for, uh, people who are going to the matches or going to watch parties or the other activities, uh, that are happening here in South Florida.

So first of all, I’m proud to sh- to share that we, um, partnered with, um, Miami-Dade Transit. Uh, we also partnered with, uh, the Tri-Rail, um, which is the commuter rail service, uh, here that connects, uh, Broward, um, and, um, um, Palm Beach and, uh, Miami-Dade counties.

And we also, um, worked, uh, with Brightline. So we kind of formed this little consortium, uh, to provide the mobility solutions, uh, for people who may not wanna drive. And I gotta tell you that, you know, for these types of events, there’s a lot of traffic gridlock. Uh, the cost to actually park, uh, at the stadium is it can be, uh, rather expensive, and so we’re offering a low-cost alternative.

So in Broward County, we are attacking, um, this, uh, mobility, uh, challenge on multiple fronts. First of all, Broward County in itself is hosting watch parties at our Amerant Bank Arena. That’s where the Panthers play.

And so these watch parties are free. Uh, there’s about four of them, and we are providing not only service that we normally provide to the Amerant Bank, uh, Arena, but we’re also providing, um, kinda park and ride service, right? So you can park at three locations around the county, uh, Sheridan Street, at, um- At our, um, Moi Marra park and ride lot and/or at the F Dot park and ride lot on Broward Boulevard, and we will take you directly from those locations to the, um, the, uh, arena, uh, where you can enjoy the watch party. And guess what? It’s only

$4 round trip. So it’s a really- Oh, wow … cheap bargain, and parking is free. So that is like a very inexpensive option, uh, for you to be able to, uh, get to the game, uh, or get to the watch party, enjoy yourself, and not have to worry about driving, uh, on your way back. So there’s that option. Uh, and then the other op- Well, you’ve seen people already a few of those, right?

Like, a few of those watch parties. H- how’s the ridership- Yep … been like? Ridership is growing, uh, as we speak. Uh, we’ve got…

What you need to do is you need to pre-register, so you save yourself a seat on the bus- Mm … to get there. Uh, and we are seeing a lot more registrations coming up. So I believe for the next match we’re almost up to just under 100 people that have chosen to use that as an alternative.

So there’s, there’s still seats available. And to, uh, pre-register for your seat, all you have to do is go to bctsoccerfans.org. Again, that’s bctsoccerfans.org, and you can register not only for the watch parties, but if you’re lucky enough to have a ticket to the actual matches at the Miami Stadium, we have express service directly from Amerant

Bank Arena all the way down to Miami, uh, Stadium. It is a game changer if you wanna do that, uh, instead of sitting in traffic and, and trying to navigate where to park. It’s a, you know, you can get to the s- the

Amerant Arena very easily, and then you can just hop on one of our buses, uh, and go right down to the s- to the s- uh, stadium. It’s real quick and easy. We just did it this past, um,

Sunday. We had over 300 people choose that service. Um, and, uh, we… And it’s free. There’s no… You don’t have to pay to park.

You don’t have to pay to get on that service. So it is definitely a bargain, and we anticipate even more people signing up as the, uh, as time goes on. And so you can then go ag- to bctsoccerfans.org.

Again, that’s bctsoccerfans.org, to register for that service as well. So we are encouraged, uh, that people are choosing to use us. The fans that we met with on, um, on Sunday were so enthusiastic and so excited to be a part of this, and grateful for the fact that they had a low cost option, but that they also got to sit back and enjoy a- the ride. And they were just excited for their teams.

So I told them all to please enjoy themselves, and I hope that all the teams win. Uh, which was- Everybody kinda giggled and clapped for that. So, um, we’re just, you know, proud to be part of all of the activities and festivities that are happening there. The last resort also is the fact that we do have our regular, uh, service. Uh, the 102 is a, is a service that we’ve introduced just for the, um, matches.

Uh, and then we’re also offering our Breeze service, which is available for the matches as well. Those particular routes will drop you off at park and ride lots in Miami-Dade County, and then you get on a shuttle, and that shuttle takes you directly to the, uh, stadium.

Um, so you have that as well. So we’ve got it covered in multiple ways for, uh, for people who are trying to get there in different ways that they need to. Um, I will say though that you don’t have to pre-register for that service. You could just hop on. The fare’s only $2 one way, and it takes you, um, very close to the stadium. For the, um, for the, the Miami-Dade, um… I’m sorry, for the Amerant Bank to Miami express service that we have, you do need to pre-register, as I mentioned, but you also have to be a verified ticket holder, and that’s really important for our fans to know.

You need to have a ticket to be able to get past the perimeter. Uh, and so we are checking, uh, tickets, uh, at the, uh, um, sign up at, you know, when you come to board the buses. We are checking those, uh, to make sure that you are verified ticket holders. So if you have pre-registered and you’re on our list and you’re a verified ticket holder, you are more than welcome to, uh, ride us to those two locations. So, um, we’re just, uh, excited to, again, be a part of everything. Yeah.

A- and, and I’ll tell you, I got to, uh, experience going to, you know, one of the games, riding transit, uh, taking the express, uh, shuttles, and, and it’s definitely the easiest way to get to the game and enjoy it.

So thank you for sharing with our listeners all the way they can get there. And also congratulations to you and your staff for such a big operation, because you’re giving a lot of options and, and at the same time mitigating, uh, traffic in Broward County since, you know, we have so many people visiting. But at the same time, all these has, uh, all these visitors and, and all these, um, you know, celebrations for the

World Cup brings a lot of funds for the local economy. There are people that are spending money, that are activating the economy. So, you know, that wouldn’t be possible without, uh, Broward County Transit. So congratulations again. Uh, now, we’re coming to the, uh, closure of our show. During this part, uh, Corey, we do our, uh, quick fire, um, session, so it’s really, uh, short, uh, questions, short, quick, uh, answers.

So let’s go and go through them. Are, are you ready? Yeah. I’m, I’m ready. Um, sure.

Awesome. So this is gonna be difficult. Favorite place to ride transit in Broward County? The Broward County Convention Center. All right. Okay. How about one word you use to describe BCT’s future?

Bright. Oh, wow. Yes. With so much premium transit, it, it’s brighter than ever. A city or system anywhere in the world that inspires y- inspires you when you think about where BCT is headed? That’s a tough one. I will say Toronto.

Toronto. Okay. Ne- never experienced that system yet, but, uh, I hope to try it soon and, you know, uh, I hope that that becomes a reality.

Uh, and the last question is, for listeners who want to follow Broward County’s progress on Transit Forward 2040 and Primo, where should they go to learn more and stay updated?

So as always, the place to learn anything about what we’re doing is to, uh, visit us at our website at, uh, broward.org/bct.

We have everything you need to know there, and, uh, it’s very easy to navigate, and we welcome you to learn more about all that we’re doing. Thank you so much for having me. Corey, thank you for joining us today. It was a real pleasure having you on the show. Great conversation.

Uh, to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We appreciate you spending this time with us, and we hope you’ll join us again for the next episode of Stop Requested.