The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) in Cincinnati announced its decision to hire Terry Garcia Crews as Metro's CEO/GM, effective July 1, 2011.
Since joining Metro on an interim basis last November, Garcia Crews successfully settled the labor contract with the Amalgamated Transit Union without a work stoppage, realigned management staff to capitalize on individual strengths, made changes to improve efficiency and established community connections to support transit. Ridership, which had been falling in 2010, is also beginning to show positive trends in 2011.
Garcia Crews was previously president/GM for Star Tran Inc., providing services to the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Austin, Texas, responsible for almost 400 fixed-route and paratransit vehicles, a $98 million budget and a workforce of 1,000.