The Delaware Transit Corp. (DTC), operating DART First State’s statewide buses and trains, named Richard Paprcka its new chief operating officer (COO). Paprcka comes to DTC after a long career at New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit), serving most recently as director, maintenance, for Northern Division Bus Operations.

Paprcka has worked in the transit industry since 1981. He started his career as a mechanic with NJ Transit and later progressed into the bus engineer group responsible for bus purchases and in-plant inspections. In 1994, following a key role in the system-wide fare collection system installation, Paprcka became director, electronic systems support, and from 1996 to 1999, was director, maintenance, for the Southern and Central Divisions of New Jersey Transit.

In September 1999, he became director, maintenance, for the Northern Division of NJ Transit where he was responsible for the maintenance of six locations, 450 employees and nearly 1,000 buses.    

During his career at NJ Transit, Paprcka found time to be a member of the National Ski Patrol from 2000 to 2006. He was also a member of the Eastern Bus Maintenance Management Organization.