CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ron Tober, CEO of the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), will retire on Dec. 21 after a 38-year career in public transportation.

 Tober said he will focus his remaining time at CATS on the completion of the agency's South Corridor light rail line. Before joining CATS in 1999, Tober was general manager for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. He has served in executive positions at transit systems in Seattle and Miami and held key planning and operations posts in Boston, Chicago and Dallas.

Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton credits Tober with developing and promoting a long-term regional vision of transit services. "There has been tremendous expansion not only in the level but also the quality of bus service throughout Charlotte and the region," Walton said.

Tober is a former chair of APTA and was named APTA's Outstanding Public Transportation Manager of the Year in 2005.