Transdev promoted long-time senior executive Justin T. Augustine III to a new corporate position and recommended a new GM, Daryll Simpson, for its contract with the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA).

The change will go into effect on March 18.  Augustine and Simpson will overlap for a period of time to ensure a seamless transition and continuity of business operations.

Augustine served as GM for the New Orleans contract since 2009.  His new role within the company, sr. VP, infrastructure and supply chain, will help Transdev deepen its relationships with transit agencies across the country, including helping secure funding from federal and state governments, and helping manage capital projects from initial concept through implementation. He will also be tasked with helping to create a “pipeline” process to recruit and develop young, diverse talent for future assignments in the transit industry, as well as to build an incubation program to bring new DBE businesses into the transit marketplace.

Over the past 30 years, Simpson has held successively senior roles in the transit, paratransit, and rail industries. He spent nearly 14 years at Metro North rail service in New York City in various management roles in operations and oversight of capital projects.  He also served as superintendent of bus operations in Charlotte, North Carolina, a large transit system where he oversaw 350 buses on 50 routes. He then joined Transdev’s team in Nassau County, New York, (on Long Island) as the director, paratransit operations, where he re-built the service from the ground up.  He and his team significantly improved service quality, reduced complaints, improved employee morale, and strengthened relationships with caregivers.

For the past several years, Simpson has gained extensive management experience in streetcar operations, first at the Atlanta Streetcar, helping Transdev on a short-term contract focused on bringing the city’s new streetcar to full compliance with GDOT and FTA regulations. Following that, he transitioned to Milwaukee as GM, leading the team that launched a new streetcar service under contract to the City.