Breaking: NJ Transit chief to be interim WMATA GM

This just in: WMATA will appoint Richard Sarles, former head of New Jersey Transit, as interim General Manager, says a source connected to the Board. I’ll post more as it’s available.

Update: The Post has the story as well. The Post story also says that the Board chose Sarles over Howard Roberts, a former head of New York City Transit. Sarles led the push for a new tunnel across the Hudson River, now under construction.

Craig Simpson notes that NJ Transit was an early adopter of Google Transit, back in March 2008. That bodes well for Sarles’ openness to using technology in innovative ways during his time as interim GM.

Update 2: According to another source with the Board, they were looking for a candidate who could manage WMATA effectively in the interim, enabling the Board to take its time finding a really first-rate permanent GM. Sarles has strong rail experience, which means he’s in a good position to get the rail system on track now, and with his many years of service, he’ll be taken seriously.

The Board wants Sarles to have free rein to make whatever changes are necessary, rather than just keeping the seat warm for the permanent GM.

Sarles recently retired from NJ Transit. He’s reached a retirement age, but also incoming Governor Chris Christie is putting his own picks into top management posts. (NJ Transit is an agency of the State of New Jersey rather than an independent authority.)

The Board also appointed former bus head and one-time Acting GM Jack Requa as Assistant General Manager of Bus Services. With Requa back running bus, said the source, WMATA will have an experienced manager keeping the bus system going so that Sarles can focus a large part of his attention on the sickest part of the system, Metrorail.

With several recent top departures, the ranks of WMATA’s top managers had gotten very thin; MetroAccess head Christian Kent was handling bus operations as well as MetroAccess, and other top people were doing two jobs or more as well. This situation also contributed to the Board’s decision to look outside WMATA for its interim GM, since tapping one of them would further exacerbate the talent shortage.