STATETECH: What prompted you to enter the public transportation field?
Ford: My father paved the way, because as a young person, I observed him working for the MTA (New York City Transit), so I was very familiar with public transportation.
Eventually, he served as the chief operating officer, and at some point he suggested I take an exam for a train conductor position. I did pretty well and actually stepped away from college to start working at New York City Transit. I got bit by the bug; the excitement of moving literally millions of people every day was just such a thrill for me, and it became my life’s work.
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STATETECH: How does the scope of your role in Jacksonville differ from your previous positions?
Ford: JTA started out as the expressway authority, so we build roads and public transportation. That is rather unique, where you’re not solely operating one mode. We’re actually building bike infrastructure, complete street projects and just recently took on responsibility for building the 31-mile Emerald Trail, which will encircle downtown Jacksonville. We’re really excited about that.
STATETECH: Since assuming your current role, what’s the biggest challenge you have faced?
Ford: You really need to learn the community you’re entering into and have a good sense of the history, the stakeholders, the challenges in the past and solutions, and the challenges going into the future, and develop a team that can address those needs.
In San Francisco, public transportation is the No. 1 mode, ahead of automobiles, biking and pedestrians. In Jacksonville, public transportation is not as popular. Your approach has to be different, and my messaging has to be different. My focus here is developing and growing a system, pulling in different stakeholders who may not support public transportation in the same vein they do in San Francisco or New York, helping them understand that value.