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APTA MEMBER PROFILE

Meet Hugh A. Mose!

Before starting my consulting practice, I was a transit system general manager for 37 years. I spent 19 years heading the Centre Area Transportation Authority. I started my career in Iowa City, IA, then I went to Fresno, CA, and then to Olympia, WA. When my wife and I first came to State College, I figured we’d stay for three or four years, but 20 years have passed and we’re still here.

What attracted you to the industry?

I was working as a civil engineer and realized that I couldn’t see myself doing that for my entire career, so I took a leave of absence from my employer and went back to school. I enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Maryland for transportation and urban systems, a combination of transportation planning and traffic engineering.

I was also a graduate research assistant for a Ph.D. candidate whose dissertation was on planning for small public transit systems. I helped him gather data, visiting small fixed-route transit agencies in Maryland and Virginia and meeting their managers. I said to myself, “That’s what I want to do!”

As I got ready to graduate, I sent resumes to transit systems all over the country. Iowa City hired me right out of college—and when I started, I literally didn’t know which end of the bus the engine was in! But within three weeks I knew I had found my calling.

When I was about 60 I decided I would retire from CATA when I turned 65, but I knew I wanted to stay engaged with the industry. The CATA board and I developed a succession plan that involved hiring an assistant general manager who could then move into the top job. I planned ahead for my work life after retirement.

I’m staying very active in the local community and within the transit industry, doing some traveling, playing a little golf and just enjoying the fact that I don’t have to work 60-70 hours a week anymore.

Please describe your involvement with APTA and note what’s rewarding about it.
I chair the Member Services Committee, which provides guidance and support to APTA’s professional staff. We work to recruit new members, make sure “at risk” members stay with APTA, look at members who have dropped out and try to encourage them to return. Our committee is also reaching out for new and younger members and increased diversity.

For the past couple of years, the chair of our committee has addressed Leadership APTA, sharing what we do and encouraging class members to get involved. They’re the wave of the future. If our committee is going to remain an important player within the APTA family, we have to get the next generation involved.

Recently the Member Services Committee has provided some recommendations to the APTA Executive Committee and staff regarding the role of shared-use mobility providers. We have to figure out how they fit into our association. I’m certain there’s a place for them, but it’s a delicate situation. This mode is here to stay and I think we need them in the public transit tent rather than on the outside.

When I first joined the American Public Transportation Foundation, I became part of a group developing a scholarship to commemorate this year’s 25th anniversary of the ADA. We put together a great steering committee and, working closely with Pam Boswell and her staff, we were successful. Our goal was $100,000 and we raised $115,000! I believe in the foundation and its mission, and I want to help it become all it can be.

What have you found to be the most valuable APTA benefit or resource?
For me, it’s all about the networking. I really value the opportunity to interact with my peers, whether it’s to brag about successes or cry on someone’s shoulder, and APTA is the best place I’ve ever found to do that.

What do you like most about your industry involvement?
The people. I always had an interest in transportation, but I think what allowed me to be successful in this industry for almost four decades is that I like working with people. After years of involvement in APTA, I know that the folks in our industry are quality people committed to doing the best they can to serve their customers and their communities.

What is unique about your organization? What would readers be surprised to learn?
Because I’ve been in the industry a long time, working in various parts of the country, I know a lot of people and they know me. I’ve discovered that that has value in the marketplace.

This is not a “surprise,” but it’s important to be said nonetheless: I want to acknowledge the APTA staff. I can’t think of a staff member I have had the opportunity to work with who hasn’t tried really hard to be responsive to my interests as a member.

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