I'm Paul Comfort, and on this episode of Transit Unplugged,
Paul Comfort:we go to the Community Transportation Association of America's Live 2025 Expo
Paul Comfort:recording in San Diego, California.
Paul Comfort:I was just there a couple weeks ago and we had a wonderful time.
Paul Comfort:Uh, at the expo itself.
Paul Comfort:Um, Scott Borin, the executive director of CTA, does such a great job.
Paul Comfort:There's 1200 people there.
Paul Comfort:I spoke while I was there.
Paul Comfort:Uh, along with Mark Ash, we did a, a joint presentation over about two
Paul Comfort:hours and we also, uh, I also did a book signing at the trans track booth,
Paul Comfort:and then on the trade show floor.
Paul Comfort:We recorded a couple podcasts live.
Paul Comfort:It's always fun when you do that, right?
Paul Comfort:You sit in front of a booth and you have a, a crowd gather around you
Paul Comfort:and you record a CEO there today.
Paul Comfort:Uh, we interviewed Ryan Daniel, who's CEO of St. Cloud, Metro Bus, and
Paul Comfort:he had his board chairman with him.
Paul Comfort:And I said, Hey man, will you come over and join U.S.
Paul Comfort:on the show?
Paul Comfort:So Dave Kleis , long term board chair and long-term mayor, um, of the city
Paul Comfort:of St. Cloud was mayor for many years.
Paul Comfort:Uh, joined U.S. on the show and we have a two part interview
Paul Comfort:with both these gentlemen.
Paul Comfort:Uh, recorded right there on the trade show floor.
Paul Comfort:We have another one coming up for you, uh, soon after that.
Paul Comfort:And we did a live roving reporter one.
Paul Comfort:And you know, I'm Paul Comfort and Trepid reporter walking the floor and
Paul Comfort:talking to various people, including our friends at Mass Transit Magazine
Paul Comfort:and some other leaders in the industry.
Paul Comfort:Uh, so we've got three podcast episodes coming from the CTAA,
Paul Comfort:expo 2025, and San Diego.
Paul Comfort:Enjoy this great interview with Ryan Daniel, CEO of St. Cloud, Metro
Paul Comfort:Bus, and his board chair Dave Kleis.
Paul Comfort:We're at the CTAA Expo in San Diego, California.
Paul Comfort:I'm Paul Comfort and this is Transit Unplugged.
Paul Comfort:We're doing a couple of live podcasts here from the floor
Paul Comfort:of the expo, and I'm excited to have with me today, Ryan Daniel.
Paul Comfort:Ryan is CEO of the St. Cloud Metro Bus System.
Paul Comfort:Ryan, thanks for being on the show.
Ryan Daniel:Thank for having me.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah, It's great
Ryan Daniel:to
Paul Comfort:And as a last minute edition, we added his
Paul Comfort:board chair and the former mayor,
Paul Comfort:20 year
Paul Comfort:mayor of St. Cloud Minnesota.
Paul Comfort:Dave Kleis thanks so much for on the show in a green, you know, of not
Paul Comfort:knowing I was gonna drag you over here.
Dave Kleis:uh, just
Dave Kleis:In the expo, but no happy
Dave Kleis:be on
Dave Kleis:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:So the show goes all over the world.
Paul Comfort:We're in a hundred countries.
Paul Comfort:Uh, it's the number one Mass Transit podcast, and so we're
Paul Comfort:excited to talk about St. Cloud.
Paul Comfort:I was telling you, Ryan, I've been there before, but tell U.S. actually,
Paul Comfort:let me ask the mayor, if you don't mind kick it off, mayor, tell U.S.
Paul Comfort:some about St. Cloud you know, the city itself, the demographics, et cetera.
Dave Kleis:Sure.
Dave Kleis:St Cloud's, uh,
Dave Kleis:you know, been around for about 168 years.
Dave Kleis:Um, it uh, 72,000 people, but it's a regional center, so it has daytime
Dave Kleis:population of about, about 180.
Dave Kleis:Plus thousand.
Dave Kleis:So it's a college town.
Dave Kleis:It has, uh, you know, large hospital.
Dave Kleis:So it's, uh, the second largest metropolitan area the Minne
Dave Kleis:Minnesota next to the Twin Cities.
Paul Comfort:Oh, wow.
Dave Kleis:uh, uh.
Dave Kleis:By
Dave Kleis:it's
Dave Kleis:MSA,
Dave Kleis:um, so, or at the municipal, statistical
Dave Kleis:area, but it's, uh, yeah, a nice little area middle uh,
Dave Kleis:Minnesota.
Dave Kleis:And, uh, got a, uh, growing,
Dave Kleis:it continues
Dave Kleis:to grow.
Dave Kleis:Metro big part of
ZOOM0003_Tr2 00:03:09
it.
Dave Kleis:Uh,
Dave Kleis:Because, uh, St. Cloud, 72,000 people, there are four additional cities that are
Dave Kleis:right connected, um, would be considered in most areas, those suburban areas.
Dave Kleis:so.
Dave Kleis:Metro bus or our transit is a joint powers agreement.
Dave Kleis:So it actually operates under, uh, under a collaborative effort between the,
Dave Kleis:uh, three cities four, four cities the area.
Dave Kleis:So the, uh, mayors council members, uh, the city's appoint, uh, representation,
Dave Kleis:St. Cloud of course being the biggest city two representatives on there.
Dave Kleis:Uh, I've been on the board, uh, I've been mayor, so I've been
Dave Kleis:board years, um, and, uh, and been chair, I for 16 of those years.
Dave Kleis:So, uh,
Dave Kleis:but it's a, you know, it's
Dave Kleis:community in
Dave Kleis:and.
Dave Kleis:about, uh, about an hour from, uh, Minneapolis.
Dave Kleis:so we're,
Dave Kleis:we're, we're uh,
Dave Kleis:uh, close to the lakes.
Dave Kleis:What we in would consider up north.
Dave Kleis:Uh, anything, uh, north
Dave Kleis:Cloud
Dave Kleis:probably up north, but, uh, know, we've got, got 10,000, at
Dave Kleis:least that's our license plate.
Dave Kleis:Say we 10,000 lakes, probably about 15,000 lakes.
Dave Kleis:But it's a, it's a nice state and a wonderful little community.
Paul Comfort:Well, that's good.
Paul Comfort:That gives U.S. a good setup.
Paul Comfort:Brian, now tell U.S. about your transit
Ryan Daniel:system.
Ryan Daniel:Perfect.
Ryan Daniel:Well, we have an award-winning transit system.
Ryan Daniel:We are recognized as transit urban system of the
ZOOM0003_Tr2 00:04:24
air
Ryan Daniel:by CTAA back in 2015.
Ryan Daniel:So happy, happy to toot that.
Ryan Daniel:Uh, we have a wonderful, staff at Metro Bus.
Ryan Daniel:Well, we provide commuter bus.
Ryan Daniel:Fixed route and
ZOOM0003_Tr2 00:04:34
power transit
Ryan Daniel:services in three counties.
Ryan Daniel:Sherburn County, Stearns County, and Benton County.
Ryan Daniel:And we operate in four cities, so St. Cloud Way, park Tel, Salt Rapids.
Ryan Daniel:We average about just under a million rides per year.
Ryan Daniel:We have under a hundred buses and over about 175 employees.
Ryan Daniel:Budget is about 25 million.
Ryan Daniel:We operate seven days a week, 359 days a year.
Paul Comfort:How do you do that?
Ryan Daniel:Just don't operate on holidays.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:The six major holidays, holidays.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:That's good man.
Paul Comfort:Wow.
Paul Comfort:And how long have you been there?
Ryan Daniel:I've been CEO now for 12 years.
Paul Comfort:My system in Queen Dance County won that award in 1991,
Paul Comfort:CTA, I
Paul Comfort:tells you how old I
Paul Comfort:am.
Paul Comfort:We won that community system of the year, the county ride system.
Paul Comfort:So, uh, gimme a little of your background.
Paul Comfort:How'd you get into all
Ryan Daniel:this?
Ryan Daniel:Well, I started about 26 years ago.
Ryan Daniel:I, when to date myself here.
Ryan Daniel:Started out as a bus operator.
Ryan Daniel:Started 30, right?
Ryan Daniel:Yeah, 19.
Ryan Daniel:Right.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:Started out as a bus operator for New York City Transit.
Ryan Daniel:So I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York.
Paul Comfort:Oh,
Ryan Daniel:Oh.
Ryan Daniel:So
Ryan Daniel:I'm
Ryan Daniel:a city boy.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:My dad's from there.
Paul Comfort:Brooklyn's born in Brooklyn, New York.
Ryan Daniel:was I, Brooklyn, New York?
Ryan Daniel:Yep.
Ryan Daniel:Prince Live in Brooklyn.
Ryan Daniel:So, started out 1998, working for New York City Transit as a bus operator.
Ryan Daniel:While going to college.
Ryan Daniel:So I did my undergrad in grad school.
Ryan Daniel:Once I graduated, I left, decided to take the show on the road,
Ryan Daniel:got
Ryan Daniel:on the
Ryan Daniel:bus, went to Ohio, and I took a job at Coda.
Ryan Daniel:Landed a job at Coda.
Paul Comfort:Columbus in
Ryan Daniel:Columbus, Ohio.
Ryan Daniel:Landed the job there as training manager.
Ryan Daniel:So I stayed there for about two years an opportunity in
Ryan Daniel:Washington DC open up at WMATA.
Ryan Daniel:So I was fortunate enough to be selected to be the manager of bus
Ryan Daniel:operations for WMATA back in 2009, and then I stayed there until 2013.
Ryan Daniel:Then position opened up in St. Cloud Metro Bus to be the CEO,
Ryan Daniel:and I threw my name in a hat.
Ryan Daniel:About a hundred people apply, and I went through the process.
Ryan Daniel:Wow.
Ryan Daniel:and here I am 12 years later.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:We may crossed paths.
Paul Comfort:When I worked at WA Mata, I was with the MV running the paratransit system.
Ryan Daniel:Oh, okay.
Ryan Daniel:envy.
Ryan Daniel:you, um, outta Hyattsville?
Ryan Daniel:Yep.
Ryan Daniel:Outta Hyattsville.
Ryan Daniel:So I worked outta Landover.
Ryan Daniel:Oh, okay.
Ryan Daniel:I was right down the street.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:That's great,
Paul Comfort:man.
Paul Comfort:funny.
Paul Comfort:Wow.
Paul Comfort:So Mayor, were you involved hiring him?
Paul Comfort:I
Dave Kleis:Uh, I was uh, chaired, uh, the committee that, uh, that did, we did
Dave Kleis:a national search uh, fortunately we, uh, were able to, to get Ryan to come up to,
Dave Kleis:uh, Minnesota, leave, uh, leave DC time.
Dave Kleis:So, uh, yeah, he's, it's been great.
Dave Kleis:Uh, CEO, great partnership.
Dave Kleis:uh, so it's, uh, it, it, uh, continues to grow to won some
Dave Kleis:national awards over that period of time and, International Awards too.
Dave Kleis:Actually, a collaborative effort uh, uh, UN has a, an entity called,
Dave Kleis:uh, livable Cities in the World.
Paul Comfort:I've heard of that.
Dave Kleis:And, uh, we, uh, we won, uh, the most livable
Dave Kleis:city in the world twice, both
Dave Kleis:2007,
Dave Kleis:2019.
Dave Kleis:a lot of that was because of collaborations, partnership,
Dave Kleis:um, you know, sustainability.
Dave Kleis:we, yeah.
Dave Kleis:We went, uh, we were the first transit system Minnesota to go compress
Dave Kleis:natural grass, so clean energy.
Dave Kleis:And, uh, we will be, uh, the city of St. Cloud is
Dave Kleis:the first municipal,
Dave Kleis:. Wastewater treatment facility to actually produce, , energy.
Dave Kleis:Uh, we as a city produce more energy than we use have now since, uh, 2014.
Dave Kleis:Uh, actually, so we actually produce, uh, well over close 300%.
Dave Kleis:So we sell that back to the grid, but we will be the first city that
Dave Kleis:actually will produce green hydrogen.
Dave Kleis:so we're working Yeah.
Dave Kleis:So we're working with Metro Bus, of course now I'm no longer mayor.
Dave Kleis:I'm the Chair of the Metro bus.
Dave Kleis:So, uh, we, I, back a few years ago, we set up, , com partnership with MetroBus
Dave Kleis:to actually utilize that, that, hydrogen and then new flyer, which is also, uh,
Dave Kleis:Uh, does manufacturing in St. Cloud and
Dave Kleis:course
Dave Kleis:the
Paul Comfort:Oh,
Paul Comfort:that's right.
Paul Comfort:That's your big plant
Dave Kleis:Yeah.
Dave Kleis:So they've agreed to actually look at moving one of their operations,
Dave Kleis:which is actually not in Minnesota.
Dave Kleis:That makes, uh, uh, hydrogen buses.
Dave Kleis:They, of course, make, uh, electric buses St. Cloud.
Dave Kleis:Uh, but they're looking at actually, uh, moving some of their operation,
Dave Kleis:build the hydrogen because of our ability to produce hydrogen.
Dave Kleis:And then of course, metro Bus's ability to actually utilize those buses.
Dave Kleis:So, uh.
Dave Kleis:Uh, we're working with the University of Munster
Dave Kleis:in Germany and the University of Minnesota,
Dave Kleis:uh, on the technology.
Dave Kleis:In fact, um, we will be producing, uh,
Dave Kleis:the city
Dave Kleis:of St. Cloud will be producing hydrogen at our wastewater
Dave Kleis:treatment facility next year.
Dave Kleis:For marketable purposes.
Dave Kleis:And it's green hydrogen?
Dave Kleis:Yes, we, we, make it with solar and, uh, biomass, so
Dave Kleis:it's
Paul Comfort:Wow.
Paul Comfort:green.
Paul Comfort:And, uh,
ZOOM0003_Tr2 00:08:52
uh,
Paul Comfort:you
Paul Comfort:information about that on the web anywhere?
Dave Kleis:Uh, we do on city's website.
Dave Kleis:Uh, we, if you go there and, uh, we've actually, we've won some national awards.
Dave Kleis:Actually U.S. conference of mayor, uh, last year, uh, gave st called an award
Dave Kleis:because, uh, you know, every city in the world has, has to get rid of their waste.
Dave Kleis:And of course, so they have, uh, wastewater treatment facilities.
Dave Kleis:Uh, so it's a great place to get dispose of water, and why not?
Dave Kleis:If you're gonna dispose of water, take the water.
Dave Kleis:Uh, use the, uh, separate the oxygen the hydrogen, use the hydrogen from energy.
Dave Kleis:'cause you need the oxygen to break down the way.
Dave Kleis:So, uh, it's really simple, but it is a very high energy, uh, utilizer.
Dave Kleis:But
Dave Kleis:if you're
ZOOM0003_LR 00:09:30
using the
Dave Kleis:energy and you're producing the edge green, you do it.
Dave Kleis:why, uh, it, it will, there's no doubt it'll be, uh, we will, secured state
Dave Kleis:and federal grants because of it.
Dave Kleis:And, uh, won an international award because of it.
Dave Kleis:So, uh, yeah, so some great things and it's a great collaboration with transit.
Paul Comfort:I'm gonna come back to you in few minutes, mayor, and you
Paul Comfort:about, so maybe you can think back.
Paul Comfort:What about Ryan made you wanna hire him as the CEO?
Paul Comfort:Because we have a lot of people that listen to the show that
Paul Comfort:are mid-level management.
Paul Comfort:That wanna move into those CEO jobs.
Paul Comfort:They're in positions like you had ada, you know, of bus operations, and they think,
Paul Comfort:uh, you know, they aspire to to things.
Paul Comfort:And so I don't think a lot 'em never had a chance to hear from somebody
Paul Comfort:who chairs the selection committee.
Paul Comfort:think about that for a minute while I Ryan.
Paul Comfort:Ryan, uh, prior to this, uh, you were telling me you've got
Paul Comfort:a lot of big projects going on.
Paul Comfort:Walk me through some the big projects you got happening.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah, sure.
Ryan Daniel:So we have a metro bus forward plan where we are looking at
Ryan Daniel:a bus, a total bus redesign.
Ryan Daniel:So as a result of COVID, a lot of things happen.
Ryan Daniel:The world shut down.
Ryan Daniel:So now COVID is over.
Ryan Daniel:Ridership patterns change, people's lifestyle change.
Ryan Daniel:Everything's 50% virtual, 50% in the office.
Ryan Daniel:So how do we capture that change in sync cloud community?
Ryan Daniel:So we decided right on the onset of right on the offset of COVID, we decided
Ryan Daniel:to do a metro bus forward plan where we just do everything on the mall.
Ryan Daniel:Hey, let's just tear this apart.
Ryan Daniel:How can we best meet the needs of the community moving forward?
Ryan Daniel:How best can we serve our community?
Ryan Daniel:Because we all know where transportation goes.
Ryan Daniel:The community grows.
Ryan Daniel:So we wanna grow the community coming outta COVID.
Ryan Daniel:Let's meet the needs and let's say, Hey, how can we best do this?
Ryan Daniel:So we did a 18 month study.
Ryan Daniel:We hired some consultants, we did a whole stakeholder engagement.
Ryan Daniel:We got the community involved.
Ryan Daniel:'cause once again, it's about the community.
Ryan Daniel:They're the ones utilizing our services businesses.
Ryan Daniel:They hire staff, they hire people.
Ryan Daniel:People, take transportation.
Ryan Daniel:So we want to capture everybody.
Ryan Daniel:So we had stakeholder forums, we had public hearings, we had open house,
Ryan Daniel:and each one of those sessions, Paul, we had about maybe 50 to a
Ryan Daniel:hundred people in those sessions.
Ryan Daniel:We're so excited to see that we even had our own bus operators come in and telling
Ryan Daniel:U.S. Hey.
Ryan Daniel:Not this street, this street, not this.
Ryan Daniel:Stop that stop.
Ryan Daniel:And people say, Hey, can you open?
Ryan Daniel:Can you open early?
Ryan Daniel:Can you run later?
Ryan Daniel:So we took all of that feedback and then worked with the consultants and
Ryan Daniel:we put together a nice master plan, and it was just approved by the board
Ryan Daniel:here about maybe four months ago.
Ryan Daniel:So, so that's one thing that's gonna be coming in the hopper
Ryan Daniel:here, second quarter of 2026.
Ryan Daniel:In addition to that.
Ryan Daniel:We purchased some property in a city called Way Park, one of
Ryan Daniel:our cities that we operate in.
Ryan Daniel:Where?
Ryan Daniel:On that side of town, the western side of St. Cloud.
Ryan Daniel:On, on that side.
Ryan Daniel:We have a lot of growth that's going on over there.
Ryan Daniel:So we wanna capture that growth.
Ryan Daniel:There's an amphitheater over there.
Ryan Daniel:There are hotels, there are shopping malls, there's a lot
Ryan Daniel:of residential housing going up.
Ryan Daniel:So we have a transit center.
Ryan Daniel:We bought a parcel of land, right?
Ryan Daniel:Dead smack in the middle of that residential neighborhood.
Ryan Daniel:'cause we wanna capture that growth.
Ryan Daniel:We want people just to utilize transportation and we wanna make it as
Ryan Daniel:accessible as possible as we possibly can.
Ryan Daniel:Wow.
Ryan Daniel:So that.
Ryan Daniel:We purchased the land, we gonna do construction here.
Ryan Daniel:We just issued a RFP here recently.
Ryan Daniel:And we're gonna tie the opening of that transit station together
Ryan Daniel:with our long range plan changes.
Ryan Daniel:And we're looking at doing everything in 2026.
Ryan Daniel:Awesome.
Ryan Daniel:So a lot of moving parts now.
Ryan Daniel:All hands on deck.
Ryan Daniel:Everybody's excited.
Ryan Daniel:It's a team effort from marketing to maintenance, to
Ryan Daniel:operations, to planning everybody.
Ryan Daniel:And with the of our board and our board chair, uh, former
Ryan Daniel:mayor of St. Cloud, mayor Price.
Ryan Daniel:We're just gonna make happen because all have that passion for
Ryan Daniel:transportation and we wanna grow
Ryan Daniel:communities one person at a time.
Paul Comfort:When
Paul Comfort:we come back after this quick break, we're gonna talk to the Mayor Dave Kleis and
Paul Comfort:ask him, what did he look for in a CEO when he hired you, Ryan, after this word.
Paul Comfort:Hey friends, it's Paul Comfort host of Transit Unplugged, and I've
Paul Comfort:got some exciting news to share.
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Paul Comfort:Each week on YouTube now you'll find a brand new version of our show
Paul Comfort:featuring a video intro from me, plus behind the scenes photos and
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Paul Comfort:Now let's get back to the conversation.
Paul Comfort:And we're back with, um, my good friend Ryan Daniel, who is CEO of St.
Paul Comfort:Cloud, Metro Bus, and, uh, Dave Kleis the board chair of Metro Bus, and also the
Paul Comfort:former mayor of the City of St. Cloud.
Paul Comfort:Thank you again, gentlemen, for being on the show.
Paul Comfort:This is.
Paul Comfort:Very insightful stuff.
Paul Comfort:And so speaking of that, Dave, I was thinking, you know, so I've been
Paul Comfort:a CEO of a transit system, right?
Paul Comfort:And I've been county administrator hired county commissioners, and you
Paul Comfort:go through this selection process and you get interviewed by a board, and
Paul Comfort:I know a lot of our listeners are.
Paul Comfort:You know, upwardly mobile, they're people that have, that wanna make a difference
Paul Comfort:in this world, uh, in the, they've chosen transportation as their field,
Paul Comfort:like you and I have Ryan to make that happen, and they want to become CEOs
Paul Comfort:or directors, whatever the title is.
Paul Comfort:Dave, what, what is a group like, you were the mayor and you were
Paul Comfort:chair of the selection committee.
Paul Comfort:What does a group look for, or what did you look for?
Paul Comfort:Let's just say that when you look for a CEO of your system, when you hired Brian,
Dave Kleis:Well first you look for, you know, the, the obvious piece
Dave Kleis:is the experience, uh, supervision.
Dave Kleis:Obviously you're gonna be, uh, supervising and hiring, uh, employees.
Dave Kleis:So you understand that that's at a basic.
Dave Kleis:But I always looked for, uh, drive and compassion.
Dave Kleis:And, uh, you know, it's interesting 'cause the committee that I chaired,
Dave Kleis:uh, we had, we had a number of folks, we did a national search
Dave Kleis:and a lot of folks came forward.
Dave Kleis:And I remember the discussion around Ryan and I was a big advocate of hiring
ZOOM0003_LR 00:15:12
him because.
ZOOM0003_LR 00:15:13
He came from a system, now he came, you know, originally in New York
ZOOM0003_LR 00:15:16
and then from DC and this is St.
Dave Kleis:Cloud, Minnesota, a much smaller system.
Dave Kleis:Uh, so, uh, I had some, uh, you know, trepidation from some of the board members
Dave Kleis:saying, well, you know, he's, he's only gonna be with U.S. for a little while
Dave Kleis:and he's gonna probably be upward and mobile and, and, uh, you know, I said,
Dave Kleis:yeah, that's exactly who I would hire.
Dave Kleis:Uh, somebody who is upward and mobile because, you know, they're not only
Dave Kleis:looking at, uh, helping the system that they're gonna be hired to do,
Dave Kleis:but they're also looking at, uh, you know, and, and if I can hire somebody.
Dave Kleis:And I've done a lot of hiring at the city and I own, actually, I
Dave Kleis:own a driver's education business, so I've owned that 34 years.
Dave Kleis:So I've hired a lot of people and, uh,
Paul Comfort:by way, a great voice for radio.
Paul Comfort:a great voice of radio.
Paul Comfort:Yeah, thank,
Paul Comfort:deep
Dave Kleis:thank you.
Dave Kleis:I've done some radio but, uh, it, you know, it's, uh, it is a,
Dave Kleis:it is something that I look for as somebody that really, um, is.
Dave Kleis:Looks at their own, you know, their career and their future, and that's great.
Dave Kleis:I always say, if you could hire somebody, you know, I remember
Dave Kleis:talking to one of the, one
Dave Kleis:of
Dave Kleis:the committee members who said, yeah, he'll only be here, you know, for.
Dave Kleis:Five years ago, that'd be a great five years because
Dave Kleis:that's exactly what you want.
Dave Kleis:You want someone to come in, get a little external perspective
Dave Kleis:now, and you know, oftentimes you hire within and that's fine too.
Dave Kleis:Uh, we had some internal candidates, uh, we had some
Dave Kleis:folks
Dave Kleis:that were outside, but Ryan knew his stuff and you know, and I, I, and after
Dave Kleis:hiring and knowing Ryan, you know, I've known Ryan for the whole time
Dave Kleis:that he's been here uh, yeah, 12 years.
Dave Kleis:And, uh, you know, not only, uh.
Dave Kleis:The CEO, but we're, we're good friends.
Dave Kleis:But he, he has a passion.
Dave Kleis:Uh, the guy lives a transit and so, and that was pretty evident too,
Dave Kleis:because he had that experience.
Dave Kleis:You know, he came You know, he drove a bus in New York.
Dave Kleis:I mean, I would want to drive a car and I barely wanna be in transit in
Dave Kleis:New York, um, with the way traffic and everything is, but he came from that
Dave Kleis:system and then in, in DC and then coming into a system much smaller.
Dave Kleis:But, um, you know, giving him an opportunity, , to actually, , to be
Dave Kleis:the CEO is a whole different thing.
Dave Kleis:So I, I look at that type of, uh, upward mobility, uh, you know, in hiring.
Dave Kleis:And it was not in any way a. And no regrets.
Dave Kleis:In fact, uh, you know, the, the board after we made that
Dave Kleis:selection, and Brian's done a great job, uh, during that 12 years.
Dave Kleis:, So , he's, uh, you know, he certainly, has the, and that's most people that
Dave Kleis:apply for a job have the skill involved, but the passion for what they do, and,
Dave Kleis:you you should be looking at, uh, I look at upward mobility because then,
Dave Kleis:you know, you, somebody wants to.
Dave Kleis:Excel in what they do, not only in the company that they're running and
Dave Kleis:the in the system they're running, but in their own personal, uh, drive.
Dave Kleis:Uh, that's got that kind of don't want somebody that's gonna settle and wants
Dave Kleis:to retire and then, you know, or Or wants to just, you know, this is a job that
Dave Kleis:makes it easier than I was doing before.
Dave Kleis:No, you want somebody who is gonna not only challenge the system,
Dave Kleis:but challenge themselves in upward
Paul Comfort:That's great.
Paul Comfort:What a great answer.
Paul Comfort:And Ryan, how's your experience been?
Paul Comfort:I mean, have you, everything's been good.
Paul Comfort:You think?
Paul Comfort:That's great, man.
Paul Comfort:That's really good.
Ryan Daniel:Very fortunate to have Dave as a boss and as a friend and as
Paul Comfort:Yeah, it's
Ryan Daniel:really uplifting for 12
Paul Comfort:What do you consider, you know, kind of your.
Paul Comfort:As a CEO, what do you think the key attributes are?
Paul Comfort:So we'll just keep this kind of conversation going.
Paul Comfort:So this is what we, this is what, uh, your boss, uh, Dave, as the mayor and
Paul Comfort:the former board chair was looking for.
Paul Comfort:What do you think is key for A CEO or someone who wants to move into leadership?
Paul Comfort:What kind of things would they be working on on themselves?
Ryan Daniel:Mentorship, number have to find someone who
Ryan Daniel:mentor.
Ryan Daniel:gotta have a
Ryan Daniel:mentor that's very important.
Ryan Daniel:two, it's technical skills.
Ryan Daniel:Utilize trainings like APTA,
Ryan Daniel:Leaders Academy,
Ryan Daniel:the
Ryan Daniel:Mid Managed Program.
Ryan Daniel:Utilize those platforms, utilize those
Ryan Daniel:training platforms
Ryan Daniel:not only for the educational for the networking
Ryan Daniel:component.
Ryan Daniel:Because everybody in that had drive the passion
Ryan Daniel:to want to be what
Ryan Daniel:better
Ryan Daniel:place similar
Ryan Daniel:like-minded people like yourself
ZOOM0003_Tr2 00:19:08
to do the same thing?
ZOOM0003_Tr2 00:19:09
So I
Ryan Daniel:would say
Ryan Daniel:definitely take advantage those because those very beneficial.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:I mean, that's kind of what we're doing here, right?
Paul Comfort:CTAA, you were the, you were the system of the year.
Paul Comfort:What, what, what do you get from CTAA?
Paul Comfort:What, what are the, what do you enjoy about it?
Ryan Daniel:Well, not only that, not only that I'm on the board.
Ryan Daniel:I get to help drive direction
Ryan Daniel:the
Ryan Daniel:process, help association,
Ryan Daniel:but also provide valuable input.
Ryan Daniel:once again, it's not about it's about the future generation succeeding as well.
Ryan Daniel:So what does that How we
Ryan Daniel:train the uh, leaders?
Ryan Daniel:How can we
Ryan Daniel:ensure that
Ryan Daniel:content that are putting out.
Ryan Daniel:It's gonna
Ryan Daniel:be valuable worthwhile for
Ryan Daniel:attendees, so that way they could grow into
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:being to provide strategic
Ryan Daniel:direction
Ryan Daniel:and that input is
Ryan Daniel:valuable.
Ryan Daniel:And I
Ryan Daniel:and not only that from a, from a, uh, executive step, from executive
Ryan Daniel:just looking at having CTAA be that platform, for U.S. on the Hill lobby in.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:of Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:Scott Borin, the executive director,
Ryan Daniel:phenomenal,
Ryan Daniel:doing an Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:He's
Ryan Daniel:CTA
Ryan Daniel:now for Wello
Ryan Daniel:over 30 years.
Ryan Daniel:his for
Ryan Daniel:unmet.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:He, he and I kind of started around the same time.
Paul Comfort:I started in 87.
Paul Comfort:In Queen Annes County,
Paul Comfort:Maryland
Paul Comfort:Mm-hmm.
Paul Comfort:the county ride system, like I mentioned.
Paul Comfort:And Scott was editor of their magazine.
Paul Comfort:Dave Raphael was the head of the association back then.
Paul Comfort:And, Scott and I both, he stayed in one place.
Paul Comfort:I went around and worked for a bunch, but we've been buddies ever since.
Paul Comfort:And he's, he's another transit evangelist, right?
Paul Comfort:oh, , I wanna ask you about technology.
Paul Comfort:So, you everybody's, you know, we're here, uh, in June of 2025 and the
Paul Comfort:hot thing right now is ai, right?
Paul Comfort:Everybody's talking about ai, but there's lots of other.
Paul Comfort:Technologies too.
Paul Comfort:What are you working with right now and what technologies are you
Paul Comfort:working with that are helping you or your agency serve people better?
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:so right now we are working with, uh, TripSpark.
Ryan Daniel:We are looking at, uh, for right now, MetroBus high level.
Ryan Daniel:Fix Route Bus.
Ryan Daniel:We have the mobile app, we have the
Ryan Daniel:ticket the and
Ryan Daniel:things of that nature.
Ryan Daniel:But then now we look at Paratransit.
Ryan Daniel:want to make utilize our So right now we're working with TripSpark.
Ryan Daniel:We are looking at creating a mobile app so that way can book your rides
Paul Comfort:Oh, I love that
Ryan Daniel:And that's the one big thing right now that we're
Ryan Daniel:That's
Ryan Daniel:we, we,
Ryan Daniel:we upgraded all of our fear boxes.
Ryan Daniel:we
Ryan Daniel:but right now we wanna focus on the paratransit
Ryan Daniel:customer
Ryan Daniel:experience piece.
Ryan Daniel:'cause we always wanna where can enhance the customer enhance that mobile
Ryan Daniel:app
Ryan Daniel:will be a game changer just for our
Ryan Daniel:community.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:Where are you at in the process?
Ryan Daniel:Oh, we are looking to launch here, uh,
Ryan Daniel:four 2025 or
Ryan Daniel:one of 2026.
Paul Comfort:Anything else you wanna talk about on the show today?
Ryan Daniel:I'm just to be here.
Ryan Daniel:I'm happy to share knowledge.
Ryan Daniel:happy be joined by St.
Ryan Daniel:Cloud, former St. Cloud Mayor Kleis and board chair, and as we look
Ryan Daniel:to grow the industry, passionate.
Ryan Daniel:The one
Ryan Daniel:thing I would say is, let's remember re transportation goals.
Ryan Daniel:The
Ryan Daniel:grows.
Ryan Daniel:that community might look different around the United States, but we
Ryan Daniel:all have that same driving passion.
Ryan Daniel:Let's keep pushing, pushing and
Ryan Daniel:make sure that transportation is accessible
Ryan Daniel:for
Paul Comfort:That's wonderful.
Paul Comfort:And Mayor, let me give you the final word.
Paul Comfort:Talk to U.S. about the role of public transportation.
Paul Comfort:In a city like St. Cloud, what does it do for a city?
Paul Comfort:You know, uh, it kind of ticks me off that not, you know, five or
Paul Comfort:10% of the people in America ride trans, a lot of people don't ride,
Paul Comfort:but it provides great value, right?
Dave Kleis:Oh, it, it does it.
Dave Kleis:You know, people have to, uh, get good places and, uh, you know,
Dave Kleis:there's, uh, uh, one of the things I think that's, uh, often lost
Dave Kleis:issue of, uh, economic development.
Dave Kleis:You have to have people, uh.
Dave Kleis:Uh, to get to work and, uh, you know, you're the first
Dave Kleis:from a city's perspective.
Dave Kleis:You, you try to create as much, uh, mobility as can, make the
Dave Kleis:city walkable, uh, and walkable and, and transit oriented.
Dave Kleis:And that's what we have.
Dave Kleis:We're, you know, we're in Minnesota, so, you know, one of the things I've,
Dave Kleis:I've, you've done a lot of travel.
Dave Kleis:Uh, one of the things in Minnesota, you know, you.
Dave Kleis:You can drive an hour and a half to lunch, you know, 'cause people will
Dave Kleis:go from St. Cloud to Minneapolis.
Dave Kleis:Uh, you know, and, and you people like to, like to spread out, spread out areas.
Dave Kleis:So how do you get around, how do you get people around there?
Dave Kleis:As you do that through transit, if you can make it easy, you can make it simple.
Dave Kleis:Uh, and our goal is, you know, is not only in the technology
Dave Kleis:thing, but can you make it clean.
Dave Kleis:You know, and there's been a lot of
Paul Comfort:you go
Dave Kleis:over the years because, you know, you, you know, we're
Dave Kleis:also a very cold winter state.
Dave Kleis:I mean, you just think, I think back, uh, the, you know, years ago when I
Dave Kleis:was first on the board, all the idling that, uh, those big diesel buses
Dave Kleis:did and how, how terrible it was not only for the, for the drivers and for
Dave Kleis:the customers and for those places,.
Dave Kleis:At every intersection.
Dave Kleis:Uh, now you got, uh, you, you know, we clean that up, uh, with CNG and
Paul Comfort:Are, are you like all CNG?
Dave Kleis:Yeah, we are 100% CNG
Paul Comfort:Wow, awesome, man.
Dave Kleis:You know, the goal will be a hundred percent hydrogen at some point.
Paul Comfort:Oh, I love that.
Paul Comfort:I'm a big hydrogen
Dave Kleis:yeah.
Dave Kleis:not only will it be, uh, clean, it'll be clean and, uh, and renewable.
Dave Kleis:So that'll something that, uh, looking forward to doing.
Dave Kleis:And so, yeah, and you know, if you look at over that period of
Dave Kleis:time, it's really changed, but.
Dave Kleis:Uh, you know, there's not an employer in any community that
Dave Kleis:isn't looking for employees.
Dave Kleis:It's one of the thing that's happening right now in the, in the U.S. you
Dave Kleis:have underemployment a lot of areas.
Dave Kleis:So do you gotta do?
Dave Kleis:You gotta make it as convenient as employee.
Dave Kleis:And folks want to, you know, and if you look at the largest, uh,
Dave Kleis:percentage of the workforce for force in the United States are millennials.
Dave Kleis:And millennials, uh, you know, more and more millennials are not buying cars.
Dave Kleis:Um, you know, I know somebody on the other side.
Dave Kleis:Since I'm on, I'm in the driver's education world, I'm always
Dave Kleis:amazed that younger and younger people are older and older before
Dave Kleis:they actually get their license
Paul Comfort:true, isn't it?
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Dave Kleis:And so, uh, people are, uh, transit, Oregon.
Dave Kleis:They wanna live in places where they can walk or they can get on
Dave Kleis:a bus, they can get on a train.
Dave Kleis:Um, and so that's an important piece.
Dave Kleis:And Minnesota's also in some of those rural areas are aging.
Dave Kleis:So how do you get people there?
Dave Kleis:You know, the, uh, the dial ride or the, uh, you know, the paratransit is a huge.
Dave Kleis:Huge part of it.
Dave Kleis:You just gotta get people not only, uh, to work, but you gotta get 'em to
Dave Kleis:their medical appointments, to the, to the shopping and to the church.
Dave Kleis:So, uh, yeah, it's moving around people and doing it in a way that's
Dave Kleis:convenient and, uh, and, uh, really also, uh, good for the community
Dave Kleis:and, uh, so the, the green aspect of the technology part of it and
Paul Comfort:that's wonderful.
Paul Comfort:Ryan, thank you so much for being our guest today.
Paul Comfort:Welcome.
Paul Comfort:Um, I was gonna ask you one more question, just I feel like I want to ask you this.
Paul Comfort:So what is your vision?
Paul Comfort:Uh, you know, if you wanna project out where you want this transit system to be
Paul Comfort:in 10 years, you've been there 12, I'm sure you wanna stay there for a while.
Paul Comfort:What is your vision?
Paul Comfort:What are you shooting for
Ryan Daniel:I'm shooting for?
Ryan Daniel:a place, a system where everybody will leave their cars at home and
Ryan Daniel:utilize public transportation.
Ryan Daniel:If I could
Ryan Daniel:get
Ryan Daniel:every single person who has car households, four car car
Ryan Daniel:at home and get on the bus.
Ryan Daniel:well done.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:That's my vision.
Ryan Daniel:I want people to utilize bus, uh, transportation services.
Paul Comfort:Well, I can see why Mayor Dave hired you.
Paul Comfort:You, you, you have the ability, uh, obviously, you know, you're
Paul Comfort:very articulate and, but you also have the passion for it.
Paul Comfort:Yeah.
Paul Comfort:And you're a believer in it.
Paul Comfort:I can tell.
Paul Comfort:that's wonderful, man.
Paul Comfort:I appreciate you both being on the show today.
Paul Comfort:You know, coming off the trade show floor to come over here and chat for a
Paul Comfort:a
Paul Comfort:minutes.
Paul Comfort:I think we've learned a lot and I wish you all the very best in your new facility.
Paul Comfort:And, uh, and going hydrogen man, clean.
Paul Comfort:Hydrogen green.
Paul Comfort:That's awesome.
Paul Comfort:I love it.
Paul Comfort:Uh, and hopefully we'll catch back up with you in a year or
Paul Comfort:two and see how it's going.
Ryan Daniel:Sounds good.
Ryan Daniel:Thank Paul.
Ryan Daniel:Yeah.
Ryan Daniel:Thank
Paul Comfort:Thank you.
Paul Comfort:Thank you.
Paul Comfort:Thank you, mayor.
Julie Gates:Thank you for listening to this week's episode
Julie Gates:of the Transit Unplugged Podcast.
Julie Gates:We're so glad you're here.
Julie Gates:My name is Julie Gates.
Julie Gates:I'm the executive producer of the show, and our goal is to create
Julie Gates:programs that promote the great things going on in the transit industry
Julie Gates:by providing you with behind the scenes access with industry executive
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