The Energizer Bunny Of Mass Transit

Published 09/13/2023 · Updated 09/13/2023

Here’s an executive who lives and breathes transit:

Randy Clarke, the general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), is a fast-moving person. Everyone is eager to say this about him — usually as a compliment. “Very high motor,” says one member of WMATA’s board of directors. Like the Energizer Bunny, according to a former colleague. A podcast interviewer, apparently speaking off the cuff, once nicknamed him “Randy the Tornado.”

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Clarke claims to begin working the moment he wakes up at 5 a.m. every day. He competes in marathons and triathlons. Since becoming GM at Metro last summer, he’s taken hundreds of rides on trains and buses, posing for selfies with fellow riders and tweeting through service disruptions like a devoted straphanger. He’s also helped put dozens more trains in service. Somehow he doesn’t drink coffee.

To read the full story in Governing, click here. By the way, Clarke is a Canadian. Maybe we could see if we could hire him away from Washington. He loves a challenge and, god knows, OC Transpo is a challenge.