Metro Magazine, September 2020

Q A DR FLOUNSAY CAVER By Alex Roman MANAGING EDITOR Dr Flounsay Caver Acting CEO GM Secretary Treasurer Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority With the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authoritys RTA current CEO India Birdsong out on maternity leave Dr Flounsay Caver is serving as Acting CEO and tasked with continuing to move the agency forward while also dealing with the COVID 19 pandemic and civil unrest in the region METROs Managing Editor Alex Roman recently spoke to Caver about keeping employee morale up during these difficult times the importance of providing mobility to keep driving the economy forward and a partnership the RTA formed to help the homeless in the region during the pandemic As far as percentages what kind of operations are you putting out on the roads and rails At beginning of April we implemented a service reduction which started with two modes that had been hit very hard by the stay at home order First we suspended our Park and Ride service the Suburban Flyer service because its commerce and ridership was severely hampered by the pandemic Second and connected with the other closure we also suspended the operation of our trolley system that offers free rides through the downtown distribution network So in that April period we decreased our service by approximately 15 and continued to operate at 85 of our pre COVID levels However on August 9 we returned to service levels approaching 95 of our pre COVID levels We think that boost in services is an important catalyst to the economic and social recovery of our region because it allows for increased mobility In addition to protecting your employees and riders the RTA has also focused on helping the homeless people in the region can you talk about the partnership you formed during COVID 19 to do that At the onset of COVID 19 and the stay at home orders many of the homeless shelters changed their processes and some closed their facilities which placed our homeless community in a situation where they were without access to their normal day to day civic services Because of that we had an influx of homeless individuals at our facilities and on our vehicles And while we understand why this happened we still needed to facilitate business and thus had to find the most constructive and empathetic way to address this issue So we challenged our team to engage local resources and ended up engaging two social service agencies one is called Frontline Services and the other one is the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless Our goal was not to just scamper people away but to help them connect to services that may assist them during this pandemic For those of us with the blessings of home and family this has been a difficult time It is even more difficult for individuals who may not have that natural support system And so we want to provide connections The social service organizations were able to assist some of the homeless individuals in our community and help them find a life solution Sometimes it may have been compelling them to go and take medications that they needed In other cases it might have been linking them with another service that they would not have normally been aware of I think this program has been effective because not only were we able to help the well being of people in this vulnerable position but also build empathy for them during this difficult time With Ms Birdsong out on leave what have been some of your biggest hurdles outside of the pandemic and how have you worked to solve them As acting CEO in her absence I surely have kept in contact to continue to provide her with the information necessary to continue to lead our organization into the future One of the issues that has left an indelible mark on me was this summers civil unrest Just as the community was climbing out of the stay at home orders and the economic downturn we entered a period of civil unrest This placed race matters at the forefront of society Organizationally we had to have some critical conversations that could no longer be disconnected from our business And so we have had some very good conversations and are creating a more energized strategy around diversity and inclusion In that respect it has been a good summer because we are addressing these important topics We also have a police department and the George Floyd tragedy has caused us to review our policing and use of force tactics I will say that prior to this we already outlawed choke holds but we have now made modifications to ensure that we have outlawed all the ancillary tactics that could result in the asphyxiation of a person Dealing with these important topics has been a challenge but well worth it Outside of that the major challenge we have faced as an organization is staying on track with the aggressive agenda set by our CEO The prior year we completed five pillar studies and still have items that need to be addressed so that we can implement a system redesign and fare equity program We are planning to engage our board with these plans Even with all that is going on this summer we still must keep working because we have an opportunity to continue to move the business forward during this whirlwind And so with these challenges we know that our community needs us more than ever What we have learned from this pandemic when the state was forced to shut down is the mobility divide is now 8 METRO MAGAZINE COM SEPTEMBER 2020 Cleveland RTA