Lesley Kandaras has her work cut out for her. She was named to lead Metro Transit in July, following three years when ridership was devastated by the pandemic, crime, and rider harassment. Entrenched work-from-home has not helped. Currently, ridership stands at 55% of 2019, while service levels are 77%. The agency, in concert with the Met Council and Legislature, finally took action to address the qualitative degradation of its services, but efforts are hamstrung by staffing challenges. Kandaras will need to make customer satisfaction a hallmark of her tenure if Metro Transit is to bounce back. “We talk about it constantly,” she notes. “Creating layers of presence to reassure riders … [and] flooding the system with social service providers,” so buses and trains are not overwhelmed by the unhoused, the addicted, and young men looking to sow chaos. Her 2024 priorities: co-creating a strategic vision for the agency and rebuilding ridership, staffing, and the customer experience.

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