RICARDO BOULWARE, WHO DEDIcated
his professional career to public
transit management 9 years ago when
he started out as a bus operator for
Blacksburg College while in college
at Virginia Tech
Not only did he have to fill several
vacant managerial positions, he had to
manage the restructuring and transition
of the call center operation from
First Transit’s Western Region into the
Central Region. His excellence earned
him supervisory roles very quickly and
he was eventually responsible for 130
employees and a 60-vehicle fleet.
Today Boulware is the general manager
of TriMet LIFT’s Central Dispatch
Call Center in Portland, Oregon, making
him responsible for the provision of
more than 4,000 ADA passenger trips
per year in a 24/7 operation. He works
closely with his colleagues in bus operations
and with TriMet to ensure that
the LIFT Central Dispatch Call Center
provides the best service to TriMet passengers.
Th roughout a given day, LIFT
Central Dispatch Call Center employees
manage operator schedules, provide
Ricardo Boulware
Ricardo J.
Boulware
General Manager
First Transit
Congratulations to Ricardo Boulware
for being named in Mass Transit’s 2017
Top 40 Under 40 from your friends
and colleagues at First Transit!
firsttransit.com
20 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017
support, answer questions, ensure that
passengers are safely transported to
school, work and leisure activities, and
at times, attend to medical emergencies
and unforeseen incidents.
Through great success and positive
working relationships with employees
and TriMet, Boulware was able to
execute his action plan to lead First
Transit into a contract renewal. The
performance of the LIFT Central Dispatch
Call Center directly impacts the
quality of life for paratransit customers
throughout the TriMet’s service area.
Boulware is a turnaround specialist.
He took on a role that expanded
his knowledge and skills set that ultimately
lead him to be successful in
retaining First Transit’s partnership
with TriMet.
Fact:
He is an APTA
Foundation
Scholar and
Renewal Award
winner and was
a guest speaker
for the APTA
Youth Summit in
2015, delivering
a presentation
on Future
Careers in Public
Transportation.
MassTransitmag.
com/12356217
“I started driving buses when I was a student in college at
Virginia Tech. Blacksburg Transit was locally owned by the town
of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech was their largest shareholder
… That just opened so many doors and gave me a different
career path opportunity then I had initially gone to school for.”
APTA ATLANTA
EXPO 2017
Visit ENGIE at APTA in Atlanta
to discover The Navineo
Intelligent Transportation
Systems and Services
For more information :
navineo@engie.com
For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/10064892 For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/12345998