EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
Let’s Begin With
An Introduction
It’s an exciting time to work in the transit industry.
A
8 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | DECEMBER 2018/JANUARY 2019
Editorial
Advisory Board
Andrew Johnson
Chief Executive Officer
The Rapid
Gary Thomas
President/
Executive Director
Dallas Area Rapid Transit
Keith Jones, P.E.
General Manager
DC Streetcar
Kristen Joyner
Executive Director
South West Transit
Association
Matthew Tucker
Executive Director
North County
Transit District
t fi rst, this may look like another issue of Mass Transit with another
face and another opinion taking over the column. However, you’ll
be seeing more of me on this page as I assumed the role of executive
editor at the end of October. My aim is to maintain and further enhance
the excellent editorial coverage the previous and current editorial teams
have worked to provide.
I have more than 17 years of experience covering transportation issues
specifi c to the rail industry. In my previous professional life, I led the
editorial team for a civil engineering and construction trade journal.
Much of that coverage focused on freight railroads, but transit stories
dominated the daily news coverage and I found myself more and more
excited whenever a transit-focused feature article presented itself.
Transit agencies across North America, along with their partners
on the supply side, are pushing the innovation envelope in a way that is
changing how people move. Th at is inspiring to me and it is also what
made the decision to join the team at Mass Transit easy.
A little bit about my background: I grew up in Grand Island, Neb.,
which is located in the south central part of the state. Great place to
grow up, but mobility was limited to where your parents, your friends or
your own two legs on a bicycle could take you. While studying at Drake
University, I took a semester abroad in London, UK, which is where I was
fi rst introduced to the ease of transit. I moved to Chicago aft er college
thinking it would be a good place to fi nd a career and a life. Th e city’s
bus and rail systems made the journey to fi nding both of those things
much more convenient. I bought property many years before I bought
a car due to the transportation options available. When my husband
and I decided to make the move to the suburbs, a reliable commuter rail
system continued to allow access to the city.
I’ve been an active transit user for nearly two decades and recognize
that the seamless experience of an end user is the result of an all-handson
deck eff ort involving a given transit provider’s management, operations
and maintenance teams and supply chain. Th e stories behind that
eff ort is where Mass Transit’s coverage comes in and I’m ready to help
tell those stories.
In the coming months, I look forward to taking this conversation off
the page and into exhibition halls, on-site visits and any other face-to-face
opportunity that may arise. Should you have a comment on an article
or topic, please feel free to reach out via email, social media or even an
old fashioned phone call.
Mischa Wanek-Libman
mwanek@
masstransitmag.com
224-324-8532
linkedin.com/in/
mischawaneklibman/
Transit
agencies
across North
America...are
pushing the
innovation
envelope in
a way that is
changing how
people move.
Mischa Wanek-Libman, Editor
/MassTransitmag.com
link
/