SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 51
Fact:
Just prior to this
issue of Mass
Transit going to
press, Westervelt
took on the
role of senior
manager of
urban partnership
solutions at Bird.
MassTransitmag.
com/12422364
As a new mobility project manager,
she designed and developed a winning
Mobility on Demand Sandbox proposal,
which is a partnership between regional
transit operators in Los Angeles, the
Puget Sound, a team of researchers,
and Via, to implement a fi rst-last mile
transportation network company partnership
in both the Los Angeles and
Puget Sound regions. Aft er implementation,
this partnership will be the fi rst
of its kind to have created a contractual
structure enabling the TNC to provide
an aff ordable, equitable, and accessible
service available to all customers
through a public-private partnership.
Prior to Metro, Westervelt served
as a senior policy analyst and assistant
editor of Eno Transportation Weekly
at the Eno Center for Transportation.
DROPPING OUT OF PLANNING
school was ironically the catalyst of
Marla Westervelt’s career in public
transportation. While pursuing a joint
master’s degree in political science and
urban planning, she had completed the
requirements for the political science
portion of her master’s when she headed
to Washington, D.C., for a summer fellowship
at the Eno Center for Transportation.
By the end of summer, her boss
convinced her to graduate with only the
M.A. in political science so as to extend
her fellowship for another 6 months.
She states it was the riskiest career
move she has ever made, but that it has
paid off in dividends. She currently serves
in Metro’s Offi ce of Extraordinary Innovation
(OEI) as a principal transportation
planner, serving as OEI’s head of research
and a new mobility project manager.
As head of research, it’s her responsibility
to research transit agencies across
the world and explore what they are doing
well, where there is room for improvement,
and identify best practices and
leading-edge technologies to incubate
and implement in Los Angeles County.
“I love that I actively feel like I’m making the world
a better place, improving communities and lives,
and pushing the envelope for what constituents
can expect from their governments.”
Marla D.
Westervelt
Senior Manager of
Urban Partnership
Solutions
Bird
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