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ST. LOUIS – The saying goes, “if you want to walk the walk, you have to the talk the talk.”
In Taulby Roach’s case, he plans on doing just that as he takes over as president and CEO of the Bi-State Development Agency.
From the Skinker Metro station to 8th and Pine, Roach plans to scan his ticket and ride the MetroLink to his downtown office every day.
“The opportunity is to expose and get more customer engagement for the folks who are sitting behind me,” Roach said. “This is a ride I will take every day to Metro.”
Along with getting the one-on-one experience, Roach says the first thing on his agenda is to address safety on the Metro.
“It’s not only the first priority, it’s my second and third priority,” he said. “One thing about the number three is that we have three professional police departments.”
Before taking office, an out-of-state consultant firm came to town and recommended a number of changes Bi-State should be doing to keep up with other big cities’ public transit systems.
Communication came out to be another top priority and it’s a bridge Roach says he plans to build immediately between St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Illinois, and Metro’s security team.
“We have the bodies, we have the individuals to patrol the system, but coordinating and deploying them is very important,” Roach said.
With a new year comes new leadership, and it’s everyone hope the new CEO can bring forth changes to a service that thousands rely on every day.
