Richard A. White

Richard A. White is an American public transportation official who was the CEO and general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority during 1996–2006. Prior to joining WMATA as CEO, he was the general manager at Bay Area Rapid Transit in the San Francisco area. White also spent six years with the federal Urban Mass Transit Administration, which is now the Federal Transit Administration. White is from Massachusetts.

Career

New Jersey Transit

From 1981 to 1991, White worked for New Jersey Transit.

When White left BART, his annual salary was about $141,000 per year, White asserted that "The issue is money" and that the members of ATU Local 1555 were engaged in "a campaign of misinformation and a lack of honesty" designed to make people believe the primary root of the dispute was work rules. "We have been as flexible and creative as we can...but this hardly resembles a good faith effort," White said.

White pushed through a three-year, 45-percent fare increase, the largest cumulative increase in the agency's history. The increase was part of a 10-year, $1-billion renovation program that included restoration of BART's original fleet and major improvements to stations, ticket machines, lighting and communications equipment.

On June 1, 1996, it was announced that White was leaving BART to become general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, with July 26 being his last day at BART. Potential successor candidates mentioned at the time of his departure were Deputy General Manager Dorothy Dugger (who would become General Manager in 2007), Jim Gallagher (assistant general manager of operations), Larry Williams (assistant general manager of operations), and John Haley (former deputy general manager at BART, at the time deputy general manager of the port authority in New York).

WMATA

White became general manager at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority after Lawrence G. Reuter left to take the top job at the MTA New York City transit system. White was chosen from a field of over 60 candidates, and three other finalists, when he became general manager at WMATA. WMATA was a much larger agency than BART: when White assumed the job, WMATA had over 7,000 employees and a $750 million operating budget. In contrast, BART had about 3,000 workers and a $270 million budget. When WMATA hired White, his total compensation was about $200,000 per year.

A string of incidents in 2004–2005 and complaints of mismanagement at WMATA, however, eventually led to his dismissal on January 11, 2006. White stepped down on February 16, 2006, and was replaced by Dan Tangherlini, as interim CEO.