The man who will head Metro as it searches for a new leader isn’t an innovator, isn’t particularly open with the public, but is a good manager who can follow and give orders, New Jersey-area transit advocates say.
Sarles’ compensation package
» Salary: $25,000 per month for a one-year contract, with the option for renewal as needed.
» Housing: A “very modest” one-bedroom apartment near a Metro station, though Metro Chairman Peter Benjamin said the definition of “modest” and the rent amount haven’t been determined.
» Moving: Expenses will be covered.
Richard Sarles, 65, will leave a brief retirement after running NJ Transit for the past three years to serve as Metro’s interim general manager later this month. He will arrive as the agency faces a flood of problems: a massive budget crisis, loss of ridership and growing concerns about safety after a string of deadly accidents and damning reports. Even Metro officials acknowledge it’s a tough time to arrive. “There are those who might not have stepped in given the challenges we have,” Metro board member Elizabeth Hewlett said. “I thank him for his courage.”
Advocates who worked with — and against — him in New Jersey painted a picture of a man who knows transit issues and could improve some of Metro’s key management and equipment problems.
“I think he can be a big help in upgrading the system,” said David Peter Alan, chairman of Lackawanna Coalition, which represents commuters.
Albert Papp Jr., a director for the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, called him a “very good hands-on operator” who will be able to give Metro a good housecleaning.
But Papp and others repeatedly said he didn’t show innovation or creativity. “I don’t see him as a visionary,” added George Haikalis, president of New York City’s Institute for Rational Urban Mobility. “As a placeholder, you can probably do worse.”
The interim post is not intended as a job to chart new territory but more to steer the ship until a new captain arrives. Still, Sarles will lead the agency when National Transportation Safety Board safety recommendations are expected later this spring. And he may be tasked with filling some key vacancies.
“His biggest flaw is he’s not good on public participation and his decisions tended to be made in secret,” Alan said. “So he’s a mixed bag.”
Activists cited a 1,600-page report that Sarles did not make public and service cuts made without any public notice. “I would hardly give him high scores for transparency,” Haikalis said.
Sarles told The Examiner the report does not exist and the service cuts did not meet the threshold for a public hearing under local laws.
Yet he said he values transparency and oversight, welcoming “outside eyes” to watch the agency. “I don’t want to hide problems, that’s the worst thing you can do,” he said.
