On Board With… Small Operators Committee Chair Kate Miller (NVTA)
Kate Miller was appointed the Executive Director of the Napa Valley Transportation Authority (NVTA) in June of 2012. The agency is responsible for transportation policy, planning, and fund administration for all jurisdictions in Napa County and public transit services (Vine Transit System). Prior to joining NVTA, Ms. Miller served as the Manager of AC Transit’s Capital Planning, Legislation, and Grants Department, and as a Senior Planner at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Ms. Miller serves on the California Transit Association Executive Committee, and is the current Small Operator Committee chair. She also serves on the Leadership Napa Valley board which provides leadership training and connections for emerging leaders in Napa County. She is also the past President of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar.
Transit California: 
You chair the Association’s Small Operators Committee. What are your priorities for the committee?
Kate Miller:
Streamlining funding and approvals from Caltrans. The California Department of Transportation’s Transit division has been extremely slow to approve contracting documents, funding approvals agreements, and reimbursements. Given the limited fund sources available to many of the State’s small operators, the delays can force operators to limit operations and delay capital purchases, which is costing millions of dollars statewide. We are focused on working closely with Caltrans Director Tony Tavares, and his team, so that he is aware of the issues, and I am optimistic that we can identify a way to streamline Caltrans’s processes to better serve the State’s small operators.
Transit California:
Executive Committee Chair Karen King recently appointed you to the Association’s new Transit Operations Funding Subcommittee. The subcommittee is focused on developing a proposal and advocacy strategy to secure new state transit operations funding to address the funding shortfalls faced by transit agencies across the state and to support ridership recovery. How will you represent the Association’s small transit agencies on the subcommittee, and how can these agencies keep track of the subcommittee’s work?
Kate Miller:
Most of the state’s operators have already or will soon run out of federal stimulus funds. The federal stimulus funding has been essential for keeping systems running and paying our labor force during the pandemic shutdowns. Many large commuter-based systems continue to struggle because the workforce is just not commuting at the same levels as before the pandemic. And while workers are slowly coming back, transit systems need new revenues during this interim period. The pandemic has also caused sustained operational burdens for every operator in the state — but the issues are not all the same.
As already mentioned, for many of the larger operators, the challenge to close the gap of farebox revenues lost due to the lack of ridership is a priority while many small operators are hoping to restore and expand service but are unable to do so because of worker shortages. Both of these issues have revenue implications. Small operators need new revenues to draw new workers to public transit and to stabilize the existing workforce during these extraordinary economic times.
The near-term target is to identify revenue sources to cover a five-year period so that transit operators around the state can rebuild and stabilize their systems. In the long term, we need to prepare for a new paradigm in which technology will play a growing role in how we deploy transit. Transit systems around the state are also transitioning their fleets to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). New revenues are needed to prepare systems for these massive changes.
Transit California:
You’ve been the Executive Director of the Napa Valley Transportation Authority (NVTA) for more than 10 years. What agency accomplishments are you most proud of during this time?
Kate Miller:
Vine Transit did not have any operational technologies when I got here. Together with my incredible staff, we have adopted two generations of computer-aided dispatch and automated vehicle location (CAD/AVL) systems. Our fleet is fully equipped with automatic passenger counters (APCs) and the latest fare technologies. We were also one of the first systems to use an app (Ride the Vine) so that riders could request and schedule rides on our shuttle systems, which are located in the County’s small jurisdictions. Within two weeks of the first pandemic shutdown, we pivoted to stop-to-stop on-demand in the City of Napa — the central part of our operating area — using our Ride the Vine app.
NVTA initiated and has capitalized on procurements in coordination with the other North Bay Area small operators, which has drawn a great deal of interest to our procurements, and the competition has greatly driven down the cost of these procurements. The Vine also successfully rebranded during my tenure, which has involved expanding the “V” to a number of other services — key among those are a number of alternative travel options that we are now providing to members of the public. The average age of Vine vehicles was 17 years old in 2012. The average is now under 10 years. Having a newer fleet has dramatically cut down on maintenance costs.
Finally, our brand new Vine Maintenance facility will be opened this fall after 10 years of planning and identifying almost $40 million for development and construction. This was an enormous undertaking, which took an incredible amount of ingenuity to cobble together the federal and state funds and financing, including one of only three Build America Rural Project Initiative Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans in the state. The new facility will allow NVTA to transition to a zero-emission fleet. It will include a photovoltaic system to operate the facility and charge Vine electric buses.
Transit California:
What are some of the main goals or challenges for the agency moving forward? How do these goals and challenges relate to the goals and challenges of small transit agencies statewide?
Kate Miller:
First and foremost, we need to revive the Vine Transit System. This will require creativity, hard work, dedication, and new funding. Staff is investigating academic research and other transit systems to understand how we can use this distinct period in our history to innovate. We are also working closely with MTC and the Bay Area’s other transit operators to improve coordination and connectivity. NVTA staff recognizes that this effort will also require evaluating emerging technologies. How will autonomous vehicles and other technologies shape the public transit industry? What role will our labor force have in the future? Reviving the Vine Transit System will be the focus of discussions at the NVTA Board retreat this May.
Transit California:
Prior to NVTA, you served as Manager, Capital Development, Legislation, and Grants at Alameda-Contra Costa Transit (AC Transit). What did you learn or take forward from this experience?
Kate Miller:
I learned a lot about what is involved in the day-to-day operations of a public transit system. I also established relationships with many great people — contacts and communication are key to success in any business, but it has been an absolute privilege to work with the creative planners and innovators at AC Transit. Many of the people I worked with at AC Transit have not only become great friends but also great resources. The former AC Transit IT manager, Tom O’Neil, helped the North Bay Area transit operators with our CAD/AVL request for information (RFI). We have also worked closely with Jaimie Levin, who led AC Transit’s zero-emission bus (ZEB) division, and who currently heads up the California division of the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE).
I also learned how to lead in a period of great uncertainty. There were three general managers in my five-year tenure at AC Transit. Coupled with the recession and fiscal challenges, this created a great deal of angst among staff members. Understanding how to navigate through these times has been invaluable and helped shape how my NVTA team and I were able to respond to the pandemic. I would like to emphasize that my friend and colleague, Michael Hursh, was appointed after I left and he has had an amazing stabilizing effect on the agency.
Transit California:
You began your transportation career at the San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). How was this experience valuable?
Kate Miller:
MTC was a wonderful training ground. I learned a lot about funding and about all 27 Bay Area transit systems. The staff and leadership at MTC were smart and creative, which was hugely inspirational. There was always a lot of lateral opportunity as well, which was helpful in broadening both my interests and experience. For instance, I led the regional funding and policy efforts associated with the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) initiative. I think I have always been a problem solver by nature, but working with Alix Bockelman and her team really pushed me to excel. It was also a wonderful place to network and establish life-long friendships.
Transit California:
You have been noted as an advocate of bicycle transportation and are an avid cyclist yourself. How do you utilize your position at NVTA to advance active transportation? Why is this work important to public transportation?
Kate Miller:
Cycling is like praying for me — it feeds my soul. I both commute and do errands on my hybrid bike and enjoy long weekend rides on my road bike. I was honored to be named the Bike Champion of the Year by the Napa Valley Bicycle Coalition in 2021. I think it’s hugely important to practice what you preach. The staff at NVTA take transit, ride bikes, walk, and use alternative transportation whenever possible. I can’t ask my staff or members of the Napa community to do something I’m not willing to do. I also feel like it’s my small way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I personally benefit too — biking, walking, and taking transit keeps me young and healthy.
Transit California:
How did you find your way to the field of public transportation?
Kate Miller:
I have always been a transit rider — no matter where I was working or going to school. It’s convenient and less stressful, especially living in cities. AC Transit and Muni allowed me to escape from the boring East Bay suburbs where I lived in my teen years. I learned how to take transit from my grandmothers — my paternal grandmother lived in San Francisco, and my maternal grandmother lived in San Mateo.
There were also two things that collided that shifted my interest from urban planning to transportation planning, and that was when I was introduced to MTC. During graduate school, I worked for Professor Pravin Variaya, who was a professor of electrical engineering but was researching transportation automation at California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology (PATH). I coordinated a meeting between MTC staff and Professor Varaiya and it piqued my interest. Then I took a class in intergovernmental relations, and the professor required that we attend some public meetings. I chose to attend the Bay Bridge meetings, where designs for the replacement of the east span of the bridge was discussed. It was soon after those meetings that Therese McMillan hired me, ironically, to replace April Chan, who is now the General Manager of SamTrans. I have never turned back. I love the work we do and the people we work with. I can’t imagine a more fulfilling and diverse career.