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RTD’s transportation manager Marsella to leave in July
  
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By Tom Munds
Cal Marsella, Regional Transportation District general manager, announced April 28 he will be leaving the agency on July 31.
Marsella, who has headed RTD for 14 years, said he is leaving the organization to take a high-level position in a private firm in California.
He met with the RTD board of directors earlier in the day to notify them of his decision. Board chairman Lee Kemp said he and the other board members are sorry to see Marsella go. He noted that RTD has expanded public transportation and service under the manager’s leadership. Kemp said plans are for the board to immediately begin working on a comprehensive process to search for a successor.
Marsella began his transportation career in Connecticut in 1974. He served as the director of transportation for Hartford. In 1979, he became chief of contract services for Miami’s Metro Dade Transit Authority.
He was co-owner of a transit consulting firm in Fort Myers, Fla., from 1992 to 1995 when he accepted the general manager/chief operating officer position with RTD.
Under his leadership, RTD expanded light rail service from a small line serving the downtown area to the Southwest Corridor serving Englewood and Littleton, the Southeast Corridor serving Greenwood Village, Centennial and Lone Tree and the central Platte Valley Corridor serving major attractions like the amusement park, the Pepsi Center and Coors Field.
He also spearheaded the effort resulting in voter approval of a sales tax increase to fund the FasTracks program. FasTracks is a 12-year expansion plan for mass transit in the metro area that includes building 121 miles of light rail and commuter rail service, improved bus service and other amenities. It is the largest transit-only voter approved program in the country.
In 2006, Marsella was selected the nation’s outstanding public transportation manager by the Public Transportation Association. Under his leadership, RTD was selected as the outstanding transportation agency in North America in 2003 and again in 2008.
However, as he leaves, he has been taking criticism because FasTracks has been struggling financially and currently needs about $2 billion to complete the project as planned by 2017. He also has taken fire for his salary, which is about $300,000 a year.
Marsella, who has headed RTD for 14 years, said he is leaving the organization to take a high-level position in a private firm in California.
He met with the RTD board of directors earlier in the day to notify them of his decision. Board chairman Lee Kemp said he and the other board members are sorry to see Marsella go. He noted that RTD has expanded public transportation and service under the manager’s leadership. Kemp said plans are for the board to immediately begin working on a comprehensive process to search for a successor.
Marsella began his transportation career in Connecticut in 1974. He served as the director of transportation for Hartford. In 1979, he became chief of contract services for Miami’s Metro Dade Transit Authority.
He was co-owner of a transit consulting firm in Fort Myers, Fla., from 1992 to 1995 when he accepted the general manager/chief operating officer position with RTD.
Under his leadership, RTD expanded light rail service from a small line serving the downtown area to the Southwest Corridor serving Englewood and Littleton, the Southeast Corridor serving Greenwood Village, Centennial and Lone Tree and the central Platte Valley Corridor serving major attractions like the amusement park, the Pepsi Center and Coors Field.
He also spearheaded the effort resulting in voter approval of a sales tax increase to fund the FasTracks program. FasTracks is a 12-year expansion plan for mass transit in the metro area that includes building 121 miles of light rail and commuter rail service, improved bus service and other amenities. It is the largest transit-only voter approved program in the country.
In 2006, Marsella was selected the nation’s outstanding public transportation manager by the Public Transportation Association. Under his leadership, RTD was selected as the outstanding transportation agency in North America in 2003 and again in 2008.
However, as he leaves, he has been taking criticism because FasTracks has been struggling financially and currently needs about $2 billion to complete the project as planned by 2017. He also has taken fire for his salary, which is about $300,000 a year.
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