This is an opinion column.

Changes in leadership at local public boards aren’t normally newsworthy. There are nominations (almost always curated in advance), votes (same) and an expected tally. Seats and nameplates are shifted, the gavel is passed, and a new chair calls all to order.

Yawn.

In the not-too-distant past, though, nothing was normal about the reeling Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority or its erratic, pothole-magnet board.

And I had a front-row seat.

Six years ago, the agency’s plodding transit system was careening around the metro region as if a six-year-old was behind the wheel: wait times were unbearably long, buses were eerily empty, and in the nascent days of ride-sharing and micro-transit, there was little vision for MAX’s future beyond more antiquated fixed routes.

No one rode the bus unless they had to, as many, many do.

The board did little to fix it because it was choking on its own exhaust. There was a stench of financial improprieties, lawsuits, firings, flauntingly excessive spending, petty infighting, and head-spinning turnover — four board chairs in five months, as well as five executive directors in eight years.

Nationally, BJCTA had the rep of a hooptie (old dilapidated car). Attracting someone to work there was harder than getting folks to ride, and the Federal Transportation Agency (FTA), which provides millions to transit systems nationally, wasn’t spending a dime on repairs.

Why drop coins on a bus with no gas? On a big ole lemon?

In April 2018, a frustrated Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin stood outside MAX’s still spit-shine new intermodal center and threatened to yank the city’s transit funding ($10.8 million over three years) unless someone hit the brakes on the mess.

That October, Theodore (Ted) Smith, a former captain with Birmingham Fire and Rescue, was elected new board chair in a bitter split (5-3) vote. At the time, I wrote: “Maybe now a board of directors in dire need of a tune-up will display stability, maturity and be about the business of fixing the city’s inadequate transit system.”

Done and done, I’m pleased to write.

Not that public transportation here is yet a panacea, though relative to the jalopy Smith and an evolving board inherited, it’s more efficient, innovative and, perhaps most importantly, respected.

Smith was re-elected chair five times and guided the system’s transition through rough terrain. On Thursday, he relinquished the wheel. During the board’s election of officers, Smith was nominated for a new term but removed his name from consideration, stepping aside as banker Ledon Jones was elected the board’s new chair. Smith was elected vice-chair, so will remain in leadership. Sam Parker was elected secretary.

“I’ve seen,” Smith said after the meeting adjourned, “the good and the bad.”

Far better.

Throughout his tenure as chair, Smith’s consistent, if not monotonous, mantra was, “I just want to elevate transit and BJCTA.” To accomplish that, BJCTA initially hired respected industry veteran (and former BJCTA CEO) Frank T. Martin to overhaul the rusted system and make BJCTA at least respectable again. “He was the lawn mower,” Smith said. “Come in and straighten up the place, clean out some things and make it acceptable for somebody else to come in.”

That somebody was CEO Charlotte Shaw, a rising force in the transit industry with energy in overdrive.

She’s reshaped and revived BCJTA with traditional, much-needed actions (such as launching the Birmingham Xpress, the Bus Rapid Transit system on Sept. 22) and innovations, including enhanced app served and on-demand micro-transit.

Between November 2023 and October 2024 the Xpress, which connects 25 neighborhoods along a 10-mile stretch from Five Points to the west to Woodlawn experienced a 96% increase in ridership over the same period a year prior (348,377 riders to 177,595), according to Shaw.

Microtransit — including service to the airport, East Birmingham, Mountain Brook and Homewood — has seen a 23% increase since kicking into gear in June 2024, she says.

The journey was not without detours and setback. Last year, a U.S. District Court judge ruled BJCTA must pay $4,315,403.22 in damages based on a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit filed in 2018 by a former employee and former board chair alleging the agency didn’t comply with all federal regulations regarding grant funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA).

All told, though, the system’s changes were noticed nationally. Organizations that once shunned BJCTA were suddenly rewarding it. In July of this year, Max was one of just four transit systems nationally to receive the Outstanding Public Transit Award from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), a nonprofit international association of more than 1,500 public and private sector member organizations across all modes of transportation.

The APTA Olympic-like gold medal is displayed at BJCTA intermodal center in a trophy case that there was assuredly no need for six years ago. That accolade and other awards were what persuaded Smith to hand over the keys.

“I never really set out to get awarded like we did,” Shaw said. “It put me in a different mindset. We’re still moving going forward. I’m just dropping back from being chair to being a little less hands-on.”

After sliding to his right and handing the gavel to Jones, Smith said BJCTA is still exploring new options, including autonomous (self-driving) vehicles and revamping routes around the downtown area with its growing food and entertainment options.

“Routes that allow people in office buildings and quick and convenient way to go to different locations downtown to eat or meetings or somewhere else,” he said.

Smith says he’s also exploring the feasibility of fast-rail service between Birmingham and Atlanta.

He smiled: “We made it real boring around here,” he said looking back on the popcorn-worthy tumult that once characterized BJCTA board meetings. “We made it to where we were about business, about trying to take care of business. We concentrated on that. So, I’m glad to see where we are now.”

Which is miles and miles ahead of the turbulence in the rearview mirror.

I was raised by good people who encouraged me to be a good man and surround myself with good people. If I did, they said, good things would happen. I am a member of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame, an Edward R. Murrow Award winner, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, Instagram @roysj and BlueSky.