End of an Era: Ed Carr steered MWRTA to equity, access

FRAMINGHAM — For Ed Carr, attending a retirement party would be akin to showing up at his own wake. He'd be the first to tell you that he’s not retiring — he’s just moving on from his role as administrator of the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority.

It’s difficult to imagine the organization without him. But Carr, 75, who has been the agency's first and only administrator since it began operations in 2007, is stepping down at month's end. 

Carr and Deputy Administrator Eva Willens started with just two desks, a phone and a computer, sharing an office with another agency in Natick.

They now work in a lively and modern hub on Blandin Avenue, in Framingham’s Southside.

When the agency got off the ground, Willens said she couldn’t have imagined what the MWRTA would look like today — but her boss did.

“Mr. Carr has always had a vision,” Willens said. “He’s such an innovative thinker.”

Carr grew up in Natick and graduated from Marian High School in Framingham. He attended Bridgewater State College for a year before joining the Marines during the Vietnam War. Carr then worked in the restaurant business and eventually went back to school, earning a college degree at 50. He earned a master's degree 10 years later while serving as the state's director of transit.

Then he stepped into his role at the MWRTA. 

Carr mostly eschewed talking about himself during a recent interview with the Daily News, preferring instead to discuss the agency's achievements and how the MWRTA came to be. 

He is most proud of assembling a work team that emphasizes problem-solving and collaboration.

“Some people think team building has to do with being the quarterback or being the pitcher, or being the best shooter on the basketball team — but that’s not what it is,” Carr said. “It’s the coach that builds the team.”

Regional transit authorities

Before the MWRTA existed, Framingham had some public bus service in the form of the Local Inter Framingham Transit (LIFT). But whenever the MBTA was strapped for funds, money for LIFT would be cut and service would stop.

As a first-term state senator, Karen Spilka pushed to allow municipalities to join or create regional transit authorities like the MWRTA. She recalled the local paper running a cartoon of skeletons “languishing at a public bus stop, waiting for the bus to come.” 

“We couldn’t develop any stable ridership or any bus service that would be consistent — but yet the need was definitely there,” said Spilka, an Ashland Democrat who is now the Senate president. “Fairness and equity were the overriding principles pushing for the RTAs — if you looked at a map of where there was public bus service in the state, the Greater MetroWest area had a glaring void, a hole of public transportation."

State law was changed and the MWRTA was born, with Carr at the helm.

Going green

Carr’s brother, he said, used to laugh at him for being the type of person who would try to a fix a cheap wristwatch rather than buying a new one. Carr’s approach has always been to reuse and repair what already exists, “not tear it down because you didn’t love the wallpaper,” he said.

He knew the building that now serves as the agency's headquarters would be a good fit due to its size, location on a flat, 5-acre parcel and its structural integrity — what he called "good bones." 

From the start, he was environmentally conscious.

“We tried to be as green as possible — and the main greenness was we weren’t hauling blocks off to the landfill,” Carr said.

The organization grew up around the existing structure, adding solar panels to help power the building, a water reclamation system for cleaning the buses and laying the groundwork for electric vehicle charging stations.

Carr said he has imagined the building as a gathering place and a community resource, both for riders, staff and local residents. He hoped to add a child care center and offer a space where classes and trainings could be held.

The MWRTA carved out a sort of rail trail stretching from the MWRTA building to downtown. At one point, that path was just weeds — now, Willens said, it has “turned into a really awesome community asset.” They hope to expand the trail farther into the Southside soon.

An office for everyone

Carr has prioritized equity and access not only in the transportation services but in the MWRTA hub itself. Leadership regularly solicits opinions from organizations and employees on ways to improve the building. Only one infrequently used side door isn’t ADA compliant.

An office that can be used by all benefits temporarily disabled people, too, like if an employee were to break their leg and have to use a wheelchair for a time, Carr said.

MWRTA officials also absorb criticism when it comes — Carr said they missed a desk when installing height-adjustable work surfaces, which can be used by people who prefer to stand while working as well as those in wheelchairs.

“We’re very, very involved in the disabled community because half of our operating budget is spent on the elderly and disabled,” Carr said.

Disabled people also have a high unemployment rate — 10.1% in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared to just 5.1% for non-disabled people. Small changes, like audible announcements for arriving buses, investing in Job Access With Speech screen reading software and partnerships with local organizations have gone a long way.

“If everybody built to accommodate, this would be a much better world — and that’s the way we look at it,” Carr said. “Once you do make a small accommodation for them, you’ve got great employees."

One of those employees is Tyler Terrasi, a grants support coordinator who has previously worked in the door-to-door call center at the MWRTA. He still works there once a week, coordinating bus pickups and drop-offs, and fills in as needed.

Terrasi also took advantage of the MWRTA when he was attending Framingham State University. 

“(Carr) is truly an innovator and truly moved this agency forward — and has worked incredibly hard to make a difference in the lives of so many people,” Terrasi said. “I don’t know where I would have been without the services, personally. It’s been a huge lifeline for me to access education and work – and just everything.”

Improving transportation locally

The agency must do a better job of letting people know that the MWRTA provides fixed-route service for the general public, Willens said. That may be because the agency's buses don't look like the behemoths you'd see in Boston.

“The buses have to be nimble,” Willens said. “Because we’re suburbia, and we service areas where streets are smaller, so we can’t have those big coach buses that the MBTA has.”

In 2016, the MBTA transferred management of the Framingham commuter rail station to the local transit authority. Since then, the MWRTA has added additional parking, lighting, security cameras and hired security personnel. 

When “People find what they’re using is a safe and convenient type of service — any kind of service — they’re more apt to try it and if they like it, use it,” Willens said.

Emily Van DeWoestone, director of fixed-route service, intermodal service and marketing, said ridership has increased. The parking lot fills up Monday through Friday.

The future

Willens admitted she's a bit nervous about all the changes to come with Carr’s departure, but the team will stay as it is. 

"Change is healthy," Carr added. 

Spilka said she hopes the next agency administrator can build off the foundation Carr has created.

“I think that Ed’s vision and his personality, his people skills and his ability to get things done is why the MetroWest RTA is such a success,” she said. “Transportation is so much about connecting people, affordability, access and making people’s lives better … It has been wonderful to see the RTA grow, to see it blossom in to what it is today — and I expect it to continue to grow.”