July 29 – The organization that runs Missoula’s free public bus system has a new leader.

Jordan Hess, a former Missoula mayor and longtime director of transportation at the University of Montana, was named president and general manager of the Missoula Urban Transportation District by the agency’s board on July 25. The agency operates the Mountain Line, the zero-fare public bus and van system.

Hess spent nearly a decade as director of transportation at the University of Montana, which was the first university campus in the United States to purchase and operate modern, fast-charging electric battery buses. Hess also served on the Missoula City Council for nearly a decade and was appointed by the City Council as the city’s 51st mayor after former Mayor John Engen passed away.

In an interview Monday, Hess said he will join the organization sometime in August.

“I’m really excited about transit,” he said. “I’ve been my whole career. You know, transit is the only mode of transportation that gets better the more you use it. You’d never say you need to get more people in cars on Reserve Street and it’s going to get better. Transit is the opposite .”

He said that when ridership increases on public transport, it warrants increased service to those users. And as transit becomes more frequent, more people see it as useful.

“Transit plays a role in solving many of society’s challenges,” Hess said. For example, he said public transit has the ability to make housing more affordable by allowing developers to build dense projects near a stop that would otherwise require an expensive parking surcharge. He also said a robust, electric public transit system in Missoula could increase community health by reducing harmful pollution and traffic congestion.

“Mountain Line has been a leader in fleet electrification and much of the country has followed suit,” explained Hess.

The air is stagnant in the Missoula Valley, especially in the winter, and Mountain Line has been pushing hard to electrify its fleet. Recently, four new electric buses will be delivered later this summer to replace aging diesel vehicles. These buses will make the fixed-route fleet 55% electric, which Hess said is part of Mountain Line’s commitment to a zero-emissions fleet by 2035.

The fact that the entire system is free for all riders is crucial, he added.

“It’s important to a lot of people for whom having a dollar in exact change is an inconvenience,” he said. “It’s important to somebody for whom that price is really a financial barrier. It’s important to the operation of the system because it’s more efficient. It’s safer for the drivers and eliminates price disputes. It’s a much cleaner operation all around. Missoula has been a leader in it.”

The agency has been working to figure out where to build a new headquarters and what it will look like, and Hess said that while “the direction is pretty well set” by the board’s work over the past few years, he could play a role in the process forward.

“The team at Mountain Line is doing so much great work, and I’m excited to join them,” Hess said. “Public transit has tremendous power to make lives better, and I’m honored to be part of such a dedicated staff working on something I’m passionate about in a place I love.”

The Missoula Urban Transportation District board said it selected Hess after conducting a national search to fill the position.

“The board values ​​Jordan’s deep knowledge of Missoula and his experience running a transit system, and we are eager to welcome his expertise and vision to this role,” said board vice chair Amy Cilimburg, who was involved in the search committee for the new leadership. . “We are also deeply grateful to Interim General Manager Jennifer Sweten for skillfully managing Mountain Line through this transition.”

Sweten has been interim leader since previous CEO Corey Aldridge left in April. Sweten will resume his role as operations manager when Hess joins the staff in the coming weeks.

Cilimburg said the change comes during a busy season for the Mountain Line. The Public Transit Agency has partnered with the Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization for a strategic planning process to update the city’s long-range transit plan and develop a new strategic transit plan that will take into account changes in the transit industry and ridership patterns over the past few years. The latest strategic plan was completed in 2018.

The Missoula Urban Transportation System was founded in 1976 and also operates a paratransit service. The bus system runs seven days a week.

The Mountain Line was recognized as the best public transit company of its size in North America in 2021 by the American Public Transportation Association and was named the 2023 System of the Year by the Montana Transit Association.

David Erickson is a business reporter for the Missoulian.

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