Meet Dave Kubicek, the new executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.
Courtesy South Florida Regional Transportation Authority
Three days into his new job, Dave J. Kubicek was still settling into his office and learning the inner workings of South Florida’s commuter rail system. Still, the new executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority arrived with a clear philosophy.
“We’re here to provide mobility options,” Kubicek told Browardist during his first interview since taking the role. “When a region is moving, when a region has a fluid motion, a certain level of cadence, I think that’s very, very important.”
The SFRTA Governing Board selected Kubicek in July following a national search. He officially began Aug. 31, bringing more than 35 years of leadership experience across passenger rail and public transportation.
His résumé reads like a transit lover’s cross-country itinerary. Kubicek has held leadership roles with Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, LA Metro, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Austin’s CapMetro, where he most recently served as executive vice president of capital construction, engineering and design.
Now, his map stretches across Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. He inherits a Tri-Rail system with established ridership, connections serving three major airports and access to MiamiCentral, along with a freight operation that keeps the tracks busy after passenger service ends.
“This railroad really never sleeps,” he said. “Even though we might cease our service for passenger movement, you still have freight, you’ve got maintenance and you’ve got all those other things as well.”
His early priorities include reviewing operations and engineering, meeting employees and contractors and assessing major procurements. New coaches, rolling stock, fare-payment technology, financial systems, train-control improvements and grade-crossing upgrades are all on the radar.
Reliability is central to that work, particularly as South Florida grows denser and riders depend on connections to airports, workplaces, concerts and sporting events.
“Two minutes means a lot. Thirty seconds means a lot. Fifteen minutes means a lot,” Kubicek said. “You’re either on time or you’re not.”
He also sees opportunities for Tri-Rail to coordinate with Brightline, county bus networks, emerging rail projects and other transportation providers. The goal, he said, is a seamless trip in which riders can move between systems without making transportation itself the main event.
Kubicek supports exploring expansion and transit-oriented development, but he is not arriving with a pet project or a map already marked in permanent ink. He plans to first hear from SFRTA board members, counties and the Florida Department of Transportation.
“You just can’t build stuff for the sake of building stuff,” he said. “Somebody has to maintain it and operate it.”
Outside the office, Kubicek is an international traveler who admires Europe’s high-speed rail and Japan Railways’ safety, equipment and service. He also appreciates simpler South Florida pursuits, spanning a beach walk, a good restaurant and an evening with friends.
That worldly transit perspective ultimately returns to one concise belief: “Mobility is opportunity for some. It’s travel for others. It’s a cool thing to be involved in.”
