Metro Transit leader retires after a long career of keeping buses rolling

With buses that broke down as often as they ran, driver's seats that were beyond uncomfortable and a fleet that was aesthetically unappealing, Metro Transit asked Vince Pellegrin if he'd come and fix the problems.

And he said yes. That was 24 years ago.

Pellegrin left the New York City Transit Authority to take over Metro Transit's bus maintenance department. On Friday, he retired as Metro Transit's chief operating officer, closing out a long run of upgrading buses, overseeing the agency's foray into commuter and light rail and introducing popular services such as State Fair express buses.

"We are in a complicated business and somehow it magically all works," he said Wednesday. "I hope I am a small part of that magic."

Pellegrin oversaw the opening of two light-rail lines and the Northstar commuter line.

"Starting rail was my biggest challenge," he said. "We became multimodal. We did new activities we'd never done before."

That included devising an elaborate plan for the 2018 Super Bowl. Metro Transit was the first transit agency allowed inside the FBI's security perimeter. Trains transported gamegoers from the Mall of America to the stop outside U.S. Bank Stadium.

Pellegrin also helped lead Metro Transit through several major events, including 9/11, the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, a 44-day strike and the COVID-19 pandemic.

But his most important work may have been done in the garage.

After arriving at Metro Transit in 1997, he immediately ordered that new ergonomic air-ride seats be put in for bus drivers and transformed the agency's beleaguered fleet.

"That was the reason I was recruited here," he said, recalling that the fleet was hobbled by overheating buses and transmission problems. He brought in new buses to improve reliability.

"Less breakdowns leads to better service," he said.

"Ridership, that is the name of the game," Pellegrin said. "That is why COVID was so devastating."

Pellegrin started his career with the Southern California Rapid Transit District, the precursor to Los Angeles Metro, where he worked as a mechanic during the Rodney King riots and the Olympics. In New York he helped put the country's first hybrid-electric buses into service.

After the 35W bridge collapse, Pellegrin became the agency's designated emergency manager with the state of Minnesota and orchestrated responses to crises such as the Drake Hotel fire, the north Minneapolis tornado and transforming six buses into mobile COVID-19 vaccine stations.

His success, co-workers said, came from his philosophy of putting authority where knowledge resides, trusting mechanics and technicians to keep the system running.

"He was an operations guy with a heart," said spokesman Howie Padilla.