- Bob Kiley
Robert R. Kiley, better known as Bob Kiley, (born
16 September 1935 ) is apublic transit planner and supervisor, with a reputation of being able to save transit systems experiencing serious problems. From 2001 to 2006 he was the initial Commissioner ofTransport for London , the public organisation empowered with running and maintainingLondon 'spublic transport network.Kiley has also worked as a
CIA agent, as theCEO of theMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority , the deputy mayor ofBoston , theChairman and CEO of theNew York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority and asPresident and CEO of theNew York City Partnership . He is credited as being thearchitect of the revival of Boston andNew York 's ailing public transport systems in the 1970s and 1980s respectively.Minneapolis, Boston and New York
Kiley was born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota and educated at theUniversity of Notre Dame inIndiana . He graduatedmagna cum laude and went on to study atHarvard 's Graduate School. In 1963 he joined theCentral Intelligence Agency . TheBBC reports that although former colleagues say it would be incorrect to regard Bob Kiley as a "spook" he did travel around the world in his role as Manager of Intelligence Operations. He later served as Executive Assistant to the Agency DirectorRichard Helms .Kiley left the Agency in 1970 and embarked a career in
management , with particular emphasis ontransport . He first worked as an assistant director at thePolice Foundation inWashington D.C. Two years later he became deputy mayor of Boston, a position he held for three years. In 1975 Kiley took on two new roles - one asadjunct professor of public management atBoston University - and the other as chairman and CEO of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. He left the MBTA in 1979 and became a vice-president at the Management Analysis Center (now part ofCap Gemini ). In 1983 Kiley moved down the east coast to become the Chairman and CEO of the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). He remained in the position until 1990 and in his time in the role secured state funding to the tune of $16bn to revitalise therailroad s,bus es and subways in the MTA region.Gene Russianoff , of the New YorkStraphangers Campaign , says that the money was spent wisely - "Even normally grudging New Yorkers say he did a good job," says Russianoff. The clean-up campaign involving arresting fare dodgers and cleaning upgraffiti is now regarded as a prelude to the city-wide policy of "zero tolerance " enforced byRudy Giuliani during his time as Mayor in the 1990s.In 1991 Kiley moved to a new role as President of the New York construction company
Fischbach Corporation . He briefly held the role of Chairman too before moving again to become President and CEO of the New York City Partnership in 1995. From 1994 to 1998 he was also ofKohlberg & Company , a privateequity investment house. Kiley's Transport for London biography notes that Kiley is also "Member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations , Board Member of theSalzburg Seminar , theAmerican Repertory Theater ,MONY Group Inc , thePrinceton Review Inc andEdison Schools, Inc. He is also on the Advisory Board of theHarvard University Center for State and Local Government ."London
In January 2001 Bob Kiley moved across the Atlantic to become Chairman of
London Regional Transport (the public body appointed by theSecretary of State for Transport to run London's Underground network of trains and also Commissioner of Transport for London, the public body which reports to theMayor of London and which has increasingly been granted authority formerly held by London Regional Transport.Kiley, who was given a $4m four-year contract was regarded as a strange bedfellow for "Red"
Ken Livingstone - the former firebrand socialist elected London's first mayor in 2000. Indeed they themselves described their working relationship as "a CIA activist working for an unreconstructed Trotskyite". However, Livingstone's and Kiley's views on London transport have proved very similar. Both were vehemently opposed to the government's plans forpublic-private partnership s (PPP) in running of the tube. Kiley was sacked as chairman of London Regional Transport in July 2001 and repeated clashes with his boss, Transport SecretaryStephen Byers .Remaining as Commissioner of Transport for London, he and Livingstone took the government to court in trying to prevent PPP. They failed and in January 2003 three separate private companies took control of maintaining various tube lines. In July 2003 powers for running the rest of the Tube network, including manning and maintaining the stations, was transferred to Transport for London and London Regional Transport became defunct. Kiley welcomed the opportunity to take greater control over the running over the tube but warned that he felt he would be hampered by PPP:
:"I maintain that the Government’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) is not the right way to manage the maintenance and renewal of the Tube. As they stand, the PPP contracts do not satisfactorily address the improvements to the Underground that TfL and the public demand. Nevertheless, we will do everything within our power to hold the infrastructure companies to account on those Tube improvements they have promised to deliver."
In December 2004, he and Livingstone announced a 4 year extension to Kiley's contract with TfL running until 2008 at an increased salary (£2.4 million [pounds sterling] over the term of the contract). This amount is disputed by a report issued by the TaxPayers Alliance [ [http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/PublicSectorRichList.pdf TaxPayers Alliance] ] who list his salary for 2005/06 as £1,146,425. However, in November 2005, Kiley announced that he would be standing down in January 2006, after five years in the job. He was paid almost £2 million [ [http://uk.news.yahoo.com/03112006/344/public-sector-chiefs-pay-outrage.html Transport for London Settlement] ] in a settlement for standing down, and remained as a £3,200 a day Consultant [ [http://uk.news.yahoo.com/03112006/344/public-sector-chiefs-pay-outrage.html Transport for London] ] . He was in the middle of the consultation process for the implementation of the highly unpopular
West London Tram project. He was highly respected while in public office and was known for his plain speaking.Following his departure all of the West London Boroughs have decided to reject the plans for the
West London Tram . Ealing, the bellwether borough of the United Kingdom, was the last local council to reject TFL's plans for the West London Tram and it is widely held the issue of the Tram lead to a change of local government from New Labour to Conservative.Ken Livingstone has said that Kiley will continue to advise him as a consultant for the remaining term. He was replaced by as Commissioner by
Peter Hendy in February 2006.Kiley's first wife and two children were killed in a car accident. He subsequently remarried, and is currently married to his second wife, Rona. They have two sons. [ [http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/w0405/kiley.html Notre Dame University Magazine January 2005: Alumnus profile] ]
Notes
References
* [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/chief_officers.asp A biography from Transport for London]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1113837.stm A biography from BBC News]
* [http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/about/message_from_bob.asp "A message from Bob" to London tube users]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1443722.stm BBC News report on Kiley's sacking from the London Regional Transport]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2013341.stm BBC News report on Stephen Byer's sacking from the UK Government by Tony Blair]
* [http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/pressreleases/0307/14.asp Tube transfers to TfL control]
* [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonnews/articles/15492485?source=Evening%20Standard Evening Standard article on Kiley's contract extension in December 2004]
* [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/trams/ The Transport for London (TFL) website]
=* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=ss&sText=bob+kiley&LinkID=mp60724 Images of Bob Kiley from the National Portrait Gallery]
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