New VP of Transportation

[joelkfla]

I just stumbled upon an announcement that WDW has appointed Sam Lau as VP of Transportation.

One of his duties will be development of the transportation master plan.

I find it interesting that Mr. Lau's most recent prior positions were with the transit agencies in San Francisco and San Jose, CA. Both agencies are heavily invested in light rail.

He has also been with BART, the SF Bay Area's once-futuristic heavy rail system, and with a transportation think tank.

Am I reading too much into this, or could it be a portent of a change in direction in Disney's future transportation mix?

Anyhow, I think it is good that they are bringing in proven expertise from outside, rather than promoting from within just for the sake of doing so.

[skiingfast]

It is interesting. When you bring in somebody from the outside that is to invite change and new ideas. You don't do that when you want to maintain the status qou.

SJ and SF in particular both use combined modes of transit. While SF is way ahead of SJ both systems are expanding by adding rail.

[skiingfast]

I wonder if this guy was brought in to act as an internal consultant.

They may want someone on thier side to help plan and negotiate Disney's intergration into government plans for the highspeed rail between Tampa and MCO and possibly the Orlando area light rail line, Sunrail.

[disEAR]

It is interesting with his background.

This is probably pretty smart. Might bring some stability to Disney's Transit System. Monorail, Bus, Boats.

I doubt we'll see any real big changes to their actual system, hopefully just some sound advice and tinkering.

[Donut23]

Fresh transportation ideas are overdue.

We always rent cars to avoid the "Moo" of Disney bus transportation.....so much easier with a rental car.

I would LOVE to see Disney transportation improvements at EPCOT resorts especially. Imagine paying $400 p/night for a room (heck, even with our castmember rates) and then realizing you are sharing busses with YC,BC,Swan, Dolphin and BW. Squeezed onto an over-crowded bus with hot, tired bodies - ick.

No thanks - I'll take my little rental car until they give me $400 p/night bus systems.

I'm THRILLED they have an outside opinion now - although I don't envy him going up against the standard fightsong....."this is how we have done it forever".

Good Luck!