Genfare employee Larry Chefalo is Business Development Director serving transit agencies in the Central Region of the U.S. An engineer by training, Larry has more than 34 years of experience in cost-effectively bringing a wide range of the latest revenue technology to transit agency partners while also helping them identify and address their needs and to bring value their communities.
Keep reading to learn more about Larry’s background, including a fun fact about how bus operators influenced the design of early fareboxes.
Q: How did you get your start in the transit industry?
A: I was an electrical engineer, and I worked my way through school by having an engineering firm. I joined a sister division of Genfare and discovered that I really enjoyed working with the clients. That division was folded into Genfare mid 1990s, and I’ve been with the company ever since.
Q: What have you learned about the folks who work in this industry?
A: Out of the literally thousands of people I’ve asked over a couple of decades at industry conferences, only two have told me that they planned on going into public transit. Aside from places like New York and Chicago, it’s a small community, and almost everyone has had the same experience as me. We all got into transit “by accident.” Transit providers are dedicated people who understand that their work enhances people’s lives.
Q: What is the biggest change you’ve witnessed over your career?
A: The public transit industry has begun to adopt technology more quickly, and Genfare has become much more dynamic with developing and introducing innovation. That’s been a major change. When I first joined the company, we were known for our durability and security. We’re still known for that, and we’ve since layered on many, many elements of technology.
Q: What are your proudest moments as a Genfare employee so far?
A: When partner agencies introduce new services, they can generate many millions of dollars in new local investment and improve the lives of those in their community. And what we’re doing with technology now has the potential to make a big impact on riders’ daily lives as well, whether it’s with fareboxes that take credit cards or with fare capping and other solutions that ease the financial burden on folks who may be living paycheck-to-paycheck.
We also help agencies partner with other service and educational groups in their cities, so the agency can expand their reach and serve more people, making it easier for all people to ride.
Q: Why are more agencies starting to invest in major tech upgrades?
A: We’re using technology to make the riders’ lives better, the operator’s job safer, and the administration’s overview wider and more informed. Once agencies discover the new efficiencies they can have with our technology and the potential payoff for their community, they find it’s something of real value we can bring to their agency that goes beyond security and product reliability.
Q: What are the biggest issues facing transit right now?
A: You know, the work world changed with COVID-19. It helped to illustrate how necessary transit was for some riders, but the office dynamic is now different. We’ve seen people’s needs changing away from a commuter culture. There’s also more competition from ridesharing for example, so transit needs to change, too. And there are new opportunities as well. With some trends, like micro transit, agencies are personalizing service and schedules to different communities to meet these new needs.
Q: How is Genfare helping agencies to navigate these changes?
A: At Genfare, we’re well positioned to support our transit agency partners with systems that provide them with new benefits for the new environment. Whether that’s with a multimodal ticket that takes a rider through the region, through fare collection solutions that accept whatever form of payment is in the riders’ pockets, or by allowing agencies to incorporate new services into their full package, we help to smooth the rider experience.
Q: As the designated Genfare “historian” what’s a favorite story about early farebox technology?
A: The farebox was one of the first digital devices on the bus, and the early Genfare team designed the first successful digital farebox. But they ran into an early hurdle where the bus operators were either hesitant to adapt to the technology, or they wanted to be compensated as computer operators for learning it.
So Genfare designed a keypad that looked like a touch-tone telephone keypad. The idea was: If you can dial a phone, you can operate the farebox. And that’s how they got around the operators’ new technology fears, by bringing in something familiar. Today’s keyboard is laid out very much like an ATM, so if you can deposit your paycheck at the ATM on Friday, you can operate the farebox.
Genfare was a much smaller company when I joined. Now it’s bigger, more structured, and more process oriented, and we’re still leading the industry. And that’s kind of cool.
Q: You’re based in Chicago. Has the city played a role in your career and life?
A: Residing near Chicago has made it very easy for me to travel all around North America. It’s a centralized place with great transportation in its own right. That’s been a real plus. I have lived in other places, but [the Chicago area] also turned out to be a fantastic place to raise my family.
Q: Tell us a bit about your life outside of work.
A: I’ve got three kids whom I’m very proud of. One son flies the Channel Five helicopter. The other is a paramedic now near Indianapolis, and my daughter is a physician assistant in Anchorage, Alaska.
Genfare is committed to helping your agency adapt to the needs of the future. Contact us today to find out how.