To say David Bruffy has been a part of Mountain Line since its inception isn’t quite accurate.
He actually started way before that.
“When I finished my time with the city I was assistant city manager,” Bruffy explained. “One of the things I did was consolidate the city and county transit systems. After about a year there was an opening and that’s when I decided I wanted to try my hand at public transit. I’m glad I did.”
That was in the fall of 1997.
Fast forward to Thursday — 25 years, nine months and five days later — Bruffy’s last day as the transit service’s chief executive.
Jenny Densmore was there for all of it.
She was on Morgantown City Council when Morgantown Municipal Transit Authority and Monongalia County Transit dissolved to form Monongalia County Urban Mass Transit Authority, doing business as Mountain Line. She’s been a member of the Mountain Line Transit Board since day one.
And she was among those on hand to recognize Bruffy during an open house held Thursday afternoon at Mountain Line’s Pifer Terminal.
“I’m a weeper,” Densmore said, fighting back tears. “It’s been just a great thing to work with him and watch him build this transit system from literally a bus garage of nothing to the number one in the state. I’m just so happy to have been part of that with you.”
Bruffy said he’ll probably spend this weekend staffing his photography studio, Smoke N Mirrors Photography, in Oakland, Md., before spending a few days sans cell service in the mountains.
“I’ve always wanted to be able to have a career in public service and Mountain Line really offered me the opportunity to grow and develop and create something that could serve not just Morgantown and Monongalia County, but because of the university and tourism, it was a way that I could give back to the entire state,” he said. “It’s kind of like moving away from home. It’s going to be an adjustment.”
Bruffy noted the last several years have been particularly challenging, starting with the 2019 death of close friend Wayne Pifer — the former Mountain Line general manager whose name now graces the system’s terminal building.
Then came COVID-19.
But it’s during the challenges, Maria Smith explained, that true leaders shine.
“He’s just been a great leader when decisions had to be made. He led us through the move from the downtown depot to the terminal here. The pandemic, of course, he was steadfast at a time when nobody knew what to do. We were among the first in the country to start hanging shower curtains and passing out PPE to protect drivers, but the buses kept rolling,” Smith said.
“That’s how David thinks. He always has the rider in mind first. He’s always taught that and it’s become engrained in our culture. We all know why we’re here. If the buses don’t show up, we all might as well go home.”
Smith will act as interim general manager during the transit board’s search and intends to seek the position permanently. She’s spent nearly 16 years with Mountain Line, including the last five as assistant manager of administration and marketing.
“At some point it changes from a job that you go to, and you realize one day that you genuinely care. It’s not so much a job anymore. I’m here to work and I’m here to do whatever Mountain Line needs of me,” she said.
And she’s got the backing of her former boss, who said he knows he’s leaving Mountain Line in capable hands.
“I don’t have any regrets and I don’t feel like I’m leaving anybody in the lurch by leaving now. I think it’s a good time to go,” Bruffy said.
