Former CDTA CEO Carm Basile dies – Times Union

Carm Basile, the longtime CEO of the Capital District Transportation Authority, died on Thursday.

Basil, 69, died from medical complications after a recent surgery, CDTA Board of Directors Chairman Jayme Lahut said Friday.

Basile’s death came less than two years after he retired from the regional bus service in December 2024, ending a 43-year career in which he became the amiable face of CDTA.

“He was everywhere in the region, such a likeable, affable guy and really a tribute to the organization,” Lahut said.

Word of Basile’s death spread quickly Thursday in the region’s business and government sectors, where he had developed countless contacts and made enduring friendships in a career spent steering the local mass transit bus system. CDTA serves thousands of daily commuters in Albany, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Warren counties.

When Basile was appointed CEO in 2009, the organization undertook an effort to raise its profile and highlight its new leader.

“Carm was the face of CDTA for many years and that was by design,” Lahut said. “It really was an effort to always improve service … to give CDTA a better brand name.”

Lahut singled out Basile’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, coordinating bus services used by essential workers at time when CDTA commuters and employees faced a contagious and deadly disease.

He said Basile and CDTA undertook a “nonstop effort to deal with the unknowns and adjust to the severe changes that occurred in the aftermath.”

Assemblyman John T. McDonald III of Cohoes called Basile’s death “tragic.” The two first worked together over two decades ago, when McDonald was serving his first term as mayor of Cohoes.

“The Capital Region lost a great champion for economic development and transportation,” McDonald said Friday.

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko called Basile “a true friend and dedicated public servant who spent his brilliant career working to better connect and serve our Capital Region communities.” The Amsterdam Democrat noted the two worked together on the successful effort in 2022 to expand CDTA into Montgomery County.

State Sen. Pat Fahy of Albany said she was “devastated” by the news, and called Basile “one of the most innovative, creative, directors in transit.”

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer described Basile “a warm, genuine, and deeply committed member of the community,” noting their work together on funding rapid transit bus lines in the Capital Region.

Born and raised in Springfield, Mass., he graduated from Worcester State University with a bachelor’s degree in urban planning. 

Basile started his career at CDTA as a transportation planner in 1981. For the first few months, he commuted from Springfield. In the summer. In a car with no air conditioning.

Over the next 43 years, he was promoted several times to positions of increased responsibility. McDonald said it was an unspoken fact that he would eventually head CDTA.

“He did all the jobs at CDTA. He knew how it worked,” he said. “He stepped into that role so comfortably.”

In October 2009, Basile was named CEO — the sixth leader in CDTA’s 54-year history. Basile has raised the authority’s profile and helped introduce new technologies, such as emissions-free electric buses. Basile was credited with shepherding CDTA through the pandemic, when ridership hit all-time lows but later bounced back.

McDonald said Basile got along with everyone, from labor unions to politicians and public officials, to the top brass at CDTA. He believed as a public servant he was “there to help,” and his work was a testament to his conviction that transportation should be available to everyone, he said.

“He always looked at it from the wide lens of benefiting everybody in the Capital Region,” McDonald said.

Fahy lauded Basile for his rollout of CDTA’s Universal Access program, which partners with local colleges, universities and businesses to give students and employees free bus rides, as well as his introduction of electric buses and partnership with CDPHP on a bike-sharing program.

“It was Carm who went to CDPHP, got them to underwrite the capital investment,” she said. “To me, it felt like the Capital Region had arrived.”

In his final years at the authority, CDTA added services and fine-tuned the system to bring ridership back to 110% of prepandemic levels.

More: CDTA leader Carm Basile will retire at year’s end

After retiring from CDTA, Basile took a job as a senior adviser at Park Strategies, an Albany government relations firm. He was a longtime board member at the United Way of the Greater Capital Region and board chair from 2019 to 2023.

“Carm embodied the very best of our community, both through his professional achievements and in the relationships he developed throughout his life,” president and CEO Peter Gannon said in a statement. “On a personal level, Carm was a trusted advisor, a generous mentor, and a dear friend. He leaves behind an immeasurable void.”

Basile lived in Colonie with his wife, Sheila. They have two adult sons.

Tyler A. McNeil contributed reporting.