With only weeks to go as chairman of Metro, Gilbert Garcia bounds down the hallway to his transit agency office greeting workers, talking about how much he'll miss the place.

He's not shy in expressing pride about what he's leaving behind.

"This is probably the most successful board in the history of Metro," Garcia said, pulling up a list of the agency's accomplishments on his phone.

Metro leaders often leave the agency with riders and elected officials dissatisfied, with uncertainty lingering about the future, or both. The current board, despite some stumbles, leaves not with a legion of complaints - though there are some - but with a legacy of accomplishments shaped by some members who have departed, some who will soon leave and a few presumably hanging around for a few more years.

In the past six years, Metro has opened three new light rail segments, redesigned its bus system, re-established its financial footing and - perhaps most importantly - healed some of the political strife that divided the city and suburbs for years.

"It has to be a regional agenda," Metro CEO Tom Lambert said, describing the mission of an agency that serves most of Harris County.

Previous boards often were divided between city appointees who make up a majority - including the chairman, often a strong presence over a weak board - and county and suburban city interests.

"Getting everyone in the tent has been a great thing," Garcia said.

Garcia has played the role of conciliator, and the only 5-4 vote during his tenure was the narrow passage of a 2012 referendum ballot item that improved Metro's finances while inhibiting future rail development.

Continuity is key

Alternatives to driving are gradually gaining momentum around Houston, and regional transportation officials and city leaders are looking to Metro for some of those solutions.

Mayor Sylvester Turner's choices for Metro's board, meanwhile, reflect priorities important to Turner - such as the first female chair as well as a respected disability rights advocate - but also a nod to continuity.

The incoming chairwoman, Carrin Patman, spent more than three years on Metro's board as one of former Mayor Annise Parker's picks. Sanjay Ramabhadran and Christof Spieler, also Parker appointees, were reappointed by Turner. Both earned high marks for their efforts to improve Metro.

"I think it is a stellar team," Turner said March 18.

Disability rights advocate Lex Frieden and construction oversight manager Troi Taylor will join the board in April.

Still familiarizing herself with the current state of Metro, Patman said her priorities focus on building on what's been done in the past six years, understanding that financial challenges make it impossible to do everything transit supporters would like.

The key, she said March 18, will be choosing the projects that work for rapidly growing Houston.

"We're going to have to have adequate transit for all the new residents," Patman said.

But even as Turner's choices take their seats, some signs of the "old" Metro remain. Transit officials have infuriated East End business owners with the slow progress of the Green Line light rail along Harrisburg, including delays in building an overpass.

Officials sought out an iconic design for a central downtown rail station, then shelved the plans for a cheaper option that could open on time.

They resuscitated a disastrous deal to buy Spanish railcars, only to see some of the cars delivered late and not up to specifications.

Transit ridership, while rebounding, is hardly a success story. As Houston added more than 400,000 people from 1998 to 2014, ridership on Metro buses and trains dropped.

Buses and a single light rail line consistently handled 320,000 passenger trips daily until about 2008. Economic factors contributed to losses as faith in Metro's management cratered, largely because the moribund light rail program diverted attention from other local transit needs.

"The last six years are likely to be remembered as the most ruinous time for public transportation in Houston's history," Metro critic Bill King said in 2010, describing the administration that preceded Garcia's.

Ridership continued to dip, only started to rebound in 2013, and remains below 300,000 trips per day on average.

Still, King, who lost the mayor's race to Turner in a December runoff, said Metro is headed in the right direction - away from rail.

"While the Garcia board dutifully completed the light rail to which Metro had already committed, it largely paid lip service to rail and clearly made a huge pivot toward the bus service," King said. "I think it took a lot of courage to make this pivot, which defied much of the transit orthodoxy."

Challenges ahead

Despite the refocus on buses, rail projects are still on Metro's to-do list, notably a planned commuter rail connection to Missouri City and a possible light rail line between downtown and the Post Oak area via Richmond.

Any movement on those projects - especially the contentious Richmond project - will happen only after more public discussion, Garcia said. It was part of a truce Garcia achieved with U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, who accused prior Metro officials of obfuscating their light rail goals.

"I think it is totally appropriate and proper to know where the end points are," Garcia said, noting one of the issues Culberson raised with the previous light rail plan.

King said the progress of the past six years, and agreements with opponents such as Culberson, have shown Metro can remake itself.

"I also think this board did a much better job on the basic administration of the agency in areas like procurement and addressing Metro's unfunded pension liabilities," he said.

Challenges remain, however, such as completing the Harrisburg overpass, working with Uptown Houston officials on a proposed dedicated bus system along Post Oak, and keeping Metro moving forward as sales tax revenues decline due to the oil slump.

Also looming is the rising cost of serving elderly and disabled riders via MetroLift, which in the past has drawn complaints from riders as costs soared, a common problem among transit agencies. Frieden, credited in part with shaping the Americans With Disabilities Act, said these issues are more manageable than some suspect.

"You'd be surprised to see how effectively this system runs," he said, calling Houston a model for paratransit.

Taylor brings expertise as a construction development specialist. Turner said Taylor, a Houston native, has delivered 10 consecutive multimillion-dollar projects "ahead of schedule and under budget," something critics have pointed out Metro has rarely achieved.

One of the three new rail lines, a 5.3-mile extension of the Red Line north of downtown Houston, opened in 2013, while the Green and Purple lines were delayed.

Cause to celebrate

Even transit supporters in Houston agree driving will always dwarf bus and rail use, but a tilt to more Metro demand is already happening as people seek alternatives to their cars. Many credit Spieler - appointed along with Garcia and Patman in 2010 - as a key figure in the change.

As a board member, Spieler started advocating for a radical redesign of the bus system months before the first new map was drawn. During public hearings, Spieler was the design's biggest salesman, whether defending it from criticism or teaching skeptical riders how to navigate the system.

Spieler, an engineer, has two years of eligibility left on the Metro board, which limits members to eight years.

Ramabhadran was appointed to the Metro board last year. He is an engineer, and as a board member has been active in the capital improvement program and finishing the light rail projects.

Garcia, who supported King during his failed mayoral bid and was not retained by Turner despite having two more years of eligibility, said continuity on the board was important.

When Garcia took over as Metro chair, his predecessor, David Wolff, was the only city appointee to show up. He accepted a plaque as thanks for his service and immediately left. Garcia, in contrast, is planning a celebratory handoff to Patman.

"This might be the first time that's happened," he said.