Metro Transit ridership plummeted dramatically with the onset of COVID-19 and Bruce Howard could not have been more pleased.

But the sagging ridership was a hard thing to watch.

Howard is Metro Transit's director of marketing and transit information and over the years has been the architect behind many of the agency's award-winning campaigns aimed at getting people to take public transit. Then almost overnight, as the gravity of the pandemic set in, Howard was forced to shift gears and design strategies to keep riders away.

"It was tough," Howard said. "We say how good transit is and why to consider it. We had to do the antithesis. It took a little to wrap my head around it."

Howard's creative juices quickly led to a public health campaign appealing to riders to wear masks, use transit for essential trips only and practice social distancing. It was among the reasons he earned the distinction as a 2021 Twin Cities Business Notable Executive in Marketing. The award is bestowed on marketing executives who have shown the ability to "create significant, positive and measurable results in their fields and in their communities," the publication said.

Co-workers have long known of Howard's skills and passion for transit. Since assuming his role in 2005, Howard and his team launched Metro Transit's mobile app and ticketing system and devised the "T Metro" brand promoting the growing network of light-rail and rapid bus transit lines. Howard was responsible for putting transit at the heart of major events such as the Super Bowl, Final Four, Major League Baseball's All-Star Game and the Republican National Convention. He started the agency's Metropass and U-Pass programs, created one of the nation's first Guaranteed Ride Home programs, and was behind initiatives such as mailing free passes to nontransit users to entice them to try it. The agency in 2016 won the American Public Transportation Association's Transit System of the Year award for best large transit system in North America.

"He was a master coordinator," said former Metro Transit General Manager Brian Lamb. "He was an innovator. He was the heart and soul of Metro Transit, the kind of public steward you hope for and would want in charge of public resources."

Lamb said Howard was a big reason Metro Transit enjoyed yearly growth from the mid-2000s through the mid-2010s when ridership peaked. Howard doesn't hold back when it comes to promoting transit, which made the past 18 months an awkward challenge.

"It was like we pulled the rug from underneath him," said Wes Kooistra, Metro Transit's general manager. "He shifted from promoter of transit to marketer of public health."

Howard was partly responsible for transforming a transit bus into a mobile vaccine clinic. Howard's voice can be heard on announcements on light-rail trains reminding customers to wear masks and to be kind to others.

"If you cut him open, he'd bleed Metro Transit red," said Sharon Feiner, creative services manager.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768