Carolyn Flowers was introduced Monday as the new chief executive of the Charlotte Area Transit System after the city sifted through 70 applications and interviewed seven people. CATS interim chief executive John Muth will continue running the department until Flowers starts Jan. 4.

Flowers has worked for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority for 10 years, and has been the authority's chief operations officer since 2006. Her main task: Supervising a massive bus system that carries 413 million annual passenger trips.

Charlotte's bus system, by comparison, carries about 20 million trips.

Bart Reed, the executive director of The Transit Coalition, a Southern California advocacy group, said he had lobbied transit officials to place a new bus stop at a new shopping center in a low-income area of the San Fernando Valley, but had been rebuffed. When he e-mailed Flowers directly, she agreed the stop was important.

"She's been pretty receptive," Reed said. "Staff had been disparaging, and I explained to Carolyn what happened, and the bus stop was installed. ... A lot of times people blow you off. She's more of a problem solver."

In Los Angeles, Flowers is responsible for a $900 million budget. The entire CATS budget is $113 million.

Flowers, 60, said she became intrigued at the idea of coming to Charlotte two years ago, when she was here for a national transit convention.

"I opened up the Sunday newspaper and looked at property," Flowers said. "When I heard Keith Parker was leaving, I called his recruiter and said, 'If you get the Charlotte job let me know.'"

Flowers will earn $197,500, as well as the option of taking a $5,700 car allowance. City executives are also eligible for annual increases that can be 8percent of their salaries, though those bonuses are frozen due to the economy.

She currently makes $253,000 in Los Angeles.

Flowers replaces Parker, who left earlier this year to take the top transit job in San Antonio after 18 months on the job. Parker's salary was $197,600.

Flowers will inherit a transit system that has received national acclaim for its first light-rail line, which opened two years ago. But CATS is also struggling to fulfill its 2030 transportation plan, which calls for building four new rapid transit lines.

The recession and rising construction costs mean CATS may only be able to build one additional line. The city of Charlotte has taken the lead on building a streetcar.

Flowers will probably find herself in the middle of a political fight: The Metropolitan Transit Commission will probably decide in the next two years whether to build a light-rail extension to the University City area or a commuter rail line to Lake Norman.

Flowers said the biggest such dispute she faced in Los Angeles was an effort last year to pass Measure R, a countywide half-cent sales tax designed to expedite transit projects.

In an interview Monday, Flowers said she wouldn't necessarily advocate for an additional sales tax for transit in Mecklenburg, as some have advocated. But she said that "if you want to fund the 2030 plan, you need to look at all options of revenue."

The MTC has given CATS a 2011 deadline to determine which type of transit is best for Independence Boulevard - light-rail or busway. Flowers said Monday that Los Angeles has had success with a busway in the San Fernando Valley, which carries up to 25,000 passenger trips a day.

Flowers said she may make smaller improvements to CATS' operations based on her experiences in Los Angeles. Some buses at L.A. Metro are equipped with transponders, allowing them to communicate with a computerized smart traffic system. In some instances, the city can hold green lights, allowing buses to avoid stopping at intersections.

She said that could be done in Charlotte because the Charlotte Department of Transportation is a fellow city department.

"Part of my job is to ID best practices and ideas from other places," Flowers said.