GLTC wins national achievement award

A national organization is honoring the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company for outstanding achievement.

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The award follows an extensive effort on the part of GLTC to improve its performance record. Officials with the local bus company called the recognition a welcome sign of the progress made and said they planned to keep pushing for even greater improvements.

GLTC has won the 2009 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award from the American Public Transportation Association. The award, which will be formally presented during a conference in October, was bestowed on GLTC over other transit systems of equivalent size.

American transportation awards are reserved for the “best of the best” within the industry, according to the association, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that claims nearly 1,500 member organizations.

The award was given out by a panel of judges who considered each candidate’s performance over the past three years. Nominees had to provide data about things such as their on-time record, number of customer complaints and how often their buses suffered mid-route breakdowns.

Each of these indicators was major problem area for GLTC only a few years ago. Officials have since mounted a long-term campaign to improve service, including adopting a more aggressive maintenance schedule and working to replace worn-out buses.

Dilapidated buses were often cited as a major cause of the system’s patchy service. GLTC has since rolled out 20 brand-new vehicles and expects to get four more this winter. Another 10 were recently ordered and are expected to arrive sometime in the summer of 2010. Buses take a year or more to manufacture once ordered.

GLTC General Manager Mike Carroll said the new buses were “clearly” improving the reliability of their service and, consequently, boosting customer satisfaction.

He called the recent award a proud achievement for GLTC employees, but added they weren’t going to “rest on our laurels.”

“This is a recognition of how far we’ve come over the last few years,” Carroll said. “But it’s not as though we’ve arrived. We’ve still got a long way to go … We’ll keep on this path to success.”

As Lisa Dibble, president of GLTC’s board of directors, put it: “We’re very encouraged and very pleased with the progress made, but we want more.”

Dibble said this was an exciting time for GLTC and praised employees for the work they’ve done.

“I couldn’t hardly believe it,” she said when asked about her reaction to the system’s national award. “It was really very exciting.”