Kendra Hughes doesn't have to worry about being late for work when she waits for the bus.
Almost every day, she waits for the Capital Area Transportation Authority bus to make its stop on Grand River Avenue near Division Street.
The 21-year-old marketing senior at Spring Arbor University is living in East Lansing and relies on the bus to get to and from work - something she said she wouldn't be able to do in her hometown of Baltimore.
"(In Baltimore), it's a free-for-all," she said. "You get it when you get it."
Luckily for Hughes, the CATA buses are not like Baltimore's - they run every 15 minutes or less.
It's satisfied riders like Hughes that helped CATA gain some national attention.
CATA was named the best transit system in North America of its size by the American Public Transportation Association, a Washington D.C.-based group that represents public transportation groups and suppliers throughout the United States and Canada. The award is given out every year by the APTA to the most "efficient and effective" transit system in the nation, according to the APTA's Web site.
"It's like the Emmy," CATA assistant executive director Debbie Alexander said.
"It's a very exciting time for us, to be recognized among your peers as being the best."
CATA's commitment to efficiency, customer service, safety and innovation propelled them above other transit groups vying for the top spot, Alexander said.
"The thing we are most proud of is that two-thirds of the award is based on hard numbers. It is not subjective," Alexander said.
CATA won this year's award for transit systems that provide between 4 million to 30 million rides per year, a category CATA shares with 105 other public transit groups. In order to be considered for the award, a transit authority must be nominated by an official who works for a member of the APTA.
The number or names of other public transit groups nominated for this year's award were not disclosed by APTA spokeswoman Virginia Miller because of APTA policy.
CATA also won the award in 1991 and is the only transit system in the state to win the award twice.
After seeing rides increase by 3 percent, 7.7 percent and 7.3 percent in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively, CATA had more than 10 million riders in 2006 - a new company record.
"They had very strong ridership numbers, and as the ridership has gone up, the complaints have gone down and are extremely low," Miller said. "The people who use CATA are very satisfied."
Of the 10 million rides given, about 300 resulted in a complaint.
Miller said the low number of complaints is because CATA is customer service-oriented.
Hughes sees this on a personal level.
"A lot of the drivers are really respectful," she said. "They don't mind asking how your day is."
Ryan Beene can be reached at beenerya@msu.edu.
