The Greensboro Transit Authority (GTA) has long embraced its central task: the provision of public transportation services in the Greensboro, NC, area. It is the compelling drive of moving people full of dreams instead of mere containers full of goods.

In the area of paratransit, GTA’s responsibility for its human cargo is even more critical as the riders deal with a host of physical and emotional disabilities. They use our service so they can remain engaged with their friends, family, and community.

To provide appropriate care for these most sensitive of citizens, the GTA staff has begun participating in a series of Sensitivity Education and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance sessions. Operators and supervisors from GTA and its paratransit service, SCAT, as well as agency management, meet for full-day sessions on Saturdays, receiving instruction on accommodating riders with varying special needs and focusing on such ADA issues as compliance requirements, definition of disabilities, and disability etiquette.

These interactive sessions—conducted by L. Diane Bennett of LD Bennett and Associates—begin with back-and-forth engagement in a classroom setting. As the day progresses, the training turns to video instruction and hands-on procedural applications such as efficient and effective wheelchair securement. Also, the participants have the opportunity to participate in role-playing, placing themselves in the position of a rider with a disability.  Participants have readily embraced this new level of expectation in customer service, using the opportunity not only to learn from the facilitators but to also evaluate and share best practices with each other. Curious agency representatives have also taken the time to witness the activities and have given rave reviews for the effort and the expected outcomes.

We believe that the Sensitivity Education and ADA Compliance sessions will pay dividends not only for our paratransit riders and for GTA, but possibly also for other North Carolina public transit systems.

GTA Public Transportation Manager Libby James, against wall, joins operators and staff for the Sensitivity Education and ADA Compliance session.