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Thirty certified in passenger assistance, sensitivity training
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Posted on Nov 25 2021
The Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority team, staff from the CNMI Public School System’s Office of Pupil Transportation, and transit employees from Tinian and Rota were recently certified in passenger assistance and sensitivity training.
Thirty participants took part in a three-day professional development and certification program earlier this month that was led by Certified Community Transportation of America passenger service and safety master trainer Ginger Porter, M.Ed. This year is reportedly Porter’s sixth time conducting the yearly certification training for COTA.
In an email message yesterday from COTA head and special assistant for public transportation Alfreda C. Maratita, she quoted Porter as saying that it was a “special privilege” to lead the training, especially for the transit employees on Tinian and Rota, and that she has witnessed the growth of COTA and it is “satisfying” to be part of the agency’s continuing development.
“It was a special privilege to provide the recent Passenger Assistance Safety and Sensitivity training to all of COTA, including those providing new service to Tinian and Rota. Customers of [the] CNMI’s transit system will appreciate [the] attention to safety and customer-specific needs from all 30 agency personnel,” said Porter.
Maratita said that staff from PSS’ Office of Pupil Transportation and transit employees from Tinian and Rota taking part in the trainings alongside the COTA team made this year’s training and certification cycle particularly significant.
She added that for COTA to “continue delivering safe and courteous transit services for our community, the proper training opportunities should be afforded” as COTA continues to expand.
“The need for this particular type of training echoes the fact that passenger transportation is a service industry. The most important asset in any transit agency or provider are the transit operators. By providing these training opportunities, skills and knowledge are enhanced for each team member which will, in turn, benefit our CNMI community as a whole,” said Maratita.
