Beyond the Bus

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the health and safety of our riders remains our top priority. As the Lansing area faces hardship, we do our best to remain available, accessible and affordable for all who require our services. We continue to drive our community by supporting small businesses, essential workers and the underprivileged.

In the ongoing fight against COVID-19, we want to ensure that all of our riders feel safe and comfortable riding our buses. We have increased sanitation standards on all of our vehicles. Watch the video below to see how we have been maintaining safety and sanitation protocols. 

We ask that all of our riders to continue wearing face masks while on board, as well as maintain at least 6 feet of physical distance between themselves and other riders. Thanks for doing your part to slow the spread of COVID-19. We are all in this together.

It's no secret that CATA is proud of our community’s library system. We have profiled the Capital Area District Libraries’ services during the COVID-19 pandemic and their special Library of Things, where adult cardholders can check out unique hands-on items from ghost-hunting kits to bus passes.

We are turning the page to another chapter in our partnership with CADL, as we proudly join their Summer Reading Challenge. You do not have to be a library member to get involved, and it is free to join.

But why would you want to read as much as you can between now and the challenge’s August 8 deadline? We’ll give you five good reasons to crack open a good book for the Summer Reading Challenge.

1. It can be tailored toward any age.

The Summer Reading Challenge offers four separate tracks, depending on your age group. Babies, toddlers, kids, teens and adults can all be part of the challenge.

2. You could win a computer, iPad, Chromebook, or other piece of tech gear.

Kids and teens who complete all levels of the Summer Reading Challenge can enter to win one of (at least) 20 tech devices. CADL is giving away these devices to close the digital divide between kids with easy computer access and reliable Internet, and kids without.

Click here for the official rules and entry form.

3. You can pay back library fines.

Kids and teens can earn a $5 coupon to help pay back any library fines. They can earn this coupon just by reaching the second level of CADL’s Summer Reading Challenge.

4. It’s a way to beat the summer slide.

When school is out for summer, children can lose many of their academic gains from the school year. Reading levels, spelling skills, and vocabulary can take a hit.

Click here to learn more about the summer slide and how the Summer Reading Challenge can help fend it off.

5. There are opportunities to win new experiences and prizes.

Read and be rewarded! Participants could win gift cards to the MSU Dairy Store, Traverse City Pie Company, Meijer, Target, Biggby and more. For kids up to age 13, the grand prize is a family getaway to the Bavarian Inn Waterpark in Frankenmuth. Teens have a chance to win a 10-pack of one-hour passes to Launch Trampoline Park.

For a full list of prizes by age group, click here.

In addition to the Summer Reading Challenge, CADL is also hosting community scavenger hunts, online escape room challenges, virtual storytimes, craft corners and more. View their catalog of summer activities and join us in extending a huge “Thank you!” to CADL for creating innovative ways to make summer learning fun.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on businesses everywhere. Here in Lansing, some of our local businesses have decided to join the fight against COVID-19 and are helping however they can. We want to highlight some of the local heroes who have been going above and beyond to help stop the spread of the virus.

Michigrain Distillery is using their supplies of high-proof alcohol to create hand sanitizer. Co-owner Mike Bird describes how the distillery came to be an essential business in a recent interview with WILX: “Since there’s no more isopropyl, which is what everybody uses to make hand sanitizer with, we’ve turned into an essential organization because we have to use ethanol. It has the same properties as isopropyl when it comes to sanitization, we just stepped it up and decided to make more of it that we can.” 

Dart Container

Dart Container, a Mason-based company which makes food and beverage packaging, said it will donate between 5,000 and 10,000 plastic face shields to Sparrow Hospital in coming weeks to help protect health care workers. “It’s a tremendous honor for our people to play a role in helping protect health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dart CEO Jim Lammers said in a recent interview with Lansing State Journal. 

Gier Community Center

Gier Community Center has teamed up with over 20 local agencies to open a gymnasium to the homeless people of Lansing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The gymnasium opened with the help of the Capital Region Housing Collaborative, and is offering 49 total beds. Buses from CATA brought small groups of homeless people to the center, who received bedding, toiletries, water bottles, thermometers, and masks to shield their faces. Read more about the efforts of Gier Community Center here. 

This is a tough time for everyone, but it’s the efforts of businesses like these that will help get us through. Looking to send thanks to local businesses and individuals who have been helping on the front lines? Check out our blog post about spreading positivity amidst COVID-19.