Imagine for a moment you’re heading into work. You’re a CATA Customer Experience Representative and today you’ve got a shift at the downtown station. You walk through the atrium doors and make your way over to the booth and smile at the others already answering ringing phones – you know it’s going to be a busy day – but a good one. Lost and found, trip planning, bus tracking, Indian Trails, detours, departures and arrivals, paratransit, where to go, and what to do for anything and everything CATA – you know it all, even creating new stops.

While meeting the mobility needs of our community is a main focus at CATA, we also aim to provide meaningful work experience to emerging young professionals. The CATA Marketing Department currently employs two interns who are gaining valuable work experience right here in our office, or remotely for the time being. 

Collaboration and innovative ideas are part of what makes our team so special – especially when they’re least expected. 

Nick Zickefoose, a customer experience representative at CATA, saw a need in the community and set out to fulfill it. 

CATA Customer Experience Manager.

That may be Margaret Stephen’s job title, but others call her the heart of the customer experience department.

“Her understanding, her love … she goes beyond what a supervisor is supposed to even care about,” said Schuyler Brown, a member of the customer experience team. “In any situation where we need her, she’s right there. She’s got our backs.”

A family that does Tae Kwon Do together stays together. That’s how the saying goes, right?

For CATA IT Director Dan Goodemoot, this has been exactly right. When his two daughters were young, he and his wife began looking for an activity they could all do together.

On the road, horn honks are typically used to alert other drivers or pedestrians. Today, they will be used to say two words: thank you.

At 3 p.m., our operators will honk their horns twice in solidarity with transportation workers nationwide as part of the #SoundTheHorn campaign.

“We proudly sound our horn today in honor of transit workers the world over who are doing their part to contain this tragic pandemic,” said CATA CEO Bradley T. Funkhouser. CATA participated in the original campaign on April 16 and again on May 21.

Margaret Stephens loves being the customer experience manager at CATA.

CATA champions community partnerships, and one of our treasured partnerships is with the Capital Area District Libraries. This library system in Ingham County has a special Library of Things, where adult cardholders can check out unique hands-on items.

Some of the unique materials you can check out from the Library of Things include:

1. A ghost hunting kit

Are there any spirits haunting Lansing? Scour the community for ghouls and ghosties with this five-piece kit:

Last month, CATA employees fulfilled Christmas wishes for 37 children and their families as part of the Operation Santa program.

Now our Christmas decor is in storage, the radio stations are done playing “Jingle Bells”, and we've traded in our ugly Christmas sweaters for daily business attire. But the spirit of giving lives on.