COLUMBUS -- Those involved in transforming the campus bus service into a viable, economical and popular alternative to car use on The Ohio State University's Columbus campus have been recognized with a national award sponsored by the Rochester Institute of Technology College of Business and USA Today.

Ohio State's Tansit Service Improvement Team, which includes members of the Office of Transportation and Parking Services and the Office of Business Operations, was nominated by Helen DeSantis, assistant vice president for business operations.

The team was presented with first-place honors in the education category of the 2000 RIT/USA Today Quality Cup competition during a May 5 ceremony at USA Today headquarters near Washington, D.C. The team also was recognized in special pages of USA Today.

The competition attracted 166 nominations in six different categories.

"We were pleased that out of all the submissions they received across the nation, they picked us as the winner," said Sarah Blouch, director of Transportation and Parking Services. "It validated that we have a process that serves as a model for any type of change on campus."

That process involved a team approach and extensive gathering of feedback through forums, customer comments, and meetings with internal with external stakeholders prior to mapping out transit goals. To supplement qualitative data gathered from this input, DeSantis said, the team distributed a Web- and print-based survey to measure satisfaction with certain services.

"The scope of the survey was unprecedented at Ohio State, with distribution to more than 45,000 students, faculty and staff," DeSantis said.

The office hired transit consultants, designed and rolled out new routes and expanded services, improved communications and continued to measure customer satisfaction.

Among the improvements DeSantis noted are:

-Increased bus service from 29,000 to 83,000 hours, providing virtually door-to-door service

-Counter-loop routes connecting central campus to remote parking 24 hours a day, seven days a week

-More buses on existing routes, with 10-minute (or faster) frequency

-An increase in first-year ridership from 1.3 million to 2.3 million (1997-98 to 1998-99)

-Five routes to outlying service and research clusters and residential areas, compared to two previously

-Improved communications that include publications, a Web site, an advertising campaign and literature presented at outreach sessions

-Driver safety training and 13 more buses

Blouch said the award is a credit to her entire office. "It was really neat to empower our front-line folks and just let them go," Blouch said.

She also said the enormous task of revamping the transit system created unity between the divisions of transportation and traffic and parking.

"We're not only looking at ourselves, but at our sister units," she said.

Joining Blouch on the Transit Service Improvement Team were Roy Alonso, Darin Allison, James Botts, Aaron Davis, Doug Fries, Jill Hamilton, Jim Hall, Judy Hoza, Mike Krabill, Susan M. Missier, Jer Phua, Pat Sartori, Robert Summerfield and Dave Sweeney.

The team was judged in 10 different characteristics: level of empowerment, use of quality tools, customer-driven goals, quality leadership, reproducibility, continuous improvement, appropriate data, appropriate measurements methods, impact on the organization and exemplary value.

The 2000 RIT/USA Today Quality Cup competition recognizes teams who make significant contributions to the improvement of quality in their organization. It was established in 1991 through the efforts of Richard N. Rosett, former dean of RIT College of Business, and Thomas Curley, president and publisher of USA Today.

For more information, visit the Quality Cup Web site at www.qualitycup.org/about.html.

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