Today marks one year since Shari Spencer was officially named Executive Director of ClasTran. In that time she has presided over the move of our administrative office to the Ash Place building in Five Points South and the many challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Shari acted quickly at the start of the pandemic to ensure that our riders were kept safe by requiring that masks be worn by all riders and drivers during transit and reducing vehicle capacity so that riders were able to maintain social distancing while onboard. Drivers were also required to sanitize and wipe down all surfaces after transporting each passenger. ClasTran performed critical trips to/from COVID testing and vaccination sites by utilizing separate vehicles and transporting only one client at a time so that the general public were not exposed to the coronavirus. And finally, ClasTran was able to utilize its new scheduling and dispatching software, Ecolane DRT, to provide contact tracing and notify any riders who may have been onboard with someone who had recently tested positive for COVID-19.
By January 1, 2021, ClasTran's administrative office had moved to its new location at the Ash Place building in Five Points South. Shari said that the move was necessary for several reasons, not least of which was to maintain a more centralized office location for our clients. Prior to the move, ClasTran's administrative office had been located in Homewood off of Valley Avenue, and two years prior to that, ClasTran had been located for more than a decade in the 2121 building across the street from the Jefferson County Courthouse. ClasTran's move from its longtime home in the 2121 building was necessitated by major renovations being done to the building at the time.
Shari has led ClasTran through many challenges during the course of her first year at its helm, and there are still many obstacles on the horizon. ClasTran's federal funding has been cut each year for the past three years, and there do not seem to be any other funding sources available that could make up for the lost revenue. At the same time, the nation's economy is trying to recover from the pandemic and businesses, including ClasTran, are facing an unprecedented labor shortage as they try to rehire to meet demand. Still, ClasTran's Board of Directors, management team, and staff remain fully confident in Shari's abilities to steer our ship through this storm.
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