Green Bay Metro partnered with Q’STRAINT to install the QUANTUM automatic wheelchair securement station on their buses. We later discussed with Green Bay Metro directors and mobility passengers to hear their thoughts on the QUANTUM.
WATCH: GREEN BAY METRO ON THE QUANTUM
“When I saw the QUANTUM I liked it. I like innovative things. I like change,” said Patty Kiewiz, Green Bay Metro Transit Director. “When you start piecing in the savings from a liability perspective. The schedule adherences. Keeping things on time. Not having to send shadow buses. All of that comes into play.”
Chad Sobieck, a loyal Green Bay Metro mobility device passenger likes how the QUANTUM quickens the time it takes for him to get on and off the bus.
“The QUANTUM allows for quicker boarding and unboarding times. You feel like a typical passenger because you are not taking that extra time to have a driver help you to hook up,” said Sobieck. “You can just secure yourself and it takes like 20 to 30 seconds. I hope more cities start using it. I really do. It’s worth the investment in my opinion.”
Stephanie Birmingham, an advocacy coordinator at Options for Independent Living, explains how the QUANTUM has benefitted her daily travel and safety.
“As compared to a traditional four-point securement system, I do prefer the QUANTUM. It’s still a much more efficient and an easier way of being secured in a bus,” said Birmingham. “In terms of the actual use of it, it is very simple and fairly seamless.”
Mike Laidlaw, the Q’STRAINT senior regional sales manager has been working with the Green Bay Metro for over 12 years and first introduced the QUANTUM to the agency four-years ago.
“When Patty became aware of the technology, the safety, and the reduction in time associated with the QUANTUM, she became very interested and wanted to pilot the product,” said Laidlaw. “The QUANTUM is completely automated. The operator simply greets the passenger, turns the system on, the passenger comes into the ADA area and with a simple tap of the touch-pad next to the wheelchair securement station, the QUANTUM self-secures and the passenger is completely set.”
“When you look at the passenger’s benefit. Maximum integrity, maximum safety, and maximum independence,” Laidlaw concludes. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Continued Partnerships
Q’Straint also partners with properties such as MATBUS, MCAT and Tulsa Transit who have similar feedback.
MATBUS
“Everyone benefits from the QUANTUM, not just passengers who use wheelchairs. That was a major part of the message. If we reduce dwell and securement times, then all passengers can reach their destinations in a safe and comfortable manner,” said Julie Bommelman, Transit Director for the City of Fargo, ND. “It’s the sense of independence that they want, and they feel it when they secure themselves stably in the QUANTUM’s mechanical arm. Riders have really taken to the system.”
MCAT
“Mobility passengers enjoy the fact that they now have the independence to board and complete the wheelchair securement process on their own, without relying on the bus operator,” said Jim Egbert, Manatee County’s Transit Operations Chief. “Furthermore, wheelchair passengers no longer feel as though the other passengers are blaming them for delaying the bus and maybe even running late.”
He added that MCAT operators love the QUANTUM because it allows them to stay in their seats while passengers self-secure their wheelchair device.
Tulsa Transit
“What I first noticed was simply the thrill of boarding the bus, whipping my chair around into position, pushing the button and getting secured all by myself…it felt great to not have to wait for the driver. I felt like I gained back a piece of my independence,” said Emeka Nnaka, a QUANTUM User.
To learn more visit: www.qstraint.com/quantum.