Connor Jones Receives NC State’s Award For Excellence

Connor Jones has been selected to receive NC State University’s Award for Excellence. He now moves on for an opportunity to be considered for the Governor’s Award for Excellence, which is the highest honor a state employee can receive.

Connor is the Wolfline Transit Manager for the NC State Transportation Department. He was one of 54 nominees for the University’s most prestigious honor for non-faculty employees in the category of Efficiency and Innovation. Out of the 54 only 12 were selected to move on for consideration to receive the Governor’s Award for Excellence later this summer. You can read more about his nomination below. Congratulations Connor!

Nominated for Efficiency and Innovation
Connor Jones has managed the day-to-day operations of the Wolfline bus system through challenging times. Connor started working at NC State shortly after COVID-19-related budget impacts required NC State Transportation to reduce the size of the Wolfline bus fleet from 45 buses to 35. In a very short period, Connor redesigned the bus routes and schedules to account for fewer buses and changing ridership patterns. Connor faced bus driver shortages head-on and implemented a variety of innovative approaches and strategies to mitigate the impacts of the shortage, including negotiating a significant raise in the hourly rate for drivers, using data and analytics to make daily decisions about which routes to modify and using social media to maintain transparency with customers. While the Power Forward project closed major bus routes on campus, Connor used data and ridership trends, and analytics to develop route detours that would still guarantee high levels of access and service.