Chris Kingery of the Loudoun County Office of Transportation Services recently received the "Unsung Hero" award from the Chesapeake Chapter of the Association for Commuter Transportation for her outstanding customer service skills. The Chesapeake Chapter includes Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C. and West Virginia. Kingery was nominated for maintaining a high level of customer service despite the rapidly growing ridership of LC Transit, the county's commuter bus program.

As a commuter services specialist, Chris responds to dozens of calls a day about the bus system, its routes, schedules, and lost-and-found as well as general commuting questions. She is credited with being a key player in the transit system's ridership growth as well as increasing public awareness of commuting options available to people who live and work in Loudoun County.

In nominating her for the award, her colleagues described her as the "face behind the voice of 1-877-GO-LCBUS for over five years, who brings a positive, eager-to-help attitude to work each and every day."

LC Transit oversees 35 commuter coaches that travel from Loudoun County into the metropolitan Washington area each weekday, carrying about 2,000 passengers. The service has grown from 3 buses and 45,000 annual passenger trips in 1995 to 35 buses with over 777,000 annual passenger trips in 2008.