Resource Center

The Transit Workforce Center is pleased to host a curated collection of publications and other materials to assist stakeholders engaged in transit workforce development. The Resource Center includes case studies, training materials, research reports, and other materials of interest, including publications produced by federal government agencies, transit organizations, and independent research entities. Resources may be filtered by topic, resource type, and transit mode. This TWC blog post explains how to use the Resource Center.

We are continuing to update the Resource Center regularly. Please contact us via the Request Help menu option if you would like assistance using the Resource Center or are looking for resources on a particular topic. We also welcome suggestions of topics or specific resources to add.

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Equity from the Frontline: Workers’ Insight and Leadership Supports a Network of Apprenticeships in Transit

This case study, part of the Equity in Apprenticeship report series from COWS at UW-Madison, explores the Joint Workforce Investment in the South Bay Valley Transportation Authority, which has developed a web of apprenticeships and advancement opportunities. The series highlights programs that use apprenticeship and mentorship to extend occupational opportunity to historically marginalized groups, especially people of color and women.

COWS at University of Wisconsin
August 2018
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Moving Forward: Toward Women’s Equity and Inclusion in the Rail and Transit Sector

This toolkit supports the recruitment, training, and retention of women in nontraditional high-wage and high-skill apprenticeship and jobs in the rail and transit sector.

International Transportation Learning Center; Chicago Women in the Trades
July 2017
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This toolkit is premised on the understanding that transit agencies have little knowledge of and tools for recruiting and assessing new female entrants to the workforce and promoting incumbent workers for skilled trade jobs in rail and transit. It also recognizes that women themselves have little information about the entry routes, requirements and benefits of jobs in these fields and without targeted and concerted effort from either the companies, agencies, unions, workforce development system, and educational institutions, most women will continue to be steered towards traditional female careers.

The resources in this toolkit will support the recruitment, training, and retention of women in nontraditional apprenticeship and jobs in the rail and transit sector. The toolkit can be used by program planners, managers, and frontline staff conducting outreach and assessment and training, to ensure that each stage of the employment process—from recruitment through retention—looks at how the workplace environment can be responsive to women of many backgrounds and how systems can be created or improved to address the barriers women face.

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Troops to Transit: A Resource for Recruiting and Developing Veterans for Public Transportation Careers

The International Transportation Learning Center’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data has shown that the transportation industry in large will likely see a massive front-line labor shortage in the next ten years unless it is able to find and hire skilled workers. In fact, it is estimated that 126 percent of today’s transit workforce will have to be hired and trained in the next ten years.

In order to help fill this need, the center has produced a Veterans Crosswalk tool (see Excel document below) which matches skill-sets learned during military service with the kinds of skills that public transportation agencies look for when hiring signals maintainers. This product was produced in cooperation with a Veterans Taskforce made up of veterans who are also Subject Matter Experts in the field of Signals Maintenance. This detailed matrix has been distilled down into a user-friendly Veteran’s Factsheet (see PDF below) which provides at-a-glance information for both veterans interested in a signals career and for agencies looking to hire skilled veterans.

The tool is accompanied by a summary report.

International Transportation Learning Center
November 2016
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Maintenance Technician Staffing Levels for Modern Public Transit Fleets

This report identifies existing tools and practices used to determine optimum maintenance technician staffing levels and provides an analysis of variables that influence maintenance technician staffing needs. A Microsoft Excel maintenance staffing calculator and user guide is available.

Transit Cooperative Research Program
August 2016
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Contributor(s): National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Transportation Research BoardTransit Cooperative Research Program; Ken Mall; June Sekera; the Transportation Learning Center and Transit Resource Center

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A Guide for the Development of Career Pathways in Transportation

This guide outlines the steps that transportation industry stakeholders can take to develop or expand Career Pathways to focus on the skills, competencies, and credentials needed for high-demand jobs in the transportation industry and its subsectors.

U.S. Department of Education; Jobs for the Future; International Transportation Learning Center
December 2015
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From Operator to Chief – One Employee’s Story

This video provides a description of King County DOT’s program for recruitment and advancement options for current employees, with an emphasis on diversity, along with one employees’ story about how he was supported in his journey from bus operator to Base Chief.

 

King County Department of Transportation
October 2015
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Strengthening Skills Training and Career Pathways Across the Transportation Industry

This report identifies high-demand jobs with good wages in transportation, discusses the role data plays in identifying future workforce skill needs, and analyzes the patterns in the education and work experience required for entry, as well as on-the-job training required for new entrants to gain full competency.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education; U.S. Department of Transportation
August 2015
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Pathways to Equity: Effective Transportation Career Partnerships

Expanding access to quality careers in transit systems and in transit capital construction has been the focus of innovative local programs around the country in recent years. This report presents case profiles of two of the most promising examples – one for youth Career Pathways into transit industry careers, and one for targeted construction hiring and training of disadvantaged workers for transit capital projects. The two local case profiles are a Project Labor Agreement in Los Angeles providing expanded access to jobs and training for public transportation capital construction and a youth Career Pathways partnership in Philadelphia linking career and technical education with future transit careers. Both of these models, if taken to scale in the transit industry, can have positive impacts, locally and nationally, for improving access to family-sustaining careers and training and for improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged groups – urban low-income and minority groups as well as women – who have previously been under-represented in these occupations.

International Transportation Learning Center
December 2013
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