Resource Center

Webinar agenda and presenters

1. Bus operator training and retention – Xinge Wang, International Transportation Learning Center
2. Lessons from Florida – Trish Collins, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority
3. Lessons from the Midwest – George F. Fields, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
4. Question and answer session moderated by Robert Puentes, Eno Center for Transportation

Bus Operators—New Strategies for Maintaining the Workforce

Session Summary: A headline issue confronting all transit systems today – how to attract and retain bus operators in a tight labor market. This lively session began with presentations from the TCRP F-28 research team and TransitCenter on their recently published national research findings on recruiting, developing and retaining transit bus operators.  Labor and management industry practitioners from multiple locations then shared their recruitment approaches and strategies that have been most effective on the ground, and TWC staff summarized the National Transit Frontline Worker Recruitment Campaign.

Moderator

• Rob Puentes: President and CEO – The Eno Center for Transportation

Speakers

• Julia Castillo: Executive Director – Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency
• James Duff: Assistant Vice President, Human Resources – Dallas Area Rapid Transit
• Jeff Hazen: Executive Director – Sunset Empire Transportation District
• Steve Jovel: Transportation Superintendent – Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
• Robin Phillips: Executive Director – National Rural Transit Assistance Program
• Harpreet Singh: JWI Director – Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265
• David Stephen: Senior Communications Specialist – International Transportation Learning Center/Transit Workforce Center
• Chris Van Eyken: Program Manager – TransitCenter

Driving Bus Operator Recruitment and Retention Session Slides ISU Returning Citizens Presentation Slides

Organizations

Akron METRO Regional Transit Authority (METRO): Transit agency serving Summit County, Ohio and the city of Akron, with a fleet totaling 231 vehicles: 140 large buses and 91 smaller paratransit vehicles. METRO employs 425 team members.

Stark State College:  Local event venue and partner in advertising campaign. METRO is currently in the final stages of an agreement with Stark State to supplement its CDL training program.

Program Summary

METRO’s “Come Drive with (B)us” event was a major initiative designed to recruit bus operators.  Held at Stark State College, the event featured on-site bus-related activities, interviews and job applications.  Extensive outreach activities before the event through diverse outlets, combined with the themed ad campaign, brought 99 interested participants and resulted in 71 contingent offers. The key “draw” to this event was the ability to test drive our vehicles on a closed course alongside our staff.  METRO’s idea was that if the thought of driving a bus was keeping people from applying, they could offer a nontraditional mechanism to overcome that hesitancy.  Once that challenge was overcome, the process could focus on the soft skills related to empathy and great customer service that are critical to success.

Key Program Elements

• Pre-event publicity
  • Pop Art themed ad campaign (viewable on Facebook; an example is attached below as a PDF)
  • Free and purchased advertising through social media, including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter posts
  • Information on METRO’s website
  • Print ads in local daily and weekly publications
  • Two digital billboards, and flyers on buses and posters at METRO’s transit center
  • A radio ad on several local radio stations
  • Two days before to the event, Stark State College promoted the event on their digital sign, readable from the expressway
  • Four radio personalities from four different stations drove the bus two to three weeks prior to the event and promoted on the air, including one station that put together its own video.
  • Television interviews that resulted in a full story and a variety of mentions of the event on other stations
  • Creating two bus wraps with the pop art feel (see PDF below) on careers, though not event-specific
  • Outreach to past applicants
  • Videos of three in-house of staff driving for the first time, along with videos featuring County Executive and Representative Casey Weinstein, and an invite video from METRO’s CEO
• Event activities and design (see PDF of signage below)
  • Participants were told to bring a valid driver’s license
  • Four clearly-marked stations for applicants to go to where they had the opportunity to:
    • Apply
    • Interview
    • Secure a mobility device
    • Drive a bus
  • Every applicant moved through all four stations
  • At final stop, attendees received:
    • Bag of information
    • Swag
    • Digital and paper copies of the CDL training booklet for them to start studying
  • Event planning activities
    • Started six to eight weeks before event
    • Committee was made of HR, Marketing, Operations, Maintenance and Safety/Security
    • Eighteen staff members worked the day of the event – five working check-in/applications, five doing on-site interviews, two working the mobility station, five running the “test drive” station, and one runner to move between all stations to relieve backlog
    • Used seven 40 foot buses (2 spares) and 2 paratransit vehicles

Outcomes

• Ninety-nine event attendees interviewed and were able to test drive
• Twenty-five additional people applied who could not attend; follow up interviews were planned
• 71 of the 99 were moved through to a “contingent offer” pending background checks with a start date of September 26^th
• Twenty-three of the 99 had areas of their application that required reviewing before proceeding

For more information on this event, contact: Jarrod Hampshire – Chief Operations Officer, METRO RTA 330.808.0144

More recruitment advertising materials and resources can be found here.

Event Flyer 1 Event Flyer 2 Bus Wraparound Ad Design Come Drive With (B)us - Event Signage

Basic descriptions of some current state and local programs can be found at the links below.

Chicago Second Chance Program Idaho Second Chance Program Indiana Second Chance Program Iowa and Oregon Second Chance Program

This resource also includes a link to a webinar hosted in July, 2022 presenting information from the report and slides from the webinar.

Bus Operators in Crisis Webinar Slides Webinar: Operators in Crisis: How Did We Get Here? Bus Operators in Crisis Report

Golden Gate Transit (GGT) serves four counties in San Francisco’s North Bay. GGT suspended approximately 90% of its commute service during COVID. As of Spring 2022, the agency was operating at roughly 50% of pre -COVID service levels, but needed to hire and retain large numbers of bus operators as ridership demand returned. To achieve this goal, a GGT and ATU labor-management partnership created a high-road training partnership that worked with local colleges and California Transit Works to establish bus operator mentorship, pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. To guide its initiatives and actions, the partnership also examined data and asked underlying questions about the root causes of their employment challenges, resulting in reevaluating and adjusting some of its pathways to employment and hiring guidelines.

This resource contains presentation slides and video of a Golden Gate Transit/ATU presentation. The entire June 7, 2022 TWC webinar, Recruiting and Developing Today’s Transit Workforce, can be found here. It includes a question and answer session, beginning at 51:53, that covers more detail on this and other recruitment initiatives discussed in the webinar.

Bus Operator Recruitment and Retention Webinar Slides