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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IndyGo’s Employment Opportunities Page

The IndyGo transit agency, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, offers high-quality career information on its website. This resource summarizes effective elements of the career page.

IndyGo

August 2022

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IndyGo’s career page helps site visitors to understand what it’s like to work at the agency and how to apply.  The page also highlights key job benefits and emphasizes the opportunity to serve the community. Overall, the employment section of IndyGo’s website demonstrates a number of key communication elements that support effective outreach to potential applicants.  These elements include:

  • An easily accessible and identifiable section on the website.  “Employment” has its own clickable category, not a subcategory that may be harder to locate.
  • Clear statements about IndyGo’s mission, emphasizing community service, connection, and working together to make a difference in people’s lives.  These messages attract a range of potential target audiences, and they make clear the difference between a public service career, as opposed to other careers applicants may be considering.
  • A detailed list of benefits, with additional specific benefits for drivers noted.  Among those benefits, the list includes unique aspects of the driver position that distinguishes it from other potentially competing careers (e.g., long-haul trucking), noting benefits such as “all local work.”
  • Highlighted aspects of the driver position that emphasize the connection with and support provided to riders.
  • A thoughtful list of questions for potential applicants to consider about themselves and the type of work they might want before they decide to move ahead with the application.
  • Detailed information on how and where to apply, basics of how to prepare for and what to bring to an interview, and important specifics about the steps of the hiring process and initial orientation and training programs.
  • IndyGo’s Why I Drive segment on their website includes a video featured in the National Frontline Workforce Recruitment Campaign Toolkit video library elsewhere on this website.  That link on IndyGo’s website also features brief worker profiles, another summary of benefits, and a note on IndyGo’s Second Chance Initiative.
  • IndyGo’s website includes a prominent option to translate the site into Spanish.

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Pathway to Promote Diversity within Public Transit Workforce

Considering the transit industry’s existing diversity and inclusion toolkits and guidelines, this project emphasizes lessons from in-depth interviews with leaders from 18 transit agencies across the country.  The report highlights: the critical factors that impact the current level of diversity and career mobility within transit agencies; how diversity efforts help explore resources and provide opportunities for effective and robust employee engagement; and the significance of evaluation systems in creating a more transparent recruitment process that initiates structural shifts, resulting in better recruiting.

Mineta Transportation Institute

August 2022

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Bus Operators in Crisis

TransitCenter’s report, entitled Bus Operators in Crisis: The Steady Deterioration of One of Transit’s Most Essential Jobs, and How Agencies Can Turn Things Around, analyzes the nationwide phenomenon of bus operator shortages and advocates for enhanced job quality in the occupation.

TransitCenter

July 2022

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

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National Transit Frontline Worker Recruitment Campaign

Across the United States, whether large, small, urban, rural, or tribal, transit agencies are facing the challenge of recruiting and retaining drivers, mechanics, and technicians who can operate and maintain the buses of our public transit systems.  To help support local transit efforts, TWC is developing the #ConnectingMyCommunity national frontline worker recruitment campaign, coordinated with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and industry, labor, and community partners from around the country.

Transit Workforce Center

July 2022

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Bus Operator Recruitment and Retention: Confronting Obstacles and Creating Opportunity

This multimedia case study details a high-road training partnership jointly operated by Golden Gate Transit and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575.

Transit Workforce Center; Golden Gate Transit; Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575

June 2022

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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.

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The Power of Partnership: Automotive Technology/Collision Career Technical Education Program

This multimedia case study details an internship program developed by the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) and Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 208. This resource contains a brief written summary, presentation slides, and video of a COTA-TWU Local 208 presentation.

Transit Workforce Center; Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA); Transport Workers Union Local 208

June 2022

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To meet its need for vehicle maintenance technicians, COTA leadership partnered with TWU Local 208 and Columbus City Schools to provide a Vehicle Maintenance Internship Program, helping students already enrolled in an automotive program to develop additional technology competencies and prepare them for entry level positions. The COTA Vehicle Maintenance Internship Program provides career technical center high school students who have completed their junior year in a participating career-technical program the opportunity to work as paid interns in the Vehicle Maintenance Department at COTA. Students receive classroom training, hands-on training, laboratory experiences, and are partnered with mentors in preparation to enter the workforce as entry level automotive/collision technologies service technicians. From this foundation, COTA has now established a state-registered pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship program to support vehicle technician hiring, retention, and workforce development.

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Strategic Workforce Planning in Transit: Recruiting and Developing Today’s Transit Workforce

This is the second in the Transit Workforce Center’s webinar series on strategic workforce development planning in transit. It focuses on how transit agencies and partner organizations are working to meet the significant recruitment challenges across the country and how to best turn these challenges into opportunities to reach, attract, and retain a diverse workforce.

Transit Workforce Center

June 2022

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Linked below are a video recording of the webinar, the associated slides, and a webpage where all past TWC webinars are available.

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Transit Manager’s Toolkit: Driver Recruitment, Training, and Retention

This toolkit from National RTAP introduces both requirements and suggested practices in driver recruiting/hiring, retention/motivation, and training. It includes information about federal requirements, how to create a positive work environment, and training standards.

National Rural Transit Assistance Program

May 2022

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