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.

RESOURCE TYPE: | TRANSIT MODE:

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
LEARN MORE
RESOURCE TYPE: , | TRANSIT MODE:

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
LEARN MORE

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

LEARN MORE
RESOURCE TYPE: , | TRANSIT MODE:

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
LEARN MORE
RESOURCE TYPE: | TRANSIT MODE:

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
LEARN MORE
RESOURCE TYPE: | TRANSIT MODE:

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
LEARN MORE
RESOURCE TYPE: , | TRANSIT MODE:

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
LEARN MORE
RESOURCE TYPE: , | TRANSIT MODE:

Promoting Employment in Transit Construction Projects by Members of Minority and Low Income Communities

This report summarizes research investigating the participation of members of low-income and minority populations in employment generated by transit projects and identifies practices to increase their participation. It features four in-depth case studies of light rail projects.

Federal Transit Administration
July 2013
LEARN MORE
RESOURCE TYPE: ,

Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 162: Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach provides a guidebook that addresses contemporary issues in workforce development, retention, and attraction, and public transportation image management.

The guidebook provides practical tools to transit agencies on a variety of workforce issues including workforce strategies that enhance organizational processes, performance metrics to evaluate the impact of workforce strategies, image management techniques that improve perceptions of the public transportation industry, and benchmarking processes that allow for continuous organizational improvement.

The guidebook is separated into modules that may be used independently or together in the form of the fully integrated guidebook.

Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP)
January 2013
LEARN MORE

Contributor(s): National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Transportation Research Board; Transit Cooperative Research Program; Candace Blair Cronin; Allison Alexander; Brian Cronin; Christopher Riches; Jennifer Stern; Ream Lazaro; Valerie Lazaro

LEARN MORE