Resource Center

Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers is a Must for U.S. Businesses. Here are Tools Employers Can Use.

Shifting demographics in the U.S. workforce indicate that businesses are probably going to need to recruit, train, and retain older workers to ensure their companies remain competitive. However, workplace surveys indicate that most firms are currently not prepared to find and welcome workers who are 50 years of age or older. Fortunately, this report offers several promising new directions to build knowledge and advance policies and practices that support older workers’ mobility in the labor market.

AARP

July 2024

Salary Ranges for Transit Jobs

In June and July of 2024, National RTAP completed a survey of rural and tribal public transit agencies; the survey included a section on annual salaries and hourly pay rate ranges, annual salary increases, and benefits offered to full-time and part-time employees. National RTAP received responses from 391 agencies, representing 43 states, with 327 agencies providing information about jobs and annual salary and hourly ranges. The dataset is not exhaustive but can help rural and tribal transit providers in determining salary ranges for various positions.

The survey data is aggregated in a downloadable spreadsheet, which is available on the National RTAP landing page at the link below.

National Rural Transit Assistance Program

July 2024

Steering Success: AC Transit’s Holistic Strategy for Bus Operator Shortage

A 2022 American Public Transportation Association survey of 117 transit agencies of all sizes, 71% reported that they have either had to cut service or delay service increases because of worker shortfalls. While the transportation industry as a whole grapples with recruitment and retention techniques, some transit agencies have already found measurable success. This perspective examines the causes for the bus operator shortage—including as an example of the wider industry issues—as well as potential solutions, including a comprehensive approach by Oakland-based agency AC Transit, which improved retention of new bus operators by 20 percent.

Mineta Transportation Institute

July 2024

Employer Guide to Hiring Veterans

Veterans can bring valued skills and characteristics to your workplace, and this guide provides resources and identifies best practices to help transit agencies attract, train, and retain veterans and service members.

United States Department of Labor

College-to-Jobs Initiative: Policy and Practice Series

With these webinars and stakeholder briefs, the Project on Workforce aims to increase attention and investment in college-to-career transitions and show how colleges can better deliver on economic prosperity.

The Project on Workforce

APTA’s Workforce Clearinghouse

APTA’s Workforce Clearinghouse connects users with convenient access to industry materials, stories, and recommended practices to help advance awareness of transit careers and further educate the workforce.

American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

Developing Transit Talent Pipelines

TransitCenter’s report explores the workforce challenges of transit bus mechanics and maintenance workers, which are essential for transitioning to low-no buses and restoring pre-pandemic service. Agencies are struggling to maintain a steady pipeline for these positions due to retirements, attrition, and a changing labor market. The report determines that agencies should engage more actively with potential workers and encourage them to join the transit workforce, as well as finding new ways to prepare new workers and retrain current workers to meet current and future needs, particularly as technology for low-no buses continues to change and grow more widespread. The report recommends greater investment from transit agencies, state and federal government, and philanthropy to support transit jobs.

TransitCenter

May 2024

ATTAIN Bus Operator Apprenticeship Meeting

TWC’s American Transit Training and Apprenticeship Innovators Network (ATTAIN) met on May 17, 2024 to discuss bus operator apprenticeship. Check out the recording for short presentations from transit peers across the country and an engaging and interactive discussion about the development of bus operator mentorship and apprenticeship programs, how they work, and the benefits they offer.

Transit Workforce Center

May 2024