Pulse May 2025

May 2025

Two Years of Transit Workforce Insights: Data Dashboard Updates and New Features

TWC’s Transit Workforce Data Dashboard is celebrating its two-year anniversary this spring. The Data Dashboard, launched in March of 2023, was developed as a resource to compile data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and National Transit Database (NTD), offering a clear and interactive view of transit workforce statistics. This March, TWC launched several updates to the Data Dashboard to improve functionality, keep data timely, and enhance features for better benchmarking and analysis.

In early 2024, TWC launched a significant Data Dashboard update: the Agency Explorer—a page of interconnected charts showing agency-level statistics, including employment count, labor hours, salaries, and wages. The Agency Explorer can be filtered by a number of characteristics, including transit mode, job function, full-time versus part-time employment, urbanized-area population, and agency size.

In response to industry feedback, TWC has worked on the addition of cost-of-living adjusted wages, which enable users from transit agencies to more accurately benchmark their location’s wages against those of their peers. TWC added this capability to the Data Dashboard this spring, allowing users to compare adjusted wages based on each location’s cost-of-living. These adjusted wages can be filtered to narrow the focus to a specific role. For example, a user may decide to compare bus operator wages in their agency to those at agencies of a similar size.

The recent Data Dashboard update also features new employment projections charts. These new visualizations highlight the relationships between projected job openings in transportation-related occupations and increased or decreased demand for workers, labor force exits, and occupational transfers. Additional improvements include a new platform for the Agency Explorer, which will allow for a smoother user experience, and fully updated visualizations for the most recent data releases from NTD and BLS.

Previous updates to the Data Dashboard have included adding full- and part-time employment data and operator versus non-operator data. With more variables like these, users can explore patterns in full-time and part-time work or comparisons between operator and non-operator roles, both of which can be viewed across different modes and job functions.

Learn about the Data Dashboard's new features.

Since its launch, the Data Dashboard has been well-received by key industry stakeholders, providing a means for transit locations across the country to benchmark their statistics and understand trends and patterns in the industry. In one example of the Data Dashboard’s impact, an agency data analyst used it in presentations about recruitment and retention challenges to show that their operator employment patterns were mirrored in national data. In another example, an agency used the Data Dashboard in recruitment presentations to highlight statistics about young people's participation in transportation occupations.

For those who have not yet used the Data Dashboard or want to delve deeper into possible use cases, check out our recent blog posts: Navigating the Transit Workforce Data Dashboard and TWC's Workforce Data Dashboard: Findings and Use Cases. Watch this short video featuring Research Associate Michaela Boneva for tips on navigating the Data Dashboard’s new features.

For questions or more information, contact Michaela Boneva at mboneva@transportcenter.org.

Transit Career Explorer Debuts

In response to the ongoing recruitment challenges across the country and to regular requests TWC has received from transit stakeholders for a career resource site for job seekers, TWC is now launching its Transit Career Explorer. This online platform leads with the theme “Be a Driving Force in Your Community” and provides information and resources, many from local transit providers across the country, for those interested in learning about frontline transit careers. Each of the four sub-sections of the site cover key areas that help support knowledge about and exploration of the opportunities the industry provides:

Working in Transit supports initial learning about the benefits of a transit career, including videos of frontline transit workers describing their experiences working in the industry.
Career Pathway Opportunities allows users to see the range of positions and the various ways transit operators and technicians can advance in their organizations.
Wages, Benefits & Hiring Info provides national data on jobs, wages, education, and training requirements, as well as local transit agency data and sample local ads with position requirements.
Locating Career Opportunities identifies a range of suggested methods and databases to find transit positions in communities where users live or would like to live and work.

The Career Explorer is intended to support and amplify the industry’s ongoing need for and recruitment of frontline workers. It is the newest segment of TWC’s National Frontline Transit Worker Recruitment Campaign, following TWC’s Recruitment Toolkit, developed in 2022, which has been featuring industry stakeholders with examples of proven strategies and materials to support local recruitment efforts. As TWC continues its work to support the industry in areas of critical recruitment needs, including research on targeted outreach and new case studies and career stories, new information and findings will be reported.

To provide feedback or ask questions, contact Annmarie Carmody at acarmody@transportcenter.org .

TWC Research Updates

The TWC Research Team has been developing new resources on a range of critical and evolving workforce issues, practices, and strategies. Check out these newly published case studies, plus a new blog post, summarized below.

Veterans in Transit Case Studies

For some members of the armed forces, a military career is lifelong. For others, a second career comes after, and both veterans and transit agencies have benefitted from recruiting veterans into varied positions. Veterans often bring to transit jobs a commitment to public service, the ability to work under sometimes stressful conditions, and highly relevant technical skills. TWC's latest set of case studies explores three examples of how transit agencies have developed intentional recruitment pipelines and career pathways for veterans and the benefits these efforts have generated for each agency.

Mictrotransit Case Studies

Microtransit, a relatively new form of demand response public transportation, is on the rise. TWC's new set of microtransit case studies provides various perspectives on microtransit that include examples of how it has successfully been provided in-house and with a union-represented workforce. The case studies share experiences from four transit locations that are implementing microtransit service in ways that promote job quality for operators, technicians, and others, while also providing greater control over the quality of the service.

Youth in Transit Blog Post

While many transit agencies are struggling to recruit younger workers, creative efforts are underway at a number of locations across the country to attract and hire the next generation. A growing understanding of both the industry's challenges and emerging strategies in this area led to a recent TWC blog post on youth in transit. TWC encourages agencies and their partners to share what their agency is doing to encourage young people to explore public transportation careers.

Upcoming Webinars

ATTAIN Maintenance Meeting - Join Us TODAY!

Attend today's meeting of TWC’s American Transit Training and Apprenticeship Innovators Network (ATTAIN) on May 21 at 1 pm ET. This meeting will focus on bus maintenance apprenticeship and feature programs at Milwaukee County Transit System/ATU Local 998 and Jacksonville Transit Authority/IAM Lodge 759. Panelists from both agencies and their labor partners will outline the development process and the final structure of their apprenticeship programs while highlighting why the program works for the agency and their workforce, including qualitative and quantitative measures of the benefits. There will also be opportunities for questions from the audience and time set aside for interactive discussion.

The topics and resources discussed will be relevant to all maintenance occupations and to transit locations of all sizes and types. Current members of ATTAIN and those interested in exploring apprenticeships for maintenance occupations are welcome to attend.

ATTAIN Operator Meeting

Stay tuned for the upcoming ATTAIN meeting on apprenticeship and mentorship programs for bus operators! Attendees will learn about useful resources for program development and management and hear from their transit agency peers about their experiences. Whether you’re interested in learning more about bus operator mentorship programs or are preparing to register your program as an apprenticeship program, this is a meeting you won’t want to miss. Details on the meeting agenda, date, and time, along with the registration link, will be announced soon.

For more information about apprenticeships, check out TWC’s Apprenticeship and Mentorship page, or contact Karitsa Holdzkom at kholdzkom@transportcenter.org.

Iyai+ Critical Conversations

Join iyai+ (Introducing Youth to American Infrastructure+) on May 22 at 12 pm CST for a solution-based webinar and discussion that explores how to improve transit safety, security, and the overall rider experience. Hear from industry experts, labor leaders, youth advocates, and community voices. The meeting will conclude with a short survey on issues surrounding transit worker assault.

N-CATT Data Literacy Survey

The Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida is conducting a survey for the Data Literacy Initiative. The initiative is sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration to increase the knowledge and utilization of data analytics capabilities in small-urban, rural, and tribal public transit agencies. It will allow smaller transit agencies to benefit from the increased safety, operational efficiencies, and improvements in the customer experience afforded by data analytics initiatives.

This survey is designed to better understand current practices, challenges, and opportunities related to data usage, tools, and decision-making within rural, tribal, and small-urban transit agencies, helping the National Center for Applied Transit Technology (N-CATT) create tailored technical assistance resources, training, and tools to enhance data literacy and capacity across the transit industry.

The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. For additional information and assistance, please contact Martin Catala at catala@usd.edu.

Take the N-CATT Data Literacy Survey.

By the Numbers

Since TWC’s launch in Sept. 2021, there have been over 180,000 views of transitworkforce.org, with over 20,000 views of the Resource Center and over 12,000 views of the Frontline Worker Recruitment Campaign and associated pages. The team has completed over 700 individual targeted technical assistance requests from transit agencies and partners, with an average response time of 4 business hours. In addition, over 12,000 total participants have been served through TWC’s hosting of or participation in industry events, including the 2022 and 2024 Making Connections conferences.

Out and About

TWC team members frequently travel to industry events around the country to present, share resources, and engage with industry stakeholders. To request TWC's participation in an event, please send an email to  twc@transportcenter.org. Here are some examples of where the TWC team has been and what they have been doing off-site and online:

February

Amri Joyner and Arnett Powell led a Train-the-Trainer Level 1 session at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) headquarters in downtown Philadelphia. The session brought together new and veteran instructors from disciplines such as welding, signals, light rail, and bus maintenance.
Maurice Beard and Karitsa Holdzkom exhibited at a table and led a session titled “Developing Mentoring & Apprenticeship Programs” at the South West Transit Association’s (SWTA) Annual Conference and Expo. The session explored how transit agencies can improve retention, recruitment, and overall morale by implementing and sustaining apprenticeship and mentorship programs.
Frank Burnett and Kristen Ribaudo facilitated three Train-the-Trainer Level 1 sessions, working with 35 transit trainers from the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) and King County Metro in Seattle. The immersive, week-long courses equipped new and experienced trainers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to deliver effective instructor-led training.

March

Maurice Beard traveled to McAllen, Texas, for the Texas Transit Association’s (TTA) Annual State Conference, Expo, and Roadeo to provide onsite technical assistance to Texas agencies seeking information about and assistance on apprenticeship and mentoring.

April

Amri Joyner and Jason Macumber facilitated a Train-the-Trainer Level 1 at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line Inner Belt Carhouse. The four-and-a-half-day course emphasized practical application through effective methods, tools, and guidelines.
Maurice Beard was invited to participate in a panel titled "Building the Workforce of Tomorrow" at the 10th Annual Redefining Mobility Summit. The panel featured a range of perspectives, from labor partners to researchers, and explored the role of transit operators as a number of transit agencies look to the use of autonomous vehicles.

The Transit Workforce Center is FTA’s technical assistance center for frontline workforce development, operated by the International Transportation Learning Center. For any technical assistance requests, contact us at 1-855-888-NTWC or twc@transportcenter.org.

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