Building the Foundation and Filling the Gaps: The Story Behind Transit Core Competencies Curriculum (TC3) | | |
Across the transit industry, agencies are working to recruit, train, and retain the skilled workforce needed to keep their systems moving. Along the way, many face the same challenge: employees don’t always come to the job with the foundational skills they need to succeed or move on to more advanced training. Sometimes the need is technical, like electrical concepts, mechanical principles, or shop math. In other cases, an employee may need help with computer skills, communication, workplace readiness, or simply understanding more about the transit industry and how their work fits into the bigger picture.
Needs can change over time, as well. Some may need to build a foundation before advancing, while others may just need a refresher on a skill they haven’t used in a while. As jobs and technologies change, the need for new knowledge and skills emerges.
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To help meet these needs, TWC worked with subject matter experts at local transit organizations across the country to develop the Transit Core Competencies Curriculum (TC3). This nationally developed, locally informed, and freely available curriculum supports the development of foundational skills that help employees grow and develop, helping the industry meet critical skills needs.
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Learn More About TC3
Want to learn more or see how TC3 could fit into your agency’s training? Visit the TC3 webpage to explore the freely-available curriculum and accompanying resources, or reach out to Kristen Ribaudo at kribaudo@transportcenter.org. TWC’s team is happy to answer questions, walk you through the materials, and talk about ways to put TC3 to use at your agency.
| | Belinda Herman discusses benefits of working in paratransit | Transit Career Stories features interviews with individuals from across the country sharing their unique career journeys and insights to help shape the future of the workforce and encourage others to take their first steps in transit. Along with the stories, TWC's website offers resources through its National Frontline Transit Worker Recruitment Campaign to help transit agencies meet the industry’s ongoing frontline workforce hiring needs. | |
Six New Resources on Efficient Bus Operator Hiring
| TWC is pleased to announce the release of six new resources this summer that conclude the work of the Streamlining Operator Hiring Practices research project. These webpages include tools and suggestions for auditing your own bus operator hiring process, best practices specific to each stage of the process, and case studies of successful and innovative approaches. | Stay tuned for more details on an upcoming fall webinar on this topic. For more information or to request technical assistance on this topic, email Shayna Gleason at sgleason@transportcenter.org. | | New Metrics Monday Blog Post on Retention | | |
In July, TWC published the second post in the Metrics Monday blog series, which covers workforce-related data across a range of areas, including recruitment, retention, and professional development programs. This newest post, Metrics Monday: Tracking Retention from Insight to Action, focuses on retention and turnover.
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Tracking retention and turnover can help transit agency leadership better understand their workforce by uncovering trends, comparing job roles across the agency, and benchmarking against other transit agencies and area employers. The post also features Metro Transit (Minneapolis−St. Paul) and how it used metrics on early retention of bus operators, leading to the decision to increase its bus operator training by two weeks, a change that significantly improved retention.
Read the full blog post for more details about how to track retention and turnover, and what Metro Transit learned from its tracking of these key workforce statistics.
| | Upcoming Transit Events With TWC Presentations | | |
2026 TAM Annual Conference—September 22-24 in Stevensville, MD: TWC will present on "Strategies and Solutions for Attracting and Retaining Talented Frontline Workers."
2026 North State Symposium—September 29-Oct 1 in Redding, CA: TWC will lead a session on bus operator mentorship and mentor training.
APTA Transform—October 4-7 in Chicago, IL: TWC will present in the Workforce Development Committee and the Operations Combined Committee meetings.
2026 Minnesota Public Transit Conference—October 19-21 in St. Cloud, MN: TWC presenters will lead a session on "Mentorship Matters—Improving Bus Operator Retention."
OkTA Annual Conference & Expo—October 19-21 in Ardmore, OK: TWC will present on mentorship programs.
LPTA & LADOTD Public Transit Conference—November 4-6 in Shreveport, LA: TWC will offer a presentation on "Transit Core Competencies Curriculum (TC3)."
GSA 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting—November 4-7 in Oxon Hill, MD: TWC will lead a presentation on "The Experiences and Job Performance of Older Paratransit Drivers."
Mobility Transformed 2026—November 5-7 in Santa Rosa, CA: TWC will lead a presentation on "Promising Practices for Building a Strong Accessible Transit and Paratransit Workforce."
| | If you would like TWC to host a workshop or give a presentation at your next conference or webinar, please send detailed inquiries to twc@transportcenter.org. | | Since TWC’s launch in Sept. 2021, there have been over 280,000 views of transitworkforce.org, with over 45,000 views of the Frontline Worker Recruitment Campaign and associated pages. The team has completed over 970 individual targeted technical assistance requests from transit agencies and partners, with an average response time of under 3 business hours. In addition, over 15,000 total participants have been served through TWC’s hosting of or participation in industry events, including the 2022 and 2024 Making Connections conferences. | | |
TWC team members frequently travel to industry events around the country to present, share resources, and engage with industry stakeholders. Here are some examples of where the TWC team has been and what they have been doing off-site and online:
June
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Maurice Beard, Karitsa Holdzkom, and Kristen Ribaudo offered two presentations at the 2026 FPTA/FDOT/CUTR Professional Development Workshop & Transit Safety and Operations Summit. Maurice and Kristen shared the development of TWC's Transit Core Competencies Curriculum (TC3) program. Maurice and Karitsa were joined by STAR Transit to discuss Bus Operator Apprenticeship facts and metrics.
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Maurice Beard delivered a condensed mentor training session at the 2026 IPTA Annual Meeting & Roadeo in Altoona, IA. Maurice was joined by Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District’s (IL) Mentor Program Coordinator, Valerie Campo, to share insights on scalable programs.
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Julie Deibel-Pundt and Stu Bass presented during the 2026 Transit Vehicle Maintenance Seminar (TVMS), which focused on intensive, hands-on training in important maintenance topics. The presenters conducted maintenance skills assessments and offered guidance on designing effective training programs.
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Kristen Ribaudo led a virtual “Launching TC3: Foundational Skills for Today’s Transit Workforce” webinar focused on the nationally developed course materials designed to build foundational skills for transit maintenance and operations professionals.
August
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Maurice Beard and Xinge Wang gave a plenary presentation on TWC services and resources for the CTAA Annual Small Urban Network (SUN) Conference in Monterey, CA.
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Maurice Beard and Shayna Gleason traveled to Thompsonville, MI, for the 2026 Michigan Public Transportation (MPTA) Conference. Maurice presented "Bus Operator Mentorship Programs: Implementation, Management, and Benefits," while Shayna hosted a session titled "Building Strong Frontline Workforce Pipelines: Effective Outreach, Recruitment, and Hiring."
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Maurice Beard and Shayna Gleason joined the CTAA Community Rides Grantee Convening in Washington D.C., where the team shared about TWC's services and answered grantee questions about recruitment, retention, training, and other workforce topics.
| | 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. | | See what's happening on our social sites: | | | | |
