ITLC Update

New Report Highlights Strategies to Hire, Train, and Retain Bus Operators

The International Transportation Learning Center (ITLC) is pleased to announce the release of a pre-publication draft of the “Practitioner’s Guide to Bus Operator Workforce Management” published by the Transportation Research Board. This guide will help transit agencies better assess, plan, and implement their operator workforce management programs. The guide was written by the Eno Center for Transportation along with ITLC, and Huber and Associates, Inc.


ITLC staff gathered much of the input from industry stakeholders, public transit agencies, and labor unions that identified themes and forward-thinking approaches for the seven elements of operator workforce management addressed in the report: 

  • Workforce Needs Assessment
  • Recruitment
  • Compensation
  • Hiring Processes
  • Training
  • Safety, Health, and Working Conditions
  • Retention and Motivation

Courtesy of Karitsa Holdzkom

Read More Here

ITLC Welcomes Annmarie Carmody, Senior Associate  

Annmarie joins ITLC/TWC with fifteen years of experience in education and communications. She worked as an English Language Arts educator in Massachusetts public schools, where she developed a culturally aware curriculum that employed engaging teaching methods to reach diverse student populations. Her forte was analyzing effective storytelling, which she explored in literature and film in the classroom and on the stage in the theater program she directed. Before that, Annmarie taught writing classes to first-year college students at a community college and state university in the Hudson Valley.  


Prior to her work in education, Annmarie worked at various media organizations and as a freelance writer, writing articles profiling artists and community members. At ITLC/TWC, Annmarie is excited to tell stories highlighting the inspiring journeys of transit workers and their commitment to the communities they serve. She also looks forward to using her teaching, curricular, and writing skills to support transit career pipeline programs. 


Outside of work, Annmarie loves attending DC rock shows, taking art and language classes, and leading her writing group, which she hopes will help her in her mission to finish a novel.   

Government News

Paul Wiedefeld officially announced as Maryland’s Transportation Secretary

DCist- January 24, 2023

Paul Wiedefeld is Maryland’s next transportation secretary, new Governor Wes Moore announced Tuesday afternoon during a statehouse press conference. The former Metro general manager, executive director of Baltimore/Washington International Airport, and Maryland Transit Administrator, will be head of the six transportation agencies under the Maryland Department of Transportation. DCist reported Wiedefeld’s imminent announcement on Saturday. His appointment will need to be confirmed by the Maryland Senate.


Transit Partners

APTA Emerging Leaders Program – Call for Applications for the Class of 2024  


The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) invites emerging public transportation professionals to apply for its Emerging Leaders Program Class of 2024. The deadline to apply is Feb. 3, 2023.The program provides public transportation professionals who have worked in the industry approximately three to five years—including one to three years of managing tasks, projects or staff—with the skills, knowledge and networks needed for advancement. APTA member organizations may each nominate one candidate. The Emerging Leaders Program Committee will select 35 individuals who represent the diversity of the industry to participate in a 10-month program that includes skill-building workshops, roundtable sessions, online collaboration and unique access to industry leaders. Class members also have the opportunity to attend APTA’s Rail Conference, TRANSform Conference & EXPO, and Mobility Conference.

For more information and to apply

Centro to introduce rapid bus lines to Syracuse in reimagining of public transit system

CNYCentral - January 24, 2023

For around 5 years, a plan has been in place to overhaul public transportation in Syracuse. The problem has been finding the money to make it a reality - those funds are finally here, according to Centro Transportation Services.


Labor News

Union apprenticeships have more success promoting racial, gender diversity, study finds

PoliticoPro- January 17, 2023

North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), led by President Sean McGarvey, released an important new study that shows registered union apprenticeship programs have more success in promoting racial and gender diversity than other apprenticeship programs. The first-of-its-kind study was commissioned by NABTU and conducted by the Institute for Construction Economics Research. It studied data from 1999–2019 from 34 states. According to the study, women made up 4.8% of all union apprenticeships in 2019. Only 2.4% of nonunion apprenticeships were women. The same year, 9.6% of union apprenticeships were Black workers and 29.4% were Latino workers. For nonunion apprentices, the numbers fell to 7.9% for Black workers and 22.5% for Latino workers. McGarvey noted that the next 10 to 15 years will provide a phenomenal amount of opportunities to continue this work and lift tens of thousands of people into the middle class through apprenticeships. “We’ve got to work a little harder and dig a little deeper to attract the kind of people that are looking for these opportunities,” he said.

See Study Here

International Transportation Learning Center

301.565.4713

info@transportcenter.org

www.transportcenter.org

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