Resources and Best Practices for Zero Emission Fleet Workforce Transition Released by Transit Workforce Center |
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In conjunction with the Low or No Emission and Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Programs FY2022 Notice of Funding announcement on Monday by Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the Transit Workforce Center (TWC) released the “Resources and Best Practices for a Zero Emission-Workforce Fleet Transition Plan” in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration.
Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, transit agencies using the expanded Low or No Emission and Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program to purchase new bus equipment must submit a plan for implementing a transition to a ZEB fleet. The TWC resources and best practices go step-by-step, providing general approaches, key considerations, best practices, and helpful resources for agencies’ development of workforce transition plans, optimizing the potential for success.
"With the availability of the additional funding from the federal government, we find ourselves in a rare time where agencies have the opportunity to prepare a transition with the federal government providing some of the financial resources they will need,” said Jack Clark, Executive Director of International Transportation Learning Center, which administers TWC activities. “These resources are designed to support those transition plans in a functional process as they upskill their current workforce, and where new hiring is needed, create opportunities to attract to the industry young workers and people from underrepresented communities, including low-income individuals, people of color, and women."
The resources and best practices are designed to examine and address unique workforce needs while providing agencies with the building blocks to develop and implement strategic workforce development plans. They also give agencies operating with joint labor-management partnerships, such as registered apprenticeships, a head start.
“We like to call this resource tool a ‘living library,’ because we will regularly assess and supply additional resources on an ongoing basis,” said Deputy Director Xinge Wang. “The transition to ZEBs is very exciting, but it must have a thorough and thoughtful approach to be successful. We are very happy that the TWC and FTA were able to work together to aid in making this a smoother process for agencies across the country.”
The Low or No Emission and Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Programs FY2022 Notice of Funding announcement can be accessed at: https://www.transit.dot.gov/lowno
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We’re Hiring!
Do you want to develop training for frontline workers that improves public transportation? The ITLC is seeking a full-time instructional designer to work on a national training initiative. You will work with SMEs from across North America to build engaging, interactive learning experiences for classroom and online delivery using ADDIE and other proven instructional design models. This position will require occasional travel usually lasting up to three days to attend SME meetings, observe work practices, record instructional video, and evaluate course pilots.
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FTA – March 7, 2022
At an event with Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Transit Administration Administrator Nuria Fernandez today announced the availability of approximately $1.47 billion in competitive grant funds to help modernize bus fleets and facilities across the country, which will support good-paying jobs and help reduce carbon emissions, leading to cleaner air, healthier communities, and better transportation.
The Washington Post – March 4, 2022
The uncertain futures of city subway and bus systems have received the most attention amid changing commuter habits, but experts say longer-distance trains and buses that took the biggest hit during the pandemic remain at an even higher risk of long-term ridership woes. Across the country, city transit lines that serve lower-income riders without vehicle access or who work in health care, retail and other jobs that can’t be done from afar have retained much of their pre-pandemic ridership, experts say. Meanwhile, long-distance systems have lagged, as the bulk of their more affluent customers with more flexible desk jobs continue to telework or turn to driving.
Streetsblog – March 4, 2022
This is in addition to about $3.9 billion previously allocated to California transit agencies from the American Rescue Plan by formula – which generally means according to size of agency, number of riders served, and similar measures. That money must be spent in certain ways, but can be used for capital, planning, and operating assistance.
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US Department of Labor – March 7, 2022
“Partnering with the Department of Transportation will enable us to make the most of this historic investment in America and its workers by ensuring these investments lead to good jobs and that workers have the training they need to access these jobs, especially women, people of color and workers in communities who for too long have been left behind,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “Together, our departments can provide resources and support that states and local communities need to rebuild our nation with good-paying jobs in the transportation and infrastructure sectors.” This partnership aligns with the Department of Labor’s Good Jobs Initiative. Announced in January, the initiative aims to improve job quality through the nation by providing critical information to workers, employers and government entities as they seek to improve job quality and create access to good union jobs – free from discrimination and harassment – for all workers and jobseekers.
Transportation Trades Department – March 7, 2022
Workers in public transit know firsthand the critical role they serve in providing clean, efficient transportation options for Americans in rural and urban communities alike. Greener and cleaner public transit is a shared priority. Yet unfocused and sometimes non-existent policies on workforce training have placed tremendous strain on the incumbent and incoming workforce, which will soon be asked to maintain complex electric infrastructure and vehicles. Congress’ and the Administration’s successful effort to align federal investments with policies that grow good union jobs is a model for how innovation can simultaneously drive serious environmental, equity, and union worker outcomes.
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The Washington Post – March 3, 2022
Another $120 million in federal pandemic relief money is being released to Metro to keep the transit system running and its front-line workers on the job, congressional leaders announced Thursday. The money is a significant boost for the transit agency, which faces years of financial challenges amid steep ridership losses, particularly from its customer base of federal workers who are increasingly working from home.
Denver Post – March 7, 2022
A $53 million federal grant announced Monday will add some gas to the Regional Transportation District’s tank as the agency attempts to rev up hiring this year and close staffing gaps that have kept it from restoring more train and bus service. It’s among 35 struggling transit agencies in 18 states that will share $2.2 billion in federal pandemic relief funds awarded by the Biden Administration under a competitive “additional assistance” program. For RTD, the new grant comes on top of $774 million in past relief money that was given strictly based on federal transit formulas.
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TTD – March 9, 2022
20 labor organizations representing transit drivers and other transportation workers urged Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Administrator Nuria Fernandez to immediately implement the safety provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to protect transit workers from assault. Four months after the passage of the BIL, the FTA has yet to implement these safety provisions. Meanwhile, transit workers continue to face danger on the job. Assaults against transit workers have long been a concern but dramatically increased during the last three years of the pandemic, as did assaults on other frontline transportation workers like airline and airport workers. Labor unions representing frontline transit employees have responded to this crisis over the years through legislative and regulatory measures, most recently securing several provisions in the BIL to protect transit workers.
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The Denver Channel – March 3, 2022
As the country continues to emerge from COVID-19, more cities are piloting programs to make public transportation free in hopes of boosting ridership. Stacy Thompson is with a nonprofit called LiveableStreets Alliance. For years, they have been working to break down barriers when it comes to Americans' access to public transportation. "Sometimes the choice between paying for a monthly pass means that you can’t buy groceries for your children," Thompson said in a recent Zoom interview.
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Transit has been gutted, with the notable exception of the unprecedented wave of emergency funding that flowed to agencies during COVID-19, though it still wasn’t enough to make up for roughly a century of systemic disinvestment in shared modes. In most American cities today, riding buses and trains is artificially expensive, wildly and needlessly inconvenient, and shamefully inadequate to meet our daily needs — a status quo that only got worse when a deadly airborne virus forced millions to stay home or choose other ways to get around. Automobile travel, meanwhile, has enjoyed virtually limitless federal subsidy, even as the Highway Trust Fund falls further and further into bankruptcy and driving remains the leading contributor to U.S. climate emissions, traffic deaths, environmental racism, and more.
Mass Transit – March 9, 2022
"It's very difficult for us to isolate to just one thing," said Taulby Roach, president and CEO of Bi-State Development, which operates Metro buses and MetroLink trains in St. Louis and St. Clair County. "But I can unquestionably say that higher gas prices affect our ridership positively." Roach identified $4 a gallon as a "pivot point," meaning people seem to start changing their transportation habits and turn to mass transit in greater numbers when gas prices rise to that level.
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The Aspen Institute – March 16, 2:00 pm ET
The future of work and job quality rests in part on workers having agency and some ability to influence their work and workplace. The NLRA provides the legal foundation for workers’ right to exercise that agency. As we look to shape the future of work, what lessons can we learn from the NLRA’s history, impact and effectiveness today? Join The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program for a discussion on Worker Power and the National Labor Relations Act, the first conversation in a five-part series, The History and Future of U.S. Labor Law: Conversations to Shape the Future of Work.
United for Infrastructure – April 14, 12:00 pm ET
On April 14th, United for Infrastructure is hosting an event focused on ways utilities, transit authorities, and local governments can accelerate the electrification of everything in our economy.
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International Transportation Learning Center
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