News

Center Holds National Coach Operator Apprenticeship Meeting at TARC

Posted April 2019

Left:  The Coach Operator Apprenticeship Committee tours TARC facilities.  Right:  Ferdinand Risco, TARC Executive Director, addresses committee and mentors.

The Center held the eighth Transit Coach Operator Apprenticeship Technical Committee Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky from April 2 to 5, 2019. Transit agencies and local ATU chapters from across the country joined Center staff to provide progress updates, work through issues that commonly surface in the relationship between labor and management, and learn about the benefits of registered apprenticeships for veterans. Participants talked about the operator experience in electric buses and learned about the cost of operator turnover that apprenticeship for operators can reduce to save valuable resources for both labor and management. ATU International Vice-President Marcelles Barnes also attended the meeting and reinforced the ATU’s commitment to this initiative.

The Transit Authority of River City (TARC) hosted the meeting and led a tour of their facilities. TARC is the latest agency to implement a registered transit coach operator apprenticeship. The committee met TARC’s recently selected mentors and offered congratulations and advice for their interactions with assigned mentees/apprentices.

For more information on Coach Operator Apprenticeship, contact Kenyon Corbett.