News

Linking National Bus Maintenance Training Committee Work with Transit Apprenticeship Initiative

Posted June 2015

At the National Bus Maintenance Training Committee meeting in St. Paul, MN on June 10, Center Executive Director Jack Clark offered a presentation on establishing a national system of bus maintenance apprenticeship as a potential future direction for the committee. Jack focused on the proposed national apprenticeship program in the Center’s proposal to US Department of Labor in response to the American Apprenticeship Initiative.  The new effort by the Bus Maintenance Training Committee to develop courseware could benefit greatly from the new energy and expertise that sites interested in the national bus apprenticeship can bring to the table. Apprenticeship can also serve as the capstone to a full system of qualification.

The Bus Maintenance Training Committee consists of a dedicated group

of management and labor subject matter experts who have gathered over the last ten years to promote improved training for bus maintenance technicians.  In that time, the committee has developed recommended training practices for: Electric and Electronic Systems; Diesel Engines; Compressed Natural Gas Engines; HVAC; Air Brakes; Transmission and Drive Train; Hybrid Buses and EPA Emission and Treatment.

The group has also promoted ASE tests to certify the skills of bus maintenance technicians.  Asking the APTA Bus CEOs to support the ASE as an industry standard was also a major topic of discussion at the June meeting.