News

TWC Holds ATTAIN Bus Operator Committee Kickoff Meeting

Posted March 2022

On Wednesday, March 23, the Transit Workforce Center, the Federal Transit Administration’s first ever national technical assistance center for transit workforce development, staffed by the International Transportation Learning Center, held its kickoff meeting for the Bus Operator Committee of the American Transit Training and Apprenticeship Innovators Network (ATTAIN). 

The ATTAIN effort and associated committees marks the first time the FTA has officially endorsed apprenticeship activity in transit. Given the challenges facing the industry with new technologies and with the need to hire a new generation of workers, apprenticeship is especially relevant right now. The kickoff meeting was attended by labor and management representatives from over 25 transit locations and featured a moderated roundtable discussion with representatives from Valley Transit Authority and ATU Local 265 in San Jose, CA and from Metro Transit and ATU Local 1005 in Minneapolis—St. Paul, MN, both of which have active, successful bus operator apprenticeship programs. The discussion was followed by a Q & A session where attendees were able to ask questions about launching and running an operator apprenticeship program as well as the types of benefits they could expect.

The committee has a strong emphasis on peer-to-per learning around operator apprenticeship and mentorship and is open to U.S. urban, suburban, tribal, and rural public transportation locations and their local unions.

For Technical assistance email us at twc@transport.org or call us tool-free at 855-888-NTWC.

For more information on the ATTAIN Bus Operator Committee contact Kenyon Corbett at kcorbett@transportcenter.org.