New report identifies current and future training needs of public transportation industry

March 27, 2021

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) commissioned the National Transit Institute (NTI) to conduct a study to assess and codify the public transportation industry’s training practices, interests, and priorities and determine training needs.

Robert Noland, Bloustein School Distinguished Professor and director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC), and VTC senior research specialists Stephanie DiPetrillo and Andrea Lubin worked in conjunction with VTC and recently completed Identifying Current and Future Training Needs of the Public Transportation Industry (Report 0191).

The report identifies the public transportation industry’s training needs, including background information on expected trends in the industry, a review of prior work that examined training issues, and a qualitative and quantitative research approach to gather more detailed information.

Key findings include:

  • Resources and available training time are scarce.
  • Agencies use a variety of strategies for recruitment.
  • Rapidly-changing technologies are a challenge.
  • Selected strategies include the following:
    • Pursue partnerships within and beyond the public transportation industry.
    • Consider the creation of a fresh, public-facing national campaign.
    • Identify and clearly communicate transit industry staffing needs.

The report is now available on the FTA Reports and Publications page.

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