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How Can Small Transit Agencies Meet Need for Mechanics?  Grow Your Own Through Apprenticeship

Posted June 2018

The Center’s John Schiavone discussed the importance of registered apprenticeships at a meeting of state association representatives recently held during the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) Expo in Pittsburgh, PA. John spoke specifically about bus maintenance apprenticeships and the critical need facing agencies to grow their own technicians in the face of rapidly advancing bus technology, the mass exodus of retiring baby-boomer technicians, the limited pool of qualified replacements, and the aggressive stance taken by auto and truck dealers to draw from this narrow group of available workers.

The bus maintenance apprenticeship is one of several being developed by the Center under the Department of Labor sponsored American Apprenticeship Initiative, an effort to revive the traditional method used by trades to pass along skills to the next generation of workers primarily through on the job learning. The framework for the bus maintenance program consists of 10 job functions, which identify the specific tasks apprentices must be able to demonstrate as a result of the training.

For additional information about competency-based bus maintenance apprenticeships contact John Schiavone .