News

The Transportation Learning Center Featured in Workforce Discussions at the APTA Bus Conference

Posted May 2015

Center Director Jack Clark Presents on Workforce Development Needs of the Public Transportation Industry

Jeff Gonneville, Chief Mechanical Officer at MBTA in Boston and Chair of the Bus Maintenance Training Committee asked Center Executive Director Jack Clark to present to the Committee plans for a national system of apprenticeship in public transportation.  Jack made the case that apprenticeship addresses exactly the needs transit has for recruiting, training and retaining a skilled frontline workforce.  He also shared some information on the recently submitted apprenticeship proposal to US DOL, particularly the breadth of support for the proposal from the industry.

A panel on “Maintenance Management and Workforce Development” featured John Schiavone presenting on how Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can be used as a tool for training.  John emphasized that involving the frontline workforce in developing SOPs helped ensure that SOPs would be developed well.  Once there is agreement on a single right way to get a job done, that can also serve as the basis for training new workers.  Mentoring needs to be a crucial component of training around SOPs.

Jack Clark spoke again at the Workforce Development Roundtable, presenting detailed data on public transportation needs.  Jack’s presentation drew heavily on research and earlier presentations done by Deputy Director Xinge Wang.  In addition to laying out the overall transit workforce need—126 percent of the current workforce needs to be hired and trained in the next ten years—the presentation examined possible solutions, including apprenticeship.

For more information, visit the following links:
*    Transportation Learning Center Charts
*    National Public Transportation Partnership for Apprenticeship Summary
*    John Schiavone APTA Presentation 2015
*    Jack Clark APTA Presentation 2015