Current FTA Administrator and former APTA Chair, Ms. Nuria Fernandez, identified workforce readiness as one of her key initiatives, and APTA has developed the Transit Workforce Readiness Guide as a resource for the transit industry. The guide was developed under the direction of APTA’s Workforce Readiness Task Force and is based on interviews with 35 organizations, including transit agencies, academic institutions, private sector organizations, and other partners.

The primary goal of the guide is to help transit industry executives and the industry as a whole to better market transit as a career, with an emphasis on programs and outreach to attract disadvantaged high school and young college students regarding viable job opportunities in the transit industry. The guide showcases existing transit industry programs and shows how students can have meaningful job opportunities in the transit industry.

The guide is organized into three parts:

• Part One: Creating a Workforce Readiness Program contains an introduction to workforce readiness issues in the transit industry. It describes why APTA developed this guide, including why it’s important to focus on workforce readiness opportunities for high school and young college students, particularly disadvantaged students. It also describes five steps to implementing a workforce readiness initiative.
• Part Two: Case Studies contains findings from 35 interviews with executives from transit agencies and other organizations. These interviews identify existing programs and best practices related to workforce readiness. • Part Three: Sample Materials includes materials provided by interviewees to support workforce readiness initiatives. These include examples related to internship and apprenticeship programs, recruiting, training and entry-level jobs.

This executive summary contains key information related to each part of the guide:

Transit Workforce Readiness Guide Executive Summary