Why This Matters

Public transportation systems across the United States move millions of Americans every day. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, many transit agencies have struggled to provide adequate service. The financial difficulties some agencies face have restricted service and have limited some agencies’ ability to meet riders’ needs. Contributing to waning service provision are the challenges many agencies have had recruiting and retaining sufficient workers, namely bus and rail operators, frontline staff members, and maintenance employees. Barring intervention, this workforce shortage may persist or worsen.

Transit agencies must respond to this situation. About half a million Americans are employed in occupations related to providing public transportation and school bus transportation. These employees ensure that the agencies can provide up to 20 million rides a day, notably helping to serve the transportation needs of the estimated 36 percent of the nation’s residents older than 10—including people with disabilities, older people, children, and people with low incomes—who do not rely on a personal vehicle.

Key Takeaways

Why are transit agencies facing a workforce shortage? Based on our examination of the data and comparisons between transit industry jobs and those offered by other types of employers, we identify several major trends:

• Though transit continues to play an essential role in enabling people to get to work, school, and recreation, the transit workforce has grown more slowly than overall employment in most large regions, undermining the ability of cities and towns to provide mobility to the millions of people who need it.
• Transit worker wages are similar to those in other industries, though outcomes vary by region. In some metropolitan areas, like Boston and Philadelphia, wages are lower than the average, which could threaten agencies’ ability to recruit workers.
• Transit agencies frequently impose more stringent qualification requirements than do other employers, such as commercial driver’s licensing, drug testing, background checks, and education minimum requirements. This could dissuade people from applying for jobs.

Transit agencies can implement changes that can help them more effectively recruit and retain employees. Evidence suggests that successful strategies could include the following:

• Enhancing job postings to fully communicate available benefits and paid training opportunities, while reviewing qualification requirements to reduce unnecessary barriers to entry. These changes can help expand the pool of potential applicants for transit jobs by making a job in the industry feel more appealing.
• Providing some employees, such as those in administration, the ability to work from home. Most transit agency workers must be on the job—as they drive buses and repair vehicles—but transit agencies can give office job workers a benefit that has become more common in other industries.
• Expanding benefits when possible. Transit agencies may be better positioned to retain employees if they provide staff working nontraditional schedules options such as subsidized child care assistance.

How We Did It

We examine current conditions in the transit workforce and estimate how the workforce is likely to change in the coming years. We compare the details of transit jobs with those in comparable industries to understand what might make transit jobs more appealing. And we conclude with recommendations for transit agencies, helping identify how they can show that their jobs can help bring thousands of Americans into the middle class.