National Academies Press: OpenBook
Page i
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22489.
×
Page R1
Page ii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22489.
×
Page R2
Page iii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22489.
×
Page R3
Page iv
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22489.
×
Page R4
Page v
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22489.
×
Page R5
Page vi
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22489.
×
Page R6
Page vii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22489.
×
Page R7

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M TCRP REPORT 162 TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2013 www.TRB.org Research sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation Subscriber Categories Public Transportation Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry— A Systems Approach Candace Blair Cronin Allison Alexander Brian Cronin Christopher Riches Jennifer Stern ICF InternatIonal, InC. Fairfax, VA Ream Lazaro Valerie Lazaro Boyd, Caton & Grant transportatIon Group Earlysville, VA

TCRP REPORT 162 Project F-16A ISSN 1073-4872 ISBN 978-0-309-28351-9 Library of Congress Control Number 2013947812 © 2013 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit Cooperative Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the Transit Cooperative Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report. TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM The nation’s growth and the need to meet mobility, environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to intro- duce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it. The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report 213—Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration—now the Federal Transit Admin istration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the need for local, problem- solving research. TCRP, modeled after the longstanding and success- ful National Cooperative Highway Research Program, undertakes research and other technical activities in response to the needs of tran- sit service providers. The scope of TCRP includes a variety of transit research fields including planning, service configuration, equipment, facilities, operations, human resources, maintenance, policy, and administrative practices. TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. Pro- posed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was autho- rized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum agreement out- lining TCRP operating procedures was executed by the three cooper- ating organizations: FTA, the National Academies, acting through the Transportation Research Board (TRB); and the Transit Development Corporation, Inc. (TDC), a nonprofit educational and research orga- nization established by APTA. TDC is responsible for forming the independent governing board, designated as the TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Committee. Research problem statements for TCRP are solicited periodically but may be submitted to TRB by anyone at any time. It is the responsibility of the TOPS Committee to formulate the research program by identi- fying the highest priority projects. As part of the evaluation, the TOPS Committee defines funding levels and expected products. Once selected, each project is assigned to an expert panel, appointed by the Transportation Research Board. The panels prepare project state- ments (requests for proposals), select contractors, and provide techni- cal guidance and counsel throughout the life of the project. The process for developing research problem statements and selecting research agencies has been used by TRB in managing cooperative research pro- grams since 1962. As in other TRB activ ities, TCRP project panels serve voluntarily without com pensation. Because research cannot have the desired impact if products fail to reach the intended audience, special emphasis is placed on dissemi- nating TCRP results to the intended end users of the research: tran- sit agencies, service providers, and suppliers. TRB provides a series of research reports, syntheses of transit practice, and other support- ing material developed by TCRP research. APTA will arrange for workshops, training aids, field visits, and other activities to ensure that results are implemented by urban and rural transit industry practitioners. The TCRP provides a forum where transit agencies can cooperatively address common operational problems. The TCRP results support and complement other ongoing transit research and training programs. Published reports of the TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council. The mission of the Transporta- tion Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individu- als interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This guidebook was developed under TCRP Project F-16A by ICF International (ICF) in collaboration with Boyd, Caton & Grant (BCG) Transportation Group. ICF was the prime contractor for this study, with BCG Transportation Group serving as the subcontractor. Dr. Candace Blair Cronin at ICF International was the Principal Investigator and lead author of this guidebook. The other primary authors of this guidebook were Ms. Allison Alexander, Dr. Brian Cronin, Mr. Christopher Riches, and Ms. Jennifer Stern at ICF International; Mr. Ream Lazaro, senior consultant at Boyd, Caton & Grant Transportation Group; and Ms. Valerie Lazaro, senior analyst at Boyd, Caton & Grant Transportation Group. CRP STAFF FOR TCRP REPORT 162 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs Gwen Chisholm Smith, Senior Program Officer Megha Khadka, Senior Program Assistant Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Doug English, Editor TCRP PROJECT F-16A PANEL Field of Human Resources Doran J. Barnes, Foothill Transit, West Covina, CA (Chair) Arthur Barnes, Winston-Salem Transit Authority, Winston-Salem, NC Lori O. Gale, FastLane Hires, Bethesda, MD Jill A. Hough, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND Angela Iannuzziello, AECOM, Markham, ON Edward L. Johnson, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Atlanta, GA Andrew J. Johnson, Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System, Normal, IL Jeanne Krieg, Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, Antioch, CA Carol S. Taylor, Discover Financial Services, Chicago, IL Susan Camarena, FTA Liaison Betty F. Jackson, FTA Liaison Lydia E. Mercado, RITA Liaison Jarrett W. Stoltzfus, FTA Liaison Pamela Boswell, APTA Liaison Julie Cunningham, COMTO Liaison Robert Romaine, Transport Workers Union of America Liaison Jeffrey M. Rosenberg, Amalgamated Transit Union Liaison Donna Smith, Easter Seals Project ACTION Liaison Christopher Zeilinger, CTAA Liaison Mark R. Norman, TRB Liaison

TCRP Report 162: Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach provides a guidebook that addresses contemporary issues in workforce development, retention, and attraction, and public transportation image management. The guidebook provides practical tools to transit agencies on a variety of workforce issues, including workforce strategies that enhance organizational processes, performance metrics to evaluate the impact of workforce strategies, image management techniques that improve perceptions of the public transportation industry, and bench- marking processes that allow for continuous organizational improvement. The guidebook is separated into modules that may be used independently or together in the form of the fully integrated guidebook. The modules address the following areas: strategies for recruitment, retention, training and development, and professional capacity building (Module 1); metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of human resource practices adopted or contemplated (Module 2); reflections and strategies that pertain to image management (Module 3); and a framework for an ongoing benchmarking process (Module 4). In addi- tion, separate editable metrics scorecards are included that allow for input of metrics ratings tailored to match the specific situation of the organization using the scorecards. These scorecards can be found at http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay. asp?ProjectID=3288. Information across the modules is in the form of example successful programs, state-of-the-art initiatives, industry effective practices, and directions to imple- ment and measure those practices. The results of this research may be used by human resource professionals and transportation policy makers in implementing more effective human resource business-planning processes. The transit industry faces a critical shortage of skilled and seasoned employees as thou- sands of workers near retirement over the next 5 to 10 years. Recent studies indicate that having proactive and systematic approaches to address future workforce development needs is critical and must include strategies for attracting new and nontraditional can- didates to careers in public transportation. The public transportation industry is further challenged by its desire to be an employer of choice. The results of this research may help alleviate some of the challenges faced by public transportation agencies in address- ing workforce recruitment, retention, and development, and public transportation image management. ICF, Inc., prepared this report under TCRP Project F-16A. The primary objective of this research was to develop a set of metrics that may be used by public transportation agencies for workforce development, retention, attraction, and capacity building. To accomplish this objective, a comprehensive literature review was undertaken to identify F O R E W O R D By Gwen Chisholm Smith Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

current strategies for attracting and retaining a public transportation workforce, as well as the current and likely future impacts of demographic, economic, and other trends. Also, in addition to a series of online surveys and focus groups, key interviews with public transportation stakeholders were conducted to develop a list of metrics that could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of workforce development practices that are used by public transportation organizations. After gathering this information, the research team worked to systematically organize the information available on metrics used in both peer (i.e., public transportation) and non-peer organizations. To provide public transportation leaders with a practical tool for measuring the impact of practices, the team developed metrics scorecards and accompanying guidance on their use.

Note: Many of the photographs, figures, and tables in this report have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the Web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions. GUIDEBOOK CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. An Overview of the Guidebook Modules M-1 MODULE 1. Tailor Effective Strategies into Workforce Practices M-2 MODULE 2. Use Metrics to Evaluate the Impact of Workforce Practices M-3 MODULE 3. Improve Image Management to Become an Employer of Choice M-4 MODULE 4. Engage in Continuous Improvement via Benchmarking APPENDICES Appendix A: References Appendix B: Synopses of Modules

Next: Introduction - An Overview of the Guidebook Modules »
Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 162: Building a Sustainable Workforce in the Public Transportation Industry—A Systems Approach provides a guidebook that addresses contemporary issues in workforce development, retention, and attraction, and public transportation image management.

The guidebook provides practical tools to transit agencies on a variety of workforce issues including workforce strategies that enhance organizational processes, performance metrics to evaluate the impact of workforce strategies, image management techniques that improve perceptions of the public transportation industry, and benchmarking processes that allow for continuous organizational improvement.

The guidebook is separated into modules that may be used independently or together in the form of the fully integrated guidebook.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!