Facing severe staffing shortages and high rates of burnout, transit agencies must improve their human resources departments and create healthier work environments to address current lapses in service.

A new report highlights major human resources shortcomings at transit agencies around the country that extend far beyond bus and train operator shortages to administrative and white-collar transit jobs, writes Kea Wilson in Streetsblog USA. “In a follow up to their much-discussed report on the national bus and train operator shortage, researchers at Transit Center dug into the structural factors behind the troubling ‘lack of people power’ happening at virtually every level of agency operations.”
Poor working conditions are driving many workers away, and almost half of workers are over the age of 55 and approaching retirement. “And even as agencies step up to help struggling riders with nowhere else to go and fix broken systems they didn't create, they're not always given extra resources to do it; they just stretch their budgets, and themselves, thinner and thinner,” Wilson adds.
Laurel Paget-Seekins, the primary author of the report, says this “cycle of exhaustion isn’t inevitable,” but that transit agencies must boost funding and resources for their HR departments and build a “strong foundation without which the sustainable transportation ecosystem can't possibly be expected to thrive, and without which many agencies are struggling to simply survive.”
FULL STORY: To Make Transit Work, We Need to Make Transit Agencies Better Workplaces

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

California Invests Additional $5M in Electric School Buses
The state wants to electrify all of its school bus fleets by 2035.

Austin Launches $2M Homelessness Prevention Fund
A new grant program from the city’s Homeless Strategy Office will fund rental assistance and supportive services.

Alabama School Forestry Initiative Brings Trees to Schoolyards
Trees can improve physical and mental health for students and commnity members.
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