BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the frontline worker shortage, particularly for operators at public transit agencies. In response, agencies have modified recruitment, hiring, and training processes to attract more candidates, while also focusing on strengthening agency culture, boosting morale, and improving working conditions to retain staff. Although agencies are adjusting practices, rigid work schedules remain a major barrier that hinder workforce retention across the transit industry, limiting agencies’ ability to support employees in balancing operational demands with personal responsibilities.

The APTA Transit Workforce Shortage Report (2023) highlighted undesirable work schedules as a top reason frontline transit workers resigned from transit agencies. The report found that adjusting work schedules is more difficult than altering pay structures, and that altering compensation alone may not be a sufficient means to reduce employee turnover. To further address the problem, TCRP Project J-07/Topic SA-64, “Transit Scheduling and Dispatch Practice that Increase Operator Quality of Life” is identifying current strategies, practices, and outcomes of transit agency efforts to attract and retain operators through changes to schedule design and assignment.

While the previously cited studies identify scheduling solutions to address the transit operator shortage problem, there remains a broad and pressing industry-wide need to explore how changes to work schedules can help improve recruitment and retention of frontline transit workers.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of research is to explore and identify what gaps remain, barriers to adopting more work-centric scheduling, and how pilot or emerging business practices (planning, scheduling, allocation of the work, and labor agreements) affect staffing outcomes. The factors that can potentially improve transit operator job satisfaction by favorable work schedules resulting in enhanced quality of life and potentially increased hiring and retention rates shall be explored.

This research should consider the practices documented in the two studies mentioned earlier. At a minimum, the research plan shall address the following:

• Identify scheduling innovations that have reduced turnover to get a holistic view on work preferences from frontline transit workers.
• Assess the extent that wage rates or pay differentials can address recruitment and retention rates.
• Assess the trade-offs between the costs of improved working conditions, early attrition, and reduced service levels.
• Document business practices from other countries and/or industries with potential benefits applicable to USA agencies (for example, cycling roster, preferential bidding, benefits and privileges related to seniority, etc.).
• Identify measurable factors that technology can digest to improve quality of life or well-being for frontline transit workers.
• Explore examples of successful collaborative agreements between agencies and unions that improved work schedules and morale.
• Identify a key performance indicators (KPI) framework used to monitor the effectiveness of identified best practices. Additionally, identify how outcomes from these implementations are integrated into a closed feedback loop to support continuous system improvement.

RESEARCH PLAN

The research plan shall describe appropriate deliverables that include the following (which also represent key project milestones):

• Kick-off meeting to present the amplified research plan to the project panel for discussion and feedback.
• Interim report that includes the analyses and results of completed tasks, an update of the remaining tasks, and detailed outlines of the final research product(s).
• Panel meeting that will take place after the panel review of the interim report. The interim report and panel meeting should occur after the expenditure of no more than 40% of the project budget. Work on subsequent tasks will not begin until TCRP approval of the interim report.
• Final deliverables, including (1) a final report that documents the entire research effort, (2) the Implementation of Research Findings and Products Technical Memorandum, and (3) a presentation with detailed presenter notes summarizing the findings of the research for webinars.

STATUS: Proposals have been received in response to the RFP. The project panel will meet to select a contractor to perform the work.