In late January 2024, the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR), the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), and the Transportation Workforce Center (TWC) hosted the first Apprenticeship Academy in Tampa. The event aimed to address recruitment and retention challenges in Florida’s public transportation sector by promoting registered apprenticeship programs for bus technicians and transit coach operators.
The Academy was developed after a 2023 workshop where agencies requested more training on apprenticeship and mentoring. In response, FDOT, CUTR, and TWC created an interactive program to help selected transit agencies set up registered apprenticeship programs suited to their needs.
Teams from six Florida transit agencies attended. These included the City of Gainesville Regional Transit System, Hillsborough Transit Authority, Broward County Transportation Department, Votran (Volusia County), Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works, and Palm Tran (Palm Beach County). Each team had both management and labor representatives, such as members of the Amalgamated Transit Union and Teamsters, to encourage collaboration in workforce development…