From the Director's Desk
With Low-No proposal season wrapping up, the topic of workforce development continues to be a high priority for agencies around the country as they plan to deploy zero-emission buses. Roundtable discussions at CTE’s One-on-One event in Atlanta made clear that not only is this topic an essential consideration in any ZEB transition plan, but one that is receiving increased attention from the FTA and national policymakers. As the challenges of workforce development’s recruitment, retention, and training elements undergo scrutiny, the need for a substantive national conversation on the topic has never been stronger. There is a clear and present shortfall in training opportunities for the workforce of the future that requires partnerships across the industry to be adequately addressed.
CTE is working to identify the gaps in skills required to operate and maintain an agency’s fossil fuel fleet and those required to support their ZEB transition in order to create a foundation upon which training curricula will be based. In tandem with that identification process, CTE is fine-tuning training plans to identify when staff will need to be trained to meet ZEB procurement timelines, what the impact of training will be on staff availability, and where the appropriate training is most readily available. Additionally, CTE is coordinating national labor conversations to ensure progress on workforce development programs is universal and accessible.
While there are many critical elements to a fleet transition, the workforce will ultimately have the biggest impact to the success of the technology changeover. Without a carefully developed workforce development plan, agencies will struggle with the challenges of emerging ZEB technologies. CTE is here to help ease that burden and help our partner agencies in planning for a more sustainable future.
