Public Transit Operations: The Strategic Professional

"Public Transit Operations: The Strategic Professional" is a managerial text and career guidebook for industry workers, and provides an inside look at the operational best practices and common failures of one of the most vital cohesive forces in urban life. Advice for transportation workers, union officers, middle-managers and executives alike is provided, as well as an inside look at how this quasi-governmental industry should operate for the benefit of all American citizens. The book also answers many questions elected officials, legislators, board directors and the public should ask themselves. Why are public apologies for the inability to provide scheduled services so common in transit? What happens to bus operators that cause their sudden disappearance from the driver's seat? Why are attrition and absenteeism so high in an industry that provides competitive wages and benefits? Why are labor relations so dismal? Why is transit so undervalued in our congested cities that desperately need mobility solutions? Why are the customers so often treated as insignificant? These questions and many more are examined and answered in this book by thirty-year career insider Chester Patton. Collected in one volume are the hard-won lessons of a dynamic career of hands-on experimentation, trial and error, observation, research, consultation of the old guard and creation of new and effective systems to serve the customer and to strategically advance a career. This book is your next step in structuring your aspirations into a cogent, actionable plan for rapid development and promotion as a Public Transit Operations Strategic Professional.