College Students Not Sure What to Expect from Careers in Transit

Students surveyed as part of a study on public transportation workforce development generally didn't express strong attitudes toward internships or careers in the industry.  For the few internship and career characteristics that students did have opinions the perceptions were negative.  These characteristics included the belief that work in transit is uninteresting, unchallenging, and does not provide the opportunity to be creative.  Project investigators David Ripplinger and Jill Hough of the Small Urban and Rural Transit Center believe that these perceptions may be due to students having little knowledge of the career opportunities in transit.

Students were surveyed to identify attitudes and behaviors that impact their choice of academic major, internship, and career, their perceptions of internships and careers in public transportation, and use of job search methods.  More than 1,000 students at North Dakota State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and Minnesota State Community and Technical College participated in the study. The project report can be found online at http://www.ugpti.org/pubs/pdf/DP229.pdf.