Transit Industry Educational Interests

In recent years, much emphasis has been placed on the role of mass transit in urban America. In order to facilitate communications between transit industry and academic institutions, a questionnaire was distributed to representatives of the transit industry in order to define the types of educational background and broad areas of program emphasis felt to be most desirable. As preparation to enter the transit industry, a majority of transit operators felt a 4-year college education was suitable. Stress was placed on having the educational background span a broad interdisciplinary mix with emphasis in program areas such as management, business administration, public policy, economics, and engineering. The present nature of involvement between educational institutions and transit operations centers on research and providing continuing education through part-time studies, seminars, and short courses. The questionnaire indicated that during the past 5 years, much has been accomplished in fostering closer liaison between institutions of higher learning and the transit industry.