Public Transportation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txg9PDWTW78
Public transportation, the subways, trains and buses that take people where they need to go, is great for the environment. That’s because transit (another word for “public transportation”) uses much less energy per person than private cars do and with less energy use, there is less pollution. In fact, for the average person, taking a bus or subway to work creates only one quarter to two thirds of the pollution than the pollution generated by driving a car or SUV. That includes the global warming pollution that is making hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires far more dangerous now than they were only 20 or 30 years ago.
Here in the New York City area, we’re lucky because we have the best public transportation in the country. We are also served by national and regional train and bus lines.
Listed below is information about jobs in public transportation in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey. You can also find information about jobs at national train and bus services, and a list of national public transportation job boards.
For more information about the kinds of jobs available in public transportation, training and education you might need to work in the field, check out the Transportation page of the Green Careers center at CareerOneStop.org. The federal government put CareerOneStop.org together to help people find work. CareerOneStop.org can also help you learn about salaries and benefits, along with other helpful information.
New York City buses and trains and other services of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Most of New York City’s public transportation is run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, also known as the MTA. The MTA provides a mind-blowing 2.6 billion trips a year.
The MTA runs several transportation programs. New York City Transit is the biggest one. NYC Transit runs the city’s subways, buses and its para-transit for people with disabilities. NYC Transit alone employs more than 45,000 workers. Some of them work in union jobs and others in non-union jobs. The MTA also runs commuter trains to Long Island, through the Long Island Rail Road and through Metro-North Railroad, it runs trains to Westchester, Connecticut, Rockland and Orange Counties, and several areas immediately to the west of the Hudson River.
To apply for any job at the MTA, you must go through the Authority’s website. You cannot send the MTA a cover letter and résumé in the mail. The website lists the different MTA agencies and the jobs they are looking to fill. To use the website, simply register on the upper right corner of the Careers webpage, and then you can look at all the jobs that are available now.
Sometimes, passing a civil service test can help you get a job or a promotion at the MTA. Civil service tests are given by the city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services. You can find the schedule for these tests here. That schedule is also available through the website and the print version of a newspaper called The Chief Leader.
Be aware that the MTA doesn’t always expect you to know everything about how to do a job before you get a job with them; they often offer on-the-job training. For instance, someone who has a commercial driver’s license but no experience as a bus driver could be hired as a bus driver and then receive on-the-job training to learn everything she needs to know about her new job.
Commuter and regional trains and buses: A wide variety of smaller agencies provide train and bus service in the New York City area. Sometimes, the jobs they offer are jobs with local or county governments. Sometimes, local or county governments hire private companies to provide public transportation services. So the jobs are with private employers. And sometimes, private companies provide bus service directly.
Long Island:
The Nassau Inter-County Express bus service runs buses throughout Nassau County and into Queens. You can apply for jobs through its Job Opportunities webpage or by calling 516-296-4261.
Suffolk County Transit operates most of the buses that serve Suffolk County. The County itself plans the routes and the schedules. But three private companies run the buses. They are:
E.B.T., Inc. 50 Court Street, Copiague, NY 11726-1588; (631) 842-7373
This company also provides school buses and their drivers for many school districts in Long Island and throughout New York State.
Suffolk Transportation Service, Inc. 10 Moffitt Boulevard, Bay Shore, NY 11706-7093; 631-665-3245
Suffolk Transportation also provides school buses, their drivers and para-transit service for people with disabilities.
Twin Forks Transit, Inc. P.O. Box 2050, W. Front Street, Greenport, NY 11944-2050; 631-477-1283
This company, whose website is called Sunrisebusses.co, also works with Hampton Jitney, which provides buses from New York to eastern Long Island and other locations.
Westchester:
Westchester’s bus system is called the Bee-Line Bus. It’s run by Liberty Lines, a private bus company. To apply for a job at Liberty Lines, you must contact the company to ask for an application. You can do this by mail, email, or you can pick up an application in person at its office in Yonkers between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Liberty Lines is located at 475 Saw Mill River Road, Yonkers, NY, 10701. To ask for an application using email, email Neil Erickson at nerickson@libertylines.com.
Northern New Jersey:
Northern New Jersey is served by several train and bus lines. The PATH train is one of them. It runs between Manhattan and northern New Jersey. On weekdays, it has almost 250,000 riders. You can apply for PATH train jobs (and other jobs at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey) through the Port Authority’s Careers webpage. If you have already registered at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority website, you don’t need to re-register. Your username and password will work on this website, too.
New Jersey Transit offers train, light rail and bus services. You can apply for jobs through its Careers webpage.
Buses serving the Manhattan Port Authority Terminal: At least 15 different bus companies run buses in and out of the Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan’s Times Square. Many of those companies list job openings on their websites, under headings like “Employment,” “Careers,” or “Job Openings.” Here is a list of those bus companies.
• Academy
• Bieber
• Community Lines (no website available)
• DeCamp
• Express Bus Service (no website available)
• Lakeland
• Megabus
National train and bus services:
Amtrak is the country’s passenger train service. It runs trains in 46 states, including New York. You can search for jobs on its Careers webpage.
At least six national and regional bus companies also do business in New York. A lot of these bus companies list jobs on their websites, under headings like “Employment,” “Careers,” or “Job Openings.” When a company doesn’t list their jobs in an easy-to-find place, you might have to call the company to find out how to apply. Here is a list of the regional and national bus companies that serve New York City:
National transit job boards:
The American Public Transportation Association speaks out to support public transportation. It lists jobs in transit on its Jobs webpage.
Mass Transit magazine has an online job board. Most of the jobs listed are for people with college educations.
Transit Talent, a national transit website, lists jobs at transit agencies around the country on its job board. People who are looking for jobs can also post their résumés here.