September 2008 sUbsector Profile Employment in New York City’s Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation Subsector About this Profile n Urban transit is almost entirely pub- This is one of four profiles1 developed by the lic sector with virtually no role for the pri- New York City Labor Market Information vate in the United States, with exception of Service (NYCLMIS) about the transportation paratransit (special van and bus services for sector’s top employment subsectors. The people with disabilities, the elderly and the others are about air transportation, truck infirm), which is often contracted out. transportation, and support activities for n Ground passenger transportation is transportation. dominated by the private sector: charter This profile is intended to help workforce buses, private shuttle services, school buses, development account executives with and privately owned taxis and limousines. business development and job placement, career advisors with job counseling, and Because the subsector is organized into education and training professionals with two distinct sets of industry groups, there their activities in the transit and ground are three kinds of information in this profile. passenger transportation subsector. Job- Information about: seekers can also use this information to 1) The public sector industry group within help with career decision-making. Icons the subsector — Urban Transit (4851); appear throughout this profile to mark find- 2) The private sector industry groups in ings and recommendations of special inter- the subsector — Ground Passenger Trans- est to these respective audiences. See page portation (4852-4859); and 2 for a guide on How to Use this Profile, 3) The whole subsector, both public and and an accompanying key to the icons. private sector portions. The subsector is best understood as two The sections of this profile are divided distinct sets of industry groups with differ- by industry group so readers can easily ent dynamics and workforce needs. understand which part of the subsector is being discussed. Employment in New York City’s Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation Subsector How to Use tHis Profile The table below shows specific ways that career advisors, account executives, and education and training professionals can use the information contained in each section of this profile to help them to serve jobseekers and businesses. ProfilE SectioN ThiS sectioN CaN bE used To: terms and Definitions n Speak more knowledgeably with jobseekers and employers about the subsector. the subsector in New York city n Identify top employers. n Locate which boroughs have most employer sites. Jobs n Know how many jobs there are and where they are located. n Understand where job opportunities may be improving or worsening. wages n Identify entry-, mid-, and high-level wages. occupations and n Identify promising occupations for jobseekers. Advancement Pathways n Identify the skills, experience and other qualifications employers will require. current workforce facts n Know who works in the subsector now. n Compare current workforce with employers’ needs to identify “gaps”. Workforce ProfessioNalS ProfilE user key Career Advisors These icons appear throughout the text to mark findings and recommendations Account Executives that will be of particular interest to Education and Training Providers specific workforce stakeholders. All Stakeholders Employment in New York City’s Air Transportation Subsector NAICS allows users to uniformly iden- senger trips than the next largest (Chicago). tify and classify companies. Using NAICS There are approximately 8 million MTA rid- helps to ensure that we are referring to ers a day (5.5 million of whom are subway the same group of firms. After workforce riders). The most distinctive characteristic professionals identify the sector (2-digit of urban transit is its complete focus on NAICS code), subsector (3-digit code) or meeting this huge daily public demand. industry group (4-digit code) that they During economic downturns, like the one want to explore, they should give some currently being experienced at the time of more thought to what companies are and this writing, fewer tax receipts are gener- are not included, and then expand or reduce ated, and there may be less money avail- North American Industry their NAICS selection as needed. able for transit services. Classification System (NAICS) Definition of Account executives need to understand Workforce professionals should be the Transit and Ground how the subsector is organized (as described aware that urban transit — and jobs in the Passenger Transportation above) so they can speak more knowledge- industry — are dependent on the availability Subsector (NAICS 485) ably with employers. of tax revenues and the decisions of govern- ment officials on their distribution. This subsector includes several the subsector in New York city passenger transportation activ- When fuel prices are high, drivers are ities, such as urban transit systems; chartered bus, school Urban Transit more likely to turn to rapid transit systems to bus, and interurban bus trans- New York City’s transit activities are over- avoid the high cost of refilling their family- or portation; and taxis (including seen by the Metropolitan Transportation employer-owned cars. Although ridership limousines and “black cars”). Within the subsector, there are Authority (MTA) with an operating budget increases when fuel prices are high, transit scheduled industry groups of about $11 billion dollars in 2008 (Table agencies have to foot larger bills for having (urban transit, interurban and 1). The MTA is the largest transit agency in materials transported to them from manufac- rural bus transportation, and the U.S. with over 1.8 billion trips in 2006, turers and from site to site within the system. school and employee bus trans- portation) and nonscheduled more than five times the number of pas- industry groups (charter buses and taxis and limousines). other transit and ground pas- senger transportation includes Table Metropolitan Transit authority Statistics at a Glance paratransit (transportation for the elderly, people with disabil- 2008 operating budget $10.8 billion ities, and the infirm) and shuttle services. average weekday ridership 8,505,966 rail and subway lines, and bus routes 422 rail and subway cars 8,934 buses 6,346 Track miles 2,057 bus route miles 3,903 rail and subway stations 734 SOURCE Metropolitan Transit Authority, Budget as of February 2008. Other statistical information as of December 31, 2007. (www.mta.info/mta/network.htm) Employment in New York City’s Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation Subsector Also, some city buses and paratransit vans Ground Passenger still operate on diesel fuel which is costly. TransportatioN According to transit experts, the biggest The private sector ground passenger trans- challenges the MTA faces in the years ahead portation industry groups consist of firms are: expansion of infrastructure capacity, that operate limousines and “black cars,” and technology. How the MTA meets its taxis, charter buses, school buses, private largest challenges will affect on the agen- shuttle and paratransit services. Many of cy’s future workforce needs. these companies rely on demand from New The expansion of the transit system’s York City’s economic power sectors: finance infrastructure capacity will play an impor- and professional management firms. tant role in determining New York City’s Figure 1 shows that there are about ability to sustain its current economic 28,000 private sector jobs in the ground and population growth. Several large-scale passenger transportation industry groups, projects are underway including the 2nd making it the largest employment subsector Avenue Subway line slated for completion in the transportation sector. in 2013, the extension of the Number 7 Table 2 shows that many of the largest train to the west side of Manhattan, and ground passenger transportation establish- the development of a Fulton Street transit ments are in Manhattan. Some are black hub.2 Expansion may bring new jobs. car companies that cater to the businesses Technology. In recent years, the MTA has that are located there. Others are bus com- done a great deal to upgrade its technol- panies that serve commuters or school bus ogy. The most visible of change was the companies that contract with the New York adoption of the MetroCard®. According City Department of Education. to transit experts, there are other impor- tant changes that need to be made such as An establishment is a location where sharing scheduling information to improve companies provide materials or services maintenance operations, which will require and can be seen as an “employment site.” the transit workforce to upgrade their tech- A single firm or company may have many nology skills. establishments. As technology advances, younger and To collect establishment names more recently trained employees will be and contact information, account needed with the skills that match the executives can: requirements of the jobs in the subsector or n Purchase and consult commercially industry leaders will need to train incum- available lists such as Hoover’s, Moody’s, bent workers in these skills. Dun & Bradstreet or ReferenceUSA; n Download lists for free at the New York Public Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL) on 34th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan; or Employment in New York City’s Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation Subsector