Vaccination opportunities critical for transit’s frontline workers

Reaching out to each of the governors across the U.S. has been a major industry push, along with outreach to local mayors, counties and health departments. We and many others have written to elected officials at all levels requesting they recognize the important role our frontline transit workers have played in this pandemic and to prioritize their vaccine allocation accordingly.

We have reminded these lawmakers that it is the transit operators who:

• Show up every day to bring essential workers to their jobs.
• Provide transportation to those who don’t have a vehicle or other means of transportation.
• Give passengers access to vital community services.
• Continue to help with food delivery to those in need and rides to testing and vaccination centers.

We now are seeing some positive movement in many cities. The momentum is accelerating. For example, in Phoenix, all transit employees across the Valley could register online and get their vaccination at a special clinic for transit and postal workers. Similar opportunities are happening in Nassau County (Long Island, N.Y.). In Boston, school bus drivers also now have access to vaccine appointments.

Yet, we need to keep up the effort. Our vaccine advocacy can’t stop here. In states and cities that are moving more slowly, we need to continue to encourage elected officials to prioritize our frontline staff, who have valiantly provided service during the entire pandemic, and continue to do so.

At Transdev, we have been relentless in our health and safety messaging – including a focus on reminding our teams that vaccines provide yet another way to stay safe at work. And that masks, social distancing and hand sanitizing remain key.

Let’s all continue to prioritize and advocate for the health and safety of transit workers and honor the contributions they make to our communities across the country – during this pandemic and beyond.

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Laura J. Hendricks is CEO of Transdev U.S. Hendricks brings three decades of executive and managerial expertise to Transdev. Since joining Transdev in December 2019, Hendricks has demonstrated her strong drive for service quality, consistent execution and building client relationships grounded in trust and transparency.