A recent survey conducted by the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) show most respondents (more than 68 percent) reported at least 60 percent of employees were fully vaccinated. Slightly more than nine percent reported between zero and 40 percent of employees were fully vaccinated.
Respondents indicated personal beliefs, misinformation and distrust of the government as the top three reasons why vaccination rates are not higher.
CTAA’s goal with the survey was to learn more about how its members are handling COVID-19 vaccination rates and policies. The survey received a total of 120 responses from agencies across the country.
"Transit agencies around the nation are facing an extraordinarily tight labor market with driver shortages causing numerous service cancellations," said CTAA Executive Director Scott Bogren. "At the same time, these agencies are working to keep their front-line employees safe through effective COVID-19 vaccination. We wanted to get a better understanding of how our members are managing these major challenges."
The survey also asked what the expected staff loss to be should a vaccine mandate be implemented. Only 5.8 percent of respondents reported that they would lose 60 percent or more of their staff if they were to mandate vaccinations; while slightly less than 61 percent expected zero to 20 percent staff loss.
The CTAA survey found “many respondents stated they will not be imposing a vaccine mandate for their employees,” with agencies planning educational and engagement outreach efforts with employees on vaccines, offering incentives such as one-time bonuses or extra vacation, as well as paid time off to receive the vaccine and the needed recovery time as ways to handle the vaccine issue.
Among respondents to resources needed were more education and science information such as transit-specific statistics and non-partisan medical information and information on what peer agencies have done.
The full report can be accessed here.
