Training
Texas Transit Association Statewide Training Initiative
TTA is now expanding access to educational resources by launching a Statewide training initiative covering the many obstacles that transit staff face, including funding, procurement, and regulatory compliance. This training opportunity is made possible with a grant through TxDOT.
To administer this program, TTA will work closely with Easterseals, which has over 34 years of experience developing and implementing training programs and workshops for rural, suburban, and urban transit agencies. This training curriculum will be designed and delivered to be relevant to transit providers at various levels of management, accounting, and procurement professionals, front-line supervisors, dispatchers/ call center staff, and drivers. It will incorporate best practices from both the public and the private sector.
All courses, workshops, and webinars, in-person or virtual, are designed to be interactive and participatory. These courses will be offered to Transit agencies in Texas at no cost, but space is limited, so make sure that you and your staff don’t miss out on this great opportunity.
Upcoming Training
TTA’s Upcoming Courses
These courses are offered to transit agencies in Texas at no cost by grant funding through TxDOT.
Introduction to Travel Training (in-person workshop)
Date: September 8-9, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Central each day
Location: CCRTA, 302 N. Staples St., Corpus Christi, TX 78401
Presenter: Raven Alexander, Consultant
Description:
This two-day, in-person course offers a practical introduction to travel training. Designed for those new to the field or looking to build basic skills, the course covers key topics like assessments, route planning, and teaching strategies. Through hands-on activities and group discussions, participants will learn how to help others travel independently using public transportation.
Offering Alternatives: Creating Partnerships to Manage Paratransit Ridership (webinar)
Date: September 17, 2025
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Central
Presenter: Judy Shanley, Easterseals Project Action
Description:
When thinking about transportation options for people with disabilities, many automatically consider paratransit service as the only solution. However, through innovative partnerships and a coordinated mobility management framework, alternative transportation services can offer an important transportation choice for riders with disabilities. This panel will describe partnership models that create efficient, effective, and high-quality transportation solutions for riders – empowering them to seek innovative mobility options.
The Importance of Improving Your Communication Skills (webinar)
Date: September 23, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Central
Presenter: Carol Wright Kenderdine, Consultant
Description:
Do you want to learn the key to effective communication? It is one of the most critical abilities in life, but no one really teaches us how to communicate well and influence others. Excellent communication is one of the most important skills we need to learn, and it has a big impact on our ability to be successful. Effective communication can make or break our careers and our relationships. There are very few areas in our lives in which we can succeed in the long run without this crucial skill. This workshop focuses on verbal communication skills…improving your competency, ability, and attitude toward understanding others and being understood. It will help you answer the question: What can I do better, more simply, differently, and more effectively to improve my communication with other people?
Paratransit Maintenance Technician Workshop (in-person workshop)
Date: September 23-24, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. central day 1
8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. central day 2
Location: VIA, 4902 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, TX 78229
Description:
This hands-on paratransit maintenance training provides participants with practical knowledge and skills to perform effective preventive maintenance and identify common defects in paratransit vehicles. The training emphasizes best practices for vehicle care, system troubleshooting, and maintenance documentation. Participants will also explore real-world maintenance scenarios and gain access to take-home digital resources. This session is designed to enhance operational efficiency, minimize downtime, and promote the long-term reliability and safety of transit fleets.
Service Planning Concepts, Philosophy, and Service Evaluation (in-person workshop)
Date: September 24-25, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. each day
Location: AACOG Art, 8200 Perrin Beitel, San Antonio, TX 78218
Description:
This two-day service planning workshop is designed around planning and designing transit services to meet the specific needs of customers and the service area. The hands-on workshop will combine lecture and group exercises. The workshop will last two days and will cover the design, implementation, and evaluation of public transportation systems that are a perfect match to your community and resources. Topics will include appropriate service planning and design/redesign from demand response and on-demand services to fixed routes; resource allocation; evaluating capacity; how to use public input; skills for equipping staff with the knowledge to inform the public about services; and developing and evaluating appropriate performance measures.
CARES Advanced Transit Management (in-person workshop)
Date: September 30 - October 1, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Central each day
Location: City of Amarillo, Multimodal Terminal, 509 S. Bowie St., Amarillo, TX 79106
Presenter: Carol Wright Kenderdine, Carol Wright Consulting
Description:
This 2-day workshop is designed for seasoned managers looking for new and improved approaches to managing their transit programs. It is a follow-up course to the Fundamentals of Transit Management. This course will challenge you to rethink some of the principles you thought you already knew. It will help you look at things from a number of different perspectives and provide you with hands-on activities and take-home resources that will enable you to implement what you learn in your own agency.
Modules for Advanced Transit Management include:
• Human Resources – Recruiting Good Employees; Performance Appraisals; Resolving Workplace Conflict (i.e., Managing Employee Conflict; Managing Difficult Employees; etc.); Succession Planning
• Financial Management – Evaluating Financial Capacity and Decision-Making
• Strategic Management – Benefits of Strategic Management; Implementing the Strategic Management Process; Marketing/Links to Stakeholders
• Advanced Service Planning -- Service Deployment; Technology Needs; Service Effectiveness & Efficiency; Setting Fares; Service Monitoring; and Best Practices
• Leadership Skills and Development
This workshop includes scenario-based exercises; problem solving exercises; valuable group discussions; hands-on training; best practices; and resources.
Regulatory Updates and Heightened Areas of Emphasis with Immediate Implications for All Transit Agencies (virtual workshop)
Date: October 8, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Presenter: Robbie Sarles, RLS & Associates
Description:
The transit regulatory environment continues to evolve, including regulatory updates and FTA-provided guidance and clarifications that have implications for transit agencies. All FTA recipients and subrecipients must be aware of these requirements to ensure their programs comply and to avoid deficiencies and costly corrective actions. This session will highlight the most recent regulatory changes with emphasis placed on "areas of concern" that pose significant risk to agencies.
Are You Ready? Strengthening Employee Engagement to Improve the Rider Experience (webinar)
Date: October 16, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Katherine Newman, Easterseals
Description:
For most transit systems, customer interaction begins with the operator, dispatcher or even through social media; are you and or your employees ready? This webinar covers ways to boost employee engagement that will ultimately reflect positively onto the customer. Using techniques to identify existing supports already in place within your agency, participants will become aware of their workplace behaviors, build upon strengths, and develop long range outcomes for improved performance.
Developing Effective Surveys for Transportation Planning (webinar)
Date: October 23, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Presenter: Jane Mahoney, Easterseals
Description:
Collecting input from the community is an important part of developing a coordinated public transit and human services transportation plan. Surveys are a commonly used tool to elicit feedback and input from transportation users and the public, but writing a survey that gets honest, constructive responses requires careful planning. In this webinar, you will learn how to design surveys that will result in valuable information for your transportation plan.
Federal Procurement Compliance: From Policy to Practice (1-day, in-person)
Date: October 28, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Location: TBD
Presenter: RLS
Description:
This workshop will focus on Federal procurement requirements, developing a compliant procurement policy, micro, small, and large purchase requirements, System of Award Management (SAM) record checks, and procurement record keeping. It will also instruct participants on completing the required procurement forms
Managing People: Essential Tips for Supervisors (webinar)
Date: October 29, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Presenter: Carol Wright Kenderdine, Carol Wright Consulting
Description:
Want a great conversation starter? Ask someone if they have ever had a bad manager…it is guaranteed to get a response! Bad managers are great teachers…we learn exactly what we do NOT want to do and the mistakes we do not want to make. Prior to my becoming a manager, no one told me that managing people was going to be so time consuming and full of potholes! This workshop will give you practical, useful tips on how to succeed at managing people, whether you were just promoted or have years of experience. If you are a new manager, you’ll discover best practices to lead and develop your staff into a high-performing team. If you are an experienced manager, we will focus on practices that fill the gaps in your management training. For all attendees, we will dive into common managerial tasks like one-on-ones, giving feedback, delegating, building team culture, discipling staff, and much more!
Promising Practices for Conflict Resolution, Harassment Prevention, and Dealing with Workplace Violence (2-day, in-person)
Date: November 4-5, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. central each day
Location: TBD
Presenter: Carol Wright Kenderdine, Carol Wright Consulting
Description:
This workshop will provide attendees with the knowledge and skills to help prevent workplace violence, harassment, and how to resolve conflict. The following three modules will define and demonstrate a wide variety of innovative approaches to address these issues. Specifically, this training will cover:
- Conflict Resolution – Conflict can – and should be – resolved. This module will provide you with coping skills for working with difficult people whether they are customers or people we work with every day. You will learn the best way to handle each situation as it occurs. While each situation is different, there are techniques that you can adopt that will help you identify causes of conflict, develop communication skills for resolving conflict, and tools for positive outcomes.
- Harassment Prevention – A healthy workplace begins with preventing harassment. This training will identify different types of workplace harassment and provide solutions for its prevention. It defines unacceptable behaviors, outlines important policies and procedures, clarifies reporting, and seeks solutions to alleviate harassment on the job.
- Workplace Violence – This training will cover recognizing the elements of workplace violence, developing skills for preventing and responding to workplace violence, and understanding the results of workplace violence. This module will address: customer on employee violence; violence between employees; violence by individuals with no legitimate business at the workplace; and violence at the workplace stemming from personal or domestic relationships. Techniques for developing a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan will be provided which address policies and procedures for preventing and responding to workplace violence.
Bringing Your Coordinated Plan to Life: Making your plan a reality (1-day, in-person)
Date: November 6, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. central
Location: TBD
Presenter: Robbie Sarles, RLS & Associates
Description:
Bringing Your Coordinated Plan to Life--Making your plan a reality." This course will focus on the steps you will need to take to effectively implement your coordinated plan. Various techniques and tools will be discussed/demonstrated. Common barriers and stumbling blocks will be identified with suggestions on how they can be overcome, and expectations can be managed. The keys to success will be provided to unlock the challenge ahead and help you find your path forward.
Considerations for Microtransit as a Part of an Integrated Transit System (virtual workshop)
Date: November 11, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. central
Presenter: A.T. Stoddard, Consultant
Description:
Microtransit is often promoted as a service to solve many of the challenges faced by public transit systems. New vendors regularly appear with microtransit platforms with claims to meet all your transit needs. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to the concept of microtransit to understand what it is, how it operates, and some of the benefits and limitations of microtransit. Specific topics to be covered include:
- Characteristics of microtransit
- Factors to consider for implementation of microtransit
- Performance characteristics of microtransit
- Cost of microtransit
- In-house or contract operations
- Integration with complementary paratransit service
- Integration with fixed-route service
- Examples of microtransit implementation
- Hands-on exercises to evaluate potential for microtransit
Best Practices in Public Engagement and Meeting Facilitation (webinar)
Date: November 18, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. central
Presenter: Katherine Newman, Easterseals
Description:
In this webinar, you will learn how to improve your public engagement and meeting facilitation skills. The webinar covers various techniques and strategies that will empower you to become an effective facilitator, allowing you to lead productive and engaging meetings, workshops, and public events. This webinar will teach you how to manage group dynamics, handle difficult conversations, and create a positive and inclusive environment. By the end, you will have the necessary skills to successfully facilitate your next meeting or public engagement event.
Certified Mobility Manager Program (up to 10 participants)
Registration Deadline: November 30, 2025
Certification Completion Deadline: February 28, 2026
Description:
Easterseals Project Action (ESPA) offers a comprehensive certification program for mobility management professionals, at all experience levels, with a Certified Mobility Manager (CMM) credential. All courses are provided virtually, taken at your own pace, and must be completed by February 28,2026. All coursework and credit hours must be completed through an online learning portal, which is monitored by ESPA staff. The program requires a total of 60 credit hours, which can be achieved by completing the required foundation courses, any approved electives hosted by another agency (trainings, courses, webinars or conferences, etc.), and a final project.
For more information: https://www.projectaction.com/certification-programs/paratransit-manager/steps-to-completing-the-mobility-management-certification-program/
Effective Communication and Disability Etiquette (webinar)
Date: December 9, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. central
Presenter: Kristi McLaughlin, Easterseals
Description:
This webinar on disability etiquette aims to educate individuals on appropriate behavior and communication with people with disabilities. The webinar covers various topics such as understanding disability, language usage, body language, accessibility, and laws and policies related to accessibility and disability.
How Passengers with Disabilites Travel (webinar)
Date: December 11, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. central
Presenter: Katherine Newman, Easterseals
Description:
This webinar is designed to educate participants on how people with disabilities travel independently in their communities. The webinar covers the use of service animals and white canes, mobility devices such as wheelchairs, scooters, walkers and more, the use of technology to aid in traveling independently, and the role of personal care attendants in independent mobility.
Agencies interested in hosting future training classes can contact Laura@TxTransit.org for details.
Host agencies are expected to provide the following:
Training Room with a projector that can accommodate up to 35 individuals classroom style.
Refreshments and coffee for morning and afternoon breaks.
Please note that the training location must be in close proximity to dining establishments to allow participants to leave and return within one hour.
Host agencies may also provide lunch if there are no dining establishments nearby.
The host agency is encouraged to offer tours of their facility.