Attracting, Retaining, and Advancing Women in Transit (2020)

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54 A P P E N D I X B Interview Protocol TCRP J-07/Topic SF-21: Attracting, Retaining, and Advancing Women in Transit Case Example Interview Protocol Introductions and Organization Demographics 1. Please provide a brief description of your agency including its size, location, nature of services, and population(s) served. a. Make sure that they provide information about each of the following. Ask probing questions if additional information is needed. i. Location, size of service area ii. Size (number of employees; number of buses/trains/routes; number of passengers served, if known) iii. Modes operated, including paratransit or on-demand transportation iv. Any additional operating characteristics that may distinguish them from other agencies or impact how they provide services? 2. What is your role in your transit agency? a. What role do you play with regard to diversity for focusing on women? Focusing on Women in the Workplace 3. In general, or by specific functional areas if you are aware of them, what is the percentage of women in your workforce? a. How does this vary at different levels of the organization? 4. How would you characterize the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in your agency? a. Which areas are the most challenging (e.g., recruitment of certain jobs, etc.)? b. How has this changed in recent years? 5. What goals does your organization have with regard to women in your organization? Now, we want to focus on specific strategies that can be used to attract women to transit agencies, retain them, and provide them advancement opportunities. Attracting Women to the Transit Agency 6. Does your transit agency currently use any specific strategies to focus on recruiting women into the organization? If so, what are these strategies?

Interview Protocol 55 a. Share a few reasons why you decided to use this initiative. What benefits did it offer above and beyond other options considered? b. Describe the planning process for implementing this initiative. c. How did you promote and gain buy-in at different levels of the transit agency (e.g., senior-level staff, frontline staff) for this initiative? d. How did you determine what resources were critical for implementation? How did you obtain these resources? e. What key steps did your transit agency take during implementation of this strategy? Please walk me step by step through what was involved from initiating the practice through sustaining this initiative. f. What obstacles did you encounter when implementing this initiative? How did you overcome them? g. What were key success factors that enabled effective implementation of this initiative? Retaining Women with your Agency 8. Does your transit agency currently use any specific strategies to focus on retaining women? If so, what are these strategies? 9. Now, I would like to ask you to walk me through how your transit agency implemented [the strategy/ initiative you mentioned—repeat for each major strategy listed in #9]. a. Share a few reasons why you decided to use this initiative? What benefits did it offer above and beyond other options considered? b. Describe the planning process for implementing this initiative. c. How did you promote and gain buy in at different levels of the transit agency (e.g., senior-level staff, frontline staff) for this initiative? d. How did you determine what resources were critical for implementation? How did you obtain these resources? e. What key steps did your transit agency take during implementation of this strategy? Please walk me step by step through what was involved from initiating the practice through sustaining this initiative. f. What obstacles did you encounter when implementing this initiative? How did you overcome them? g. What were key success factors that enabled effective implementation of this initiative? Providing Opportunities for Women to Advance 10. Does your transit agency currently use any specific strategies to focus on providing advancement opportunities for women? If so, what are these strategies? 11. Now, I would like to ask you to walk me through how your transit agency implemented [the strategy/ initiative you mentioned—repeat for each major strategy listed in #11]. a. Share few reasons why you decided to use this initiative? What benefits did it offer above and beyond other options considered? b. Describe the planning process for implementing this initiative. c. How did you promote and gain buy in at different levels of the transit agency (e.g., senior-level staff, frontline staff) for this initiative? 7. Now, I would like to ask you to walk me through how your transit agency implemented [the strategy/initiative you mentioned—repeat for each major strategy listed in #7].

56 Attracting, Retaining, and Advancing Women in Transit d. How did you determine what resources were critical for implementation? How did you obtain these resources? e. What key steps did your transit agency take during implementation of this strategy? Please walk me step by step through what was involved from initiating the practice through sustaining this initiative. f. What obstacles did you encounter when implementing this initiative? How did you overcome them? g. What were key success factors that enabled effective implementation of this initiative? Successes, Lessons Learned, and Challenges 12. What outcomes has your transit agency experienced as a result of focusing on attracting, retaining, or advancing women? a. What problems did implementing the strategies we have discussed solve for your agency? b. How did these initiatives impact different functional areas of your transit agency? c. What long-term goals does this [program/initiative or strategy] enable your transit agency to achieve? 13. How would you quantify the impact of the strategies we have discussed? a. What metrics do you use to track the use or success of these types of strategies? 14. If you were to implement each of these strategies again, what would you do differently? 15. What types of tools, resources, and information would be valuable for a transit agency that’s trying to focus on providing these opportunities for women? 16. What considerations must be made when implementing these strategies in different situations? a. Union vs. non-union b. Frontline vs. administration c. Individual contributors vs. management/leadership d. Operations vs. maintenance e. Other differences to consider? Summary and Conclusion 17. Is there anyone else in your agency that would be good to talk to about recruiting, retaining, and advancing women? 18. What are some names of other transit agencies we should engage who are currently focusing in this area? Could you please provide a person to reach out to and their contact information?

Abbreviations and acronyms used without definitions in TRB publications: A4A Airlines for America AAAE American Association of Airport Executives AASHO American Association of State Highway Officials AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials ACI–NA Airports Council International–North America ACRP Airport Cooperative Research Program ADA Americans with Disabilities Act APTA American Public Transportation Association ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials ATA American Trucking Associations CTAA Community Transportation Association of America CTBSSP Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program DHS Department of Homeland Security DOE Department of Energy EPA Environmental Protection Agency FAA Federal Aviation Administration FAST Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (2015) FHWA Federal Highway Administration FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration FRA Federal Railroad Administration FTA Federal Transit Administration HMCRP Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 ITE Institute of Transportation Engineers MAP-21 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (2012) NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASAO National Association of State Aviation Officials NCFRP National Cooperative Freight Research Program NCHRP National Cooperative Highway Research Program NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NTSB National Transportation Safety Board PHMSA Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration RITA Research and Innovative Technology Administration SAE Society of Automotive Engineers SAFETEA-LU Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (2005) TCRP Transit Cooperative Research Program TDC Transit Development Corporation TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (1998) TRB Transportation Research Board TSA Transportation Security Administration U.S. DOT United States Department of Transportation

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