The Bus Maintenance Training Program will be a collaboration between Santa Monica College and Santa Monica s Big Blue Bus. The purpose of the program is to train entry-level technicians in repair and maintenance of public transit vehicles in order to provide career tracks in the transportation industry as well as in automotive and auto dealership positions. Currently in the bus maintenance industry there is no resource for training bus technicians. Some of the larger properties have set up in-house training programs to fill vacant mechanic positions. However, if we can successfully promote and implement the training program at the college, each property would then have a pool of trained personnel they can use to fill vacancies.
Training can continue while students continue to work.
The CalWORKs Program is offering support instruction in Vocational ESL and Basic Skills. Therefore, non-native English speakers are encouraged to participate. This additional component will provide a 32-hour per week vocational training opportunity for CalWORKs students who need to fulfill this requirement. Women are also encouraged to enroll. This is a great opportunity for individuals with no previous job training skills to participate in a short-term vocational training program, improve basic skills, and learn or improve English skills.