National Transit Employee Appreciation Day is an opportunity to express gratitude for the essential workers who keep our public transit system moving and build relationships with organized labor. Below are resources to help you engage with labor partners and activate your base of supporters.
Please email the National Campaign for Transit Justice team for guidance or support on any of the activities below or with your own take for this day!
Molly McKinley – molly@juststrategy.org
Stevie Pasamonte – stevie@juststrategy.org
Ways to show appreciation
Start by saying thank you!
We know that as transit advocates who probably go above and beyond to show transit workers some love all year round this seems obvious, but expressing gratitude to transit workers is something we can all do! Encourage your base of supporters to thank transit workers and wish them a happy transit employee appreciation day. A thank you could be paired with a note to the bus drivers on your usual route or a gift card to a local business.
Attend existing events with members of your organization
Your local transit agency and workers union may already be hosting an event/events for this occasion. Reach out to them to see how your organization can support these existing efforts. Your organization could offer to sponsor or deliver refreshments, thank you cards, etc. to show transit workers that there’s a community beyond the agency and union that support them!
Send a thank you card (physical or digital) to your local transit workers union
An easy and nice thing to show appreciation is by sending a card. If you have the address of your local transit workers union office, consider sending them a physical card. Get creative with it, pass it around at a meeting for your members to sign, and make it as personal as you can!
If you’re short on time, you can also opt for an email. For example:
Shout it out loud (on social media)
There are a number of ways to leverage social media to show your appreciation but make sure that you’re tagging the accounts of your local agency and transit workers union so that workers can actually see what you’re saying. Below are a few ideas for leveraging social media:
Collect short rider stories that show appreciation and share them throughout the week. An easy way to do this is to provide a couple of prompts to your members, like:
“I ride the [bus line] and I appreciate my driver/operator because…”
“I take the [train line] every day and I appreciate [transit agency name] workers because…”
“Transit is important to me because ____ and it’s transit workers that make it possible for me to _____.”
You can also have your members post their own stories on their individual social media accounts and tag your organization, the transit agency, and the local transit union to share.
Record and share a video compilation
Instead of writing out each story, have folks send in short video clips saying things like “Thank you, transit workers” and shouting out their specific drivers and routes. Tip: Bus drivers get a lot of love because we interact with them every day, but don’t forget to have at least one clip shouting out mechanics, customer service, and all the other folks who work behind the scenes.
Cards and Graphics
Transit Employee Appreciation thank you card designs – digital and print
Printable cards include both exterior and interior card designs
Digital cards can be included at the top of an email or used on social media
(Side 1: Exterior of card – fold in the middle) – (Side 2: Card interior)