In 2022, as transit ridership began a slow bounceback from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, transit agencies across the nation faced a second crisis: a severe shortage of bus operators. In response, Metro launched a marketing campaign to attract more applicants, streamlined the recruitment and hiring process, raised the starting wage and improved other working conditions for new hires.
However, numbers were still falling short. Survey data told us that many eligible applicants never even consider the role of bus operator -- so we sought ways to humanize the profession as a means of keeping it at the top of mind for Angelenos considering applying for jobs. The bus operator dance challenge has grown from that effort.
Bus operators don't often get credit for the hard work they do to keep the region moving through rain, shine, pandemics, wildfires, hurricane-level winds all day, all night, through weekends and holidays. They're our frontline employees and among the most immediately recognizable staff members. We seek to continue to elevate the profile of bus operators as revered public servants.
We filmed and posted a handful of dance challenge videos throughout 2022 and 2023, and they received enthusiastic feedback, but it wasn't until the fall of 2024 that one exceeded 1 million views.
It is no easy feat to coordinate and execute this type of content at an agency as large as Metro Los Angeles, which has a service area spanning 4,000 square miles, a bus fleet of over 2,000 vehicles, and thousands of bus operators stationed out of half a dozen yards.
Nonetheless, one of our downtown Los Angeles bus divisions choreographed a dance and created a custom mashup of LA native Kendrick Lamar's anthem "Not Like Us" and Cameo's "Candy". Between shifts and with creative juggling of timetables, the large group rehearsed. And when they were ready, the social media team came to film.
In place of traditional bus operator uniforms, they wore blue polo shirts -- the Dodgers were, after all, about to make the World Series. We were able to leverage local LA pride through three touchpoints in the video -- through use of the Kendrick Lamar anthem "Not Like Us," blue polo shirts as a nod to the Dodgers, and, of course, our iconic Metro buses and operators.
When we posted amidst the excitement of the Dodgers' sealing the deal to go to the World Series, audiences celebrated!
This single post received
1.2M Impressions
181,026 Engagements
14.6% Avg. engagement rate per impressions
across TikTok and Instagram, with comments overwhelmingly positive and other local brand accounts as well as transit agencies across the nation chiming into the conversation.
Most importantly, however, the video injects personality into the public perception of the role of bus operator -- and showcases the agency's willingness to allow its employees to have fun in what is otherwise a serious profession with strict safety regulations. A number of current bus operators have directly attributed having seen the dance video as influencing their decision to apply for the role.
