National Transit Employee Appreciation Day

March 18th

On March 18—Transit Employee Appreciation Day—help us celebrate all the people that work to deliver safe, reliable public transportation in our community. Here are several ways to express your gratitude and support:

• Bring your own personal thank-you note (or pick up a card from the Transit Center) and hand it to the customer service representatives at the Transit Center.
• Say “Good morning!” or “Good afternoon!” when getting on the bus, and a hearty “Thank you!” when getting off the bus.
• Submit your commendation in the form below.
• Tweet or post to Instagram a photo of yourself at the bus stop or relaxing on the bus, using the #TEAD hashtag (and #TransitEmployeeAppreciationDay) and tagging us at @SantaBarbaraMTD.

MTD Behind the Scenes

In honor of all that our MTD workforce does for passengers every day, we want to highlight some of the things you may not know MTD staff does both behind the scenes, and while driving you across town.

They operate under an inflexible schedule to keep us moving.

Our drivers, maintenance and facilities staff show up to work every day, rain or shine, and are ready to go. They maintain, clean, and operate our buses with safety and timeliness always in mind, and do it all with a smile on their face.

They work early and late hours, on weekends and holidays.

While you’re at home with family celebrating Christmas Eve, enjoying Fourth of July fireworks, or bringing in the New Year, our MTD team is out there getting people where they need to go. Working in transit means showing up for our passengers, even during holidays.

They go above and beyond for everyone, no matter their age or ability.

Our staff help our riders, especially our youth, senior and disabled riders learn how to navigate transportation on their own by educating them both in person and online, including presentations and assistance in signing up for special programs.

Every day our drivers support disabled and senior riders when they need some assistance or patience in a fast-paced environment. 

Last but not least, they extend their helping hands when our community is in need.

Drivers assisted hundreds of rescued individuals with transport to the Red Cross shelter during Santa Barbara’s devastating debris flow tragedy. Our entire MTD team kept our riders moving during the pandemic, and navigated floods and debris to provide critical public transportation during the massive January 2023 storms and flooding.

During these challenging times, our operators keep our community moving, our mechanics keep our buses running, our service people keep our buses clean and safe for our riders & operators, our facilities staff keep the lights on and all systems go, our customer service team answers questions, and our office staff keep the bills paid and paperwork handled. From essential work to critical medical appointments and grocery trips, they were, and are, with us every step of the way.