SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD
King County, Washington · Public transit · Registered apprenticeship
Original reporting: Ryan Nguyen, The Seattle Times (Education Lab) · October 4, 2026
Aaron Maneenoi spent more than a decade as an equipment service worker for King County Metro, cleaning and refueling buses on swing and graveyard shifts, The Seattle Times’ Ryan Nguyen reports. He is now a vehicle maintenance apprentice at Metro and earns $49 an hour, up from $32 an hour in his previous role, according to the report.
Maneenoi, 42, is in the third year of Metro’s four-year apprenticeship track for current employees. He took classes at South Seattle College in the mornings and worked at Metro in the evenings, replacing battery packs on electric buses and repairing engines. Metro pays apprentices’ tuition. “With school and work, it was long days,” he told the paper. “But at the end of the year and a half (of classes), it was worth it.”
Metro apprentices are guaranteed a job with the agency when they finish, the Times reports. Apprenticeship coordinator John Custer said more than 460 people applied for vehicle maintenance apprenticeships in the 2025-26 cycle, and he hired nine. Another apprentice in the story, former special education paraprofessional Bronté Corbray, started in July at almost $39 an hour.
Location Decision takeaway
Custer told the Times that Metro has to train its own mechanics because qualified candidates no longer walk in the door, and he estimates about 12 vehicle mechanics leave the agency each year. The internal four-year track lets an existing worker move into a skilled, higher-paid role without leaving the employer. For regions weighing demand for heavy-diesel and electric-fleet technicians, an employer-run registered apprenticeship paired with a local college is one way to build that bench in-house. That is our analysis; the facts are as reported.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Ryan Nguyen, The Seattle Times, October 4, 2026.
This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.