Subway and Streetcar Operators
Operate subway or elevated suburban trains with no separate locomotive, or electric-powered streetcar, to transport passengers. May handle fares.
10,200 people do this job in the US. $86,380 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 4%
- 0%
- 96%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 4%. Today's estimate: 4%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 10 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor lights indicating obstructions or other trains ahead and watch for car and truck traffic at crossings to stay alert to potential hazards.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 35% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Drive and control rail-guided public transportation, such as subways, elevated trains, and electric-powered streetcars, trams, or trolleys, to transport passengers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 27% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Regulate vehicle speed and the time spent at each stop to maintain schedules.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 27% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Complete reports, including shift summaries and incident or accident reports.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Greet passengers, provide information, and answer questions concerning fares, schedules, transfers, and routings.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 2% | 4 min2 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Direct emergency evacuation procedures.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 2% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Report delays, mechanical problems, and emergencies to supervisors or dispatchers, using radios.Done daily by most who do it. | 1% | 4 min2 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Attend meetings on driver and passenger safety to learn ways in which job performance might be affected.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 1% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Make announcements to passengers, such as notifications of upcoming stops or schedule delays.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 0.9% | 2 min1 min to 4 min | Stays with people | |
| Operate controls to open and close transit vehicle doors.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 0.7% | 1 min1 min to 2 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Locomotive Engineers3% now, 3% by 2028
- Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters32% now, 33% by 2028
- Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity11% now, 11% by 2028
- Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers7% now, 7% by 2028
- Taxi Drivers20% now, 20% by 2028
- Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers12% now, 12% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).