On a sunny Saturday in mid-April, a white bus pulled into the parking lot of Mattapan’s Jubilee Christian Church off Blue Hill Avenue just north of the Square. “Next stop: Opportunity,” said a sign on the side of the bus. A ramp, flanked by orange cones, beckoned riders to get on, and inside, instead of blue seats, small desks and folding chairs offered an area for people to sit and fill out a job application on a laptop.

The bus is a part of the MBTA’s bid to recruit employees as the agency faces a workforce shortage that has made “rapid transit” a contradiction in terms in Boston. Safety lapses have drawn federal scrutiny, and the T has struggled to provide reliable service across the system.

There are more than 2,000 open or budgeted positions at nearly all levels, and MBTA officials are offering signing bonuses of $7,500 for bus operators, train car operators, and fuelers.

The event in Mattapan on April 15 was one in a series, with others planned for Quincy (April 22), Lynn (April 29), and East Boston (May 6).

The new general manager, Phillip Eng, who started his job of MBTA general manager five days earlier, joined the T’s hiring team in the parking lot.

“There is a career path here, the ability for us to have succession planning to make sure we’re mentoring and helping people build here,” Eng said, shown in the photo above.

“Work is work, but it doesn’t have to be something that you don’t want to do,” he added, pointing to the variety of positions that the T has open – accountants, human resources professionals, and marketing coaches.

“Whether people have changed their minds or found other jobs, we need to streamline our processes and at the same time, make sure that we’re bringing in the right folks to perform these challenging jobs,” Eng said.

After potential recruits arrived that Saturday, they were greeted at a check-in desk before members of the hiring team guided them to checkpoints where they filled out applications.

Gil Alzate, the MBTA’s director of staff, came up with the idea for “HR on the Go,” as the events are called. He said it is designed to get past language and technology barriers for potential applicants.

“We’re moving away from what we call ‘post and pray’ to being a proactive recruitment organization reaching out to folks,” Alzate said. “So, we said: ‘Let’s get in front of our potential applicants and walk them through it.”

Ten years ago, potential employees might have had an aunt or uncle who worked for the T helping to create word of mouth and a pathway to a government job, according to Alzate. “Now we have to think from an education standpoint beyond what you see: the buses, that’s the obvious,” he said.

For all that, word-of-mouth within the family helps. Sean Woods is an independent contractor who has driven trucks for 20 years but showed up that day because he’s looking to make a change. Woods found out about the event through his father, who had previously worked for the T.

He was open to any jobs available but expressed interest in driving buses, an area where the T faces a shortage of 350 or so workers.

Separately, Rohan Burnett came to the event to apply for a rail repair position after seeing it advertised on the T’s website. “You have to get some people in the door to fill the spots,” Burnett said. “I’m sure it’ll be a process to filter out and I’m sure they won’t get everything they need, but it’s a start.”

The business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation issued a report earlier this month, just as Eng was set to assume management control at the T after years running the commuter rail system in New York. The report noted that even as the MBTA seeks to increase personnel levels by 2,000 people in its fiscal 2024 budget, it will likely start the new year in July with staffing levels 20 to 25 percent below what’s required to maintain and operate the system.

That means that slow service is likely to continue, but initiatives cannot move forward without proper staffing levels, nor can the MBTA resolve federal safety directives without sufficient staff.

Critical jobs that face shortfalls include rail repairer, bus inspector, track laborer, engineer, along with bus and train operators.

“In sum” the report noted, “elected leaders and policymakers may have to rethink MBTA service levels should labor shortages persist while at the same time confronting inadequate operating and capital resources and an aging and rapidly deteriorating infrastructure.”

Alzate knows the T has a long way to go to meet its hiring goal, but he saw this event as “top of the funnel brand awareness” to get people learning about the T. He wants to generate a contact list so that recruiters can directly reach out to individuals when positions open up.

“Folks are applying for jobs, but what they’re really doing is giving us their contact information,” Alzate said. “And our recruiters after this are going to start marketing, start calling folks.”

Eng was optimistic that the new recruitment strategies will bring reliability back to the T for both its workers and its riders. “Obviously, safety is on everyone’s mind,” he said. “Once we hit those points, people will come back. Whether it’s needing time to reflect, to sleep on it, read the paper, read a book, or just maybe listen to music, it is still one of the best ways to go.”

Managing Editor Gintautas Dumcius contributed to this report.