Voyago is hiring a dynamic and highly effective Operations Manager for our Student Transportation division in Grey Bruce, Ontario.
Your Role:
With a large emphasis on training and orientation, Voyago dedicates itself to supporting the growth of our employees by allowing them to develop the necessary skills in order to be successful. We provide our employees the necessary training tools to service our customers and clients more effectively. We remain true to our value-added services, commitment to our community, and our continued services provided by our long-term standing employees.
Position Overview
Reporting directly to the VP of Schools, the Operations Manager is responsible for the daily operations of the Student Transportation Division. This role will manage and oversee compliance of the Key Performance Indicators while influencing customer satisfaction, increasing revenue of the division and overseeing operational effectiveness and quality. The successful candidate will be an important contact for management in key accounts and therefore a high degree of diplomacy and tact will be required.
Service Delivery & Daily Operations
- Manage and optimize vehicle usage while reducing deadhead distance.
- Ensure adherence to contract stipulations.
- Oversee dispatching, routing, and transportation tracking operations.
- Plan, organize, and supervise staff to guarantee that their tasks align with organizational standards.
- Implement changes to scheduling and policies.
- Supervise the effective initiation and conclusion of the school year.
- Collaborate with fellow managers and staff to develop and execute policies, procedures, objectives, and goals.
- Work with the Health & Safety team and government bodies to investigate transportation accidents and incidents, enhancing safety protocols.
- Follow through on all aspects of progressive discipline.
- Ensure safe, reliable, and timely transportation for every designated route.
- Oversee daily dispatching operations, driver assignments, route coverage, and service modifications.
- Manage spare vehicle allocation, minimize service disruptions, and ensure contingency measures are established.
- Monitor weather conditions, road statuses, and make timely operational decisions based on this information.
Route Planning & Efficiency
- Collaborate with routing teams to develop accurate and optimized routes, minimizing deadhead.
- Manage adjustments to routes, load balancing, school bell schedules, and seasonal changes.
- Monitor spare ratios, route usage, and identify opportunities for optimization or cost reduction.
- Customer Relationships & Communication
- The Operations Manager serves as the primary contact for daily operations.
- Plays a vital role in providing quotes for new business.
- Ensures compliance with contractual obligations.
- Manages daily operational communications through the STS portal, maintaining process integrity and data accuracy within the dispatch system.
- Cultivates strong relationships with school boards, principals, consortium partners, and community stakeholders.
- Responds swiftly to incidents, parent concerns, school-related inquiries, and performance feedback.
- Represents the company in consortium meetings, audits, and partnership discussions.
Reporting
- · Track and report Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) emphasizing uninterrupted service.
- · Conduct customer satisfaction surveys.
- · Provide precise and prompt reporting to senior leadership.
- Incident & Crisis Management
- · Lead or assist in responding to collisions, injuries, breakdowns, and emergency situations.
- · Ensure thorough documentation, investigation, follow-up actions, and reporting to consortiums and leadership.
- · Communicate effectively and professionally with all stakeholders during high-pressure scenarios.
Fleet & Maintenance Oversight
- Lead or support responses to collisions, injuries, breakdowns, and emergencies.
- Confirm complete documentation, investigation processes, follow-up actions, and communications with consortiums and leadership.
- Communicate clearly and professionally with all parties during stressful situations.
- Safety, Compliance & Training
- Foster a Safety-First culture among all staff, ensuring compliance with company and regulatory standards.
- Guarantee that all drivers complete AFA/ADA assessments, PRIDE training, refresher courses, and compliance obligations.
- Conduct and document park-out visits, safety audits, incident evaluations, and necessary corrective actions.
- Ensure adherence to regulations (HTA, MTO compliance, accessibility standards, school board policies).
Drivers
- Ensure adequate employee levels and collaborate with the Talent Acquisition team to attract new candidates.
- Manage the Deficiency list.
- Organize safety meetings.
- Assist in planning and conducting bi-annual driver meetings.
- Lead, mentor, and support drivers, trainers, dispatchers, and office personnel.
- Schedule regular one-on-ones, ride-alongs, coaching sessions, and performance evaluations.
- Address employee concerns, attendance matters, and implement progressive discipline when necessary.
- Support recruitment, onboarding, and employee retention efforts to maintain adequate staffing levels.
Finance & Budget Accountability
- Monitor expenditures and oversee the divisional budget to ensure all costs align with approved budgets.
- Administer payroll processes.
- Monitor and control divisional costs:
- Understand the division's budget, monthly forecasts, and variances, working closely with Finance.
- Assist in capital planning (fleet age, replacement timelines, facility necessities).
- Track charter revenue to ensure targets are met.
Other
- Acts as an ambassador for Voyago on and off company property
- Helps increase Voyago's visibility within the community by participating in company sponsored events
- Is willing to participate in education upgrading as required
- Helps increase VTS’s visibility within the community by participating in company sponsored events
- Support company initiatives (e.g., Kids Matter Too, employee development programs, DRIVEN
- Promote consistency, fairness, and transparency across all operational decisions.
- Model professionalism, accountability, and employee respect
- Build a positive team culture focused on safety, reliability, and continuous improvement
Requirements
Your Profile
The ideal candidate will hold the following qualifications that include, but are not limited to, the following:
- University Degree, College Diploma or Equivalent
- Minimum 3 years experience in a supervisory/management role in operations environment
- Experience in Student Transportation, Medical Transport or Transportation industry preferred but not mandatory
- Ability to obtain a B class License
- Clean Drivers Abstract
- Clear Criminal Record Search with Vulnerable Sector Search
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Previous experience working in a dynamic, high demand work environment with specific deadlines, where the role required handling and maintenance of confidential and sensitive materials
- Advanced skills in all Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) as well as Adobe Acrobat
- Ability to participate in and facilitate group meetings
Benefits
The perks:
- We offer free licence upgrade
- We offer comprehensive benefits packages for full time employees with an Employee and Family Assistance Program, a great company perks program and an Employee Referral Bonus for all staff
- We are an Award Winning company
- As a subsidiary of Transdev, we provide opportunities for a rewarding career with a growing, global transportation provider
- We focus on innovation and sustainable environmental initiatives
- We support the development, work-life balance and well-being of our employees
- We build a supportive corporate culture that encourages diversity and enables our people to flourish.
- We enable our employees to have a positive social impact by deploying sustainable mobility solutions.
- We offer our employees opportunities to build their own experience within a local, global Group.
Voyago is committed to provide accommodation for individuals with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. Accommodations are available upon request of the internal or external applicant. If you require an accommodation due to a disability for an interview, please notify Human Resources directly to make appropriate arrangements when contacted for an interview.
Voyago Transdev’s Applicant Tracking System uses AI-assisted tools during the initial application and early screening stage.
We thank all applicants however only those under consideration will be contacted.
