Executive Operations (Transport)

VIBGYOR Group of Schools; Pune District; On-site; INR 700,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Vibgyor High in Pune's Magarpatta area is seeking an experienced Transport Manager to plan, organize and run the school's bus fleet with a strong focus on safety, reliability and cost efficiency.

You will manage fleet maintenance, route planning, driver & attendant performance, and compliance across routes, ensuring timely pick-ups, parent communication and a positive travel experience for students.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of relevant transport, fleet or logistics management experience.
• Strong safety-first mindset and decisive emergency judgment.
• Analytical skills for route optimization, KPI tracking and cost-per-student calculations.
• Leadership and people management across drivers and attendants.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Integrity and accountability in compliance and safety.
• Customer-service orientation toward parents and students.
• Problem-solving for incidents and grievances.
• Liaison skills with school admin, drivers, vendors and parents.
• Attention to detail and documentation discipline.
• Proactive planning using demand forecasting, telematics and MIS data.

Responsibilities

• Ensure school bus is compliant with fitness certificates, permits, PUC and insurance; withdraw non-compliant vehicles.
• Conduct pre-trip inspections and maintain a fleet logbook with mileage, driver, route and maintenance history.
• Monitor fuel consumption and implement eco-driving and route optimization measures.
• Maintain maintenance budget, negotiate AMC and workshop SLAs, and manage insurance claims.
• Design and optimize routes to minimize travel time and ensure student safety at stops.
• Schedule timings to ensure timely school arrival within safe journey durations.
• Plan routes well ahead for new academic year and review performance data.
• Coordinate transport for special-needs students and inter-school events.
• Communicate route changes and delays to parents; analyze timing data for improvements.
• Lead safety protocols, post-incident response and a culture of zero harm.

Skills

Fleet operations

Route planning

Safety compliance

Driver management

Job description

Location : Vibgyor High, Magarpatta.

Department : Operations

Reporting to : The Operations Manager & The Principal

Role & responsibilities

Primary Purpose :

To plan, organize and manage the school's end-to-end transport function ensuring a safe, reliable, compliant and cost-efficient school bus fleet, well-managed drivers and attendants, and a positive experience for students and parents while maintaining the highest standards of student safety at every stage of the journey.

Key Responsibilities.:

A. Fleet Operations & Maintenance

• Ensure school bus is covered by a valid fitness certificate, route permit, PUC certificate and insurance (third-party, passenger liability and own damage) always, and immediately withdraw any vehicle that falls out of compliance.
• Enforce a rigorous pre-trip inspection checklist covering tyres, brakes, lights, mirrors, fuel level, first aid kit and emergency exit before every route, and withdraw any vehicle found unsafe.
• Implement preventive maintenance schedules to detect faults before they cause breakdowns and maintain a fleet register and vehicle logbook capturing mileage, driver, route and maintenance history for each bus.
• Monitor fuel consumption and telematics/idling data, investigate unusual variances, and drive fuel-efficiency practices through eco-driving training, servicing and route optimisation.
• Ensure daily bus cleaning for hygiene and school reputation and maintain a defined vehicle age retirement and replacement policy based on cumulative repair cost, downtime and safety risk.
• Own the breakdown protocol move students to safety, notify the school and arrange a relief bus immediately in the event of a mechanical failure.
• Maintain a maintenance budget based on fleet age, service intervals and historical repair costs, and negotiate/manage AMC and workshop SLAs covering scope, response time and penalties.
• Maintain detailed accident and insurance claim records for pattern analysis and manage the end-to-end insurance claim process for any incident.
• Evaluate outsourced versus owned fleet options on total cost of ownership, safety control and infrastructure readiness, and conduct annual fleet compliance and safety audits.
• Prepare Monthly cost annextures for vendors billing as per contracts, define deductibles, Process & submit the bills to head office post verification and signoff from school head without any errors.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year fleet management strategy covering lifecycle planning, telematics, cost benchmarking and a sustainability/carbon-reduction roadmap.

B. Route Planning & Scheduling

• Design and optimise routes by mapping student locations to cover every pick-up/drop point with minimum travel time and distance, selecting bus stops for student safety (lighting, kerb space, traffic conditions).
• Schedule departure and arrival timings factoring in peak traffic patterns, so students reach school on time within a safe journey duration.
• Plan routes for the new academic year at least 46 weeks in advance and conduct an evidence-based annual route review incorporating performance data and demand shifts.
• Assess and plan for rural, monsoon-affected and remote-access routes, and consolidate or rebalance under-utilised/overloaded routes to optimise fleet utilisation and cost.
• Arrange dedicated transport for special-needs students (wheelchair-accessible vehicle, trained attendant, individually assessed boarding protocol) and for inter-school events, sports days and other surge-capacity requirements.
• Communicate route changes, diversions and delays proactively to affected parents, and act on parent feedback (e.g. wait times) by analysing timing data and adjusting schedules.
• Track route performance KPIs on-time rate, average journey time, cost per km and safety incidents and calculate transport cost per student to assess route viability and set fees.
• Use GIS mapping and predictive analytics (historical enrolment and traffic data) for objective, data-driven route design and capacity planning, and maintain a route card for every route with stops, timings and emergency contacts.

C. Student Safety & Compliance

• Ensure a consistent pick-up and drop-off SOP — confirming every student is safely boarded and, at drop-off, verifying handover only to an identified parent or authorised adult, especially for young students.
• Conduct student roll call/headcount at every stop, maintain readily accessible emergency contact details, and enforce bus pass compliance, seat belt use and safe occupancy (no overcrowding beyond registered capacity).
• Define and enforce the bus attendant's role in supervising student conduct, assisting boarding/alighting and maintaining order, and manage student conduct issues per the school's policy.
• Own the response protocol for accidents, missing/unaccounted students and SOS panic-button alerts — securing the scene/students first and immediately notifying the school and parents.
• Maintain fully stocked first-aid kits, conduct annual bus evacuation drills, and use CCTV, GPS tracking and the parent app to proactively share ETAs and support incident investigations.
• Define additional safety protocols for night trips and event transport and maintain a transport compliance calendar tracking all document renewals with automated alerts and monthly audits.
• Lead post-incident response — investigation, psychological support for students, parent communication and regulatory reporting — and build a genuine safety culture through open incident reporting and continuous review toward a zero-harm target.

D. Driver & Attendant Management

• Verify driving licence class, clean driving record, police verification and medical fitness before appointing any driver, and conduct structured induction covering route familiarisation, safety protocols and conduct expectations.
• Prepare duty rosters ensuring mandated minimum rest between shifts, monitor fatigue risk (driving-hour tracking, on-call standby pool) and maintain an on-call substitute pool for absences.
• Enforce a zero-tolerance alcohol/substance policy and mobile-phone-while-driving policy, and apply a fair, documented disciplinary framework (show-cause, inquiry, response, decision) for misconduct.
• Evaluate driver performance on punctuality, safety compliance, vehicle care and student/parent feedback using a performance dashboard and run a driver incentive programme reinforcing safety and punctuality.
• Provide structured training (defensive driving, emergency procedures, student safety, professional conduct) and manage route-transfer handovers with briefing and a supervised trial run.
• Handle driver grievances objectively, investigate attrition root causes (compensation, working conditions, rest policy, career development), and run wellbeing check-ins and support for stressed or fatigued staff.

Maintain annual medical fitness checks (vision, hearing, blood pressure) for all drivers, and integrate driver HR records (licence renewals, training compliance, leave) with the school HR system.

Preferred candidate profile

3–5 years of relevant work experience in transport, fleet or logistics management, preferably within an institutional, educational or fleet-operations environment.

• Strong safety-first mindset and calm, decisive judgement in emergencies.
• Sound analytical skills for route optimization, KPI tracking and cost-per-student calculations.
• Good leadership and people-management skills across drivers and attendants.
• Strong oral and written communication and interpersonal skills.
• High personal integrity and accountability in compliance and safety matters.
• Exceptional parent- and customer-service orientation.
• Strong problem-solving skills, especially in incident and grievance resolution.
• Good liaison skills across school administration, drivers, vendors and parents.
• Attention to detail and process discipline in compliance and documentation.
• Ability to plan proactively using demand forecasting, telematics and MIS data.