Transit Planning and Scheduling Manager - Trainee Eligible

City-of-Madison,-W; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 103,000 - 124,000; Full time

Job summary

Metro Transit in Madison, WI seeks a strategic Transit Planning and Scheduling Manager to lead the team responsible for route design, scheduling, and long-range service planning. You will guide data analysis and stakeholder engagement to shape reliable, equitable transit for the community.

The role involves supervising staff, managing budgets, and coordinating with Operations, Finance, and public partners to ensure successful delivery of services.

Qualifications

• Four years of progressively responsible professional transit planning experience.
• One year of experience leading people as a supervisor or team leader.
• Bachelor's degree in transportation planning or related field.

Responsibilities

• Oversee fixed-route and BRT service scheduling and run cutting processes.
• Define and refine a vision for the route network and long-range goals.
• Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Finance, Marketing, and Customer Service to ensure feasible and accessible service.
• Lead efforts on transit signal priority, dedicated bus lanes, and ITS integration.
• Monitor KPIs and forecast planning outcomes for strategic decisions.
• Represent Metro at meetings and coordinate transit with city planning efforts.

Skills

Leadership

Data analysis

GIS

Public transit knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in transportation planning or related field

4 years transit planning experience

Tools

GIS

Job description

The Opportunity

Metro Transit is looking for a strategic, detail-driven Transit Planning and Scheduling Manager to help shape the future of public transit in our city.

In this role, you’ll lead the team that designs how Metro moves Madison—overseeing bus routes, stops, public schedules, operator shift schedules, long-range service planning, and data analysis. Your work will directly impact daily riders, frontline staff, and the long-term vision of our transit system.

You’ll play a key leadership role at Metro, balancing big-picture planning with hands-on problem solving through your team to deliver reliable, efficient, and equitable transit service for our community.

Our Organization

Metro Transit has strong transit fundamentals with a major university, a constrained street grid, and strong financial support from the local government. This has allowed Metro to have more robust transit service compared to population peers nationally, running 193 buses and providing over 11 million rides in 2025. Metro is a department of the City of Madison and has contracts with surrounding communities and the University of Wisconsin to provide regional service. In the last several years, Metro has completed a full system redesign, rolled out our initial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, and added 65 electric buses to our system.

Our Community

The City of Madison was recently included in National Geographic's 2027 Best of the World must-visit destinations. A thriving food scene, more than 200 miles of bike paths and trails, five beautiful lakes, excellent healthcare, and of course great transit work together to help meet Madison’s vision to be inclusive, innovative and thriving. See who else agrees!

As a member of the Senior ManagementTeam at Metro, members will:

• Support and promote collaborative efforts to achieve mission requirements
• Infuse racial equity goals, principles, and tools into all aspects of Metro Transit operations
• Promote teamwork
• Communicate openly and candidly
• Participate fully in discussions
• Employ techniques for problem solving and decision making

This position is trainee eligible, and we will consider applicants who meet the listed trainee-level qualifications as well as those who meet qualifications for the objective level. An employee hired in a trainee role would participate in a training and career progression program. An individualized training program developed for the trainee would provide for tailored training to guide advancement from a trainee to a Transit Planning and Scheduling Manager. A trainee is expected to complete the full training program in approximately 2 years or less depending on individual needs. Specific timelines would be developed at the time of hire.

Initial placement for the position is determined based on training and experience at time of hire.

Transit Planning and Scheduling Manager Trainee - $93,965.04 - $113,443.98 (CG44, R12)

Transit Scheduling and Planning Manager - $103,302.16 - $124,362.16 (CG44, R14)

Employees may be eligible for loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, trans, nonbinary, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. We value the unique blend of lived experiences and diverse perspectives that comes from non-traditional education pathways and the variety of transferrable skills each candidate brings to the table. We value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Even if every item on the job posting doesn’t match your experience perfectly, we encourage you to apply and share how your skills and experience can best serve our community.

Work is done directly and through supervised team staff.

Data Analysis / Strategic Planning / Engagement

• Oversee the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Title VI Program update, National Transit Database (NTD) information submissions, and all federal reporting and grant submissions
• Develop and oversee a comprehensive public participation framework that manages expectations and gathers feedback from neighborhood groups and major institutions
• Serve as a principal staff liaison to boards and commissions, interpreting technical studies for non-technical audiences
• Oversee the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geospatial tools to support quantitative analysis for operations and project development
• Monitor and report Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and forecasting to support strategic planning
• Represent Metro at inter-departmental meetings to integrate transit into street designs and safeguard operations from negative impacts
• Identify emerging ideas in transportation and assess potential applications within agency operations

Service Planning and Internal Collaboration

• Define and refine a vision for the route network, ensuring infrastructure projects align with long-range service goals
• Collaborate with Metro Operations and Maintenance to ensure service plans align with long-range fleet procurement goals and that route designs are operationally feasible
• Lead efforts to identify locations for transit signal priority (TSP), dedicated bus lanes, and other speed and reliability enhancements and collaborate with other teams to implement them
• Oversee the planning and integration of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), including real-time information and flexible service models
• Collaborate with Buildings and Grounds regarding the placement, design, and maintenance of transit infrastructure and passenger amenities
• Work with Metro Finance on budget tracking and Marketing and Customer Service to ensure public-facing materials and schedules are accurate and accessible
• Participate in local emergency management activities, assisting in the planning and coordination of transit resources during emergencies
• Work across city departments to ensure transit is reflected in citywide planning efforts and that transit recommendations made in those plans align with the network vision

Staff Leadership and Administration

• Interview, hire, train, and evaluate the performance of staff in the Planning unit
• Assign work to staff members and manage divisional budgets
• Oversee fixed-route and BRT service scheduling, including run cutting efforts and the driver pick process
• Prepare and administer the unit's annual operating and capital budgets to ensure alignment with agency goals
• Manage projects using federal and state grant programs and budgets, including the oversight of grant-funded operating expenditures
• Create and execute annual and long-range work programs for the Planning unit, ensuring the effective integration of staff, funds, and local resources
• Perform administrative management tasks associated with professional services, including consultant selection and contract administration
• Maintain high productivity and morale while ensuring the unit follows principles of racial equity, social justice, and ethical transparency

Scheduling

• Oversee fixed-route and BRT service scheduling, including run cutting efforts and the driver pick process

Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Four (4) years of progressively responsible professional transit or transportation planning experience which included independent responsibility for developing and coordinating related professional planning activities
• One (1) year of experience leading people as a supervisor, lead worker, team leader responsible to direct work/enforce deadlines, or other leadership capacity (could be within the planning experience or in another work setting)

-OR-

• Bachelor's degree in transportation planning or other directly related field
• Two (2) years of responsible professional transit or transportation planning experience which included independent responsibility for developing and coordinating related professional planning activities
• One (1) year of experience leading people as a supervisor, lead worker, team leader responsible to direct work/enforce deadlines, or other leadership capacity (could be within the planning experience or in another work setting)

The City of Madison strives to provide exceptional customer service to all its residents and visitors. Therefore, successful candidates will have demonstrated ability to work effectively with multicultural communities.

For a complete list of the knowledge, skills and abilities, please view the Transit Planning and Scheduling manager class specification.

The employee will be expected to occasionally attend meetings and provide presentations outside the normal work schedule, including evenings and weekends. Ability to meet the transportation requirements of the position.

Ability to work at a sit/stand desk for extended periods using standard office equipment.

This position is not remote. Employee must work on site. *Payroll title for this position is Transit Planning and Scheduling Manager.