How To Become A Transit Service Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a transit service manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A transit service manager oversees transit operations, monitors their performance, and assesses their adherence to rules and regulations. They oversee every transit activity. Transit service managers work with operators to ensure customers get what they are truly worth. They are always there to resolve issues between passengers and drivers. The transit service manager handles customers' complaints.

They also inspect vehicles to ascertain their roadworthiness.

Experience plays a huge role in filling this capacity. However, with a high school diploma, you can get this job. A transit service manager can make an average salary of $76,000 per year. Strong analytical skills, problem-solving skills, business skills, and great organizational skills as well as customer service skills are what a transit service manager needs.

ScoreTransit Service ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.1

Avg. Salary $90,879

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 12.66%

Black or African American 6.67%

Hispanic or Latino 10.01%

Unknown 5.20%

White 65.25%

Gender

female 43.48%

male 56.52%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a transit service manager

Explore transit service manager education requirements

Most common transit service manager degrees

Bachelor's

55.9 %

Master's

20.0 %

Associate

13.1 %

Start to develop specific transit service manager skills

Skills	Percentages
ITIL	17.35%
CTS	14.95%
Service Transition	12.01%
Customer Complaints	11.86%
Service Management	10.26%

Complete relevant transit service manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New transit service managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a transit service manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real transit service manager resumes.

Research transit service manager duties and responsibilities

Coordinate and participate with the installation teams to help troubleshoot problems and resolve customer concerns while managing service and commissioning engineers.
Complete the close down of one account (applications and infrastructure).
Supervise the activities for systems & applications regression and functional testing.
Replace entire user computing infrastructure without impact to enterprise operations.

Apply for transit service manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a transit service manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams