Transit job titles are anybody's guess

So I'm trying to crunch the data that I collected in a recent salary survey of the transit industry. I've got about 1,150 responses from a diverse group of people. Collectively, they work in two dozen different departments, from accounting to human resources to planning to training and development. Problem is, nearly everyone has a different title!

For example, I've copied and pasted a sample of titles of respondents who work in planning:

• Senior Transportation Planner      
• Special Assistant to the Director      
• Manager of Planning & Scheduling      
• Service Planning Manager      
• Project Manager      
• Planner II      
• Development Services Associate      
• Planning Technician      
• Transportation Planning Manager V      
• Manager of Commuter Bus Service      
• Director of Planning      
• Vice President for Service Development and Strategic Planning      
• Transportation Planning Manager      
• Transportation Policy Analyst      
• Deputy Chief of Planning and Technology      
• Business Data Analyst      
• Deputy Transportation Director      
• Transit Planner II      
• Transportation Planner      
• Senior Transportation Planner      
• Planning Manager    

Now I've got to combine these positions into a small set of generic titles. Can I group the Business Data Analyst with the Planning Technician? How about the Transportation Planning Manager with the Service Planning Manager? It would be so much easier if the transit industry adopted a standard set of titles. But that's not going to happen, nor should it.

Every transit system has its own peculiarities with regard to its workforce. Each needs to have the latitude to create job titles that custom-fit the position. But it does make it hard for those of us trying to create apples-to-apples comparisons with regard to salary. In any case, salaries attached to specific job titles vary so widely that the inexactness of the categorization process is probably not as critical as it seems.

Salary surveys always attract a lot of interest, but need to be kept in perspective.

Until next time.

Steve

Comments

[Tammi Diaz]

John Inglish General Manager Salary is $266,614 Bonus $39,860 Other Incentives $60,526 Total $100,386

Regional Manager 3 Salary $120,614 Bonus $16,193 Other Incentives $26,000 Total $42,193

Chief Capital Development Officer Salary $155,886 Bonus $26,890 Other Incentives $26,000 Total $52,890

Support Service General Manager Salary $152,581 Bonus $22,887 Other Incentives $26,000 Total $48,887

Rail Service General Manager Salary $140,292 Bonus $21,745 Other Incentives $26,000 Total $47,745

Chief Technology Officer Salary $135,550 Bonus $20,332 Other Incentives $26,000 Total $46,332

Chief Communication Officer Salary $115,000 Bonus
$17,250 Other Incentives 11,600 Total $28,850