I was shoulder tapped for this position by the Regional General Manager of Go Bus to look after the 5 contracts awarded by the Waikato Regional Council covering urban and regional routes operating out of Hamilton, Waikato. The combined total revenue is worth NZD 22 million per annum. Operations and Stakeholder Management - On a weekday, the depot runs 1232 trips. Responsibilities include ensuring all trips are run on time, buses are operated in safe and road worthy conditions, drivers are professionally trained and drive safely. I liaise with the WRC (Waikato Regional Council) on a daily basis attend fortnightly meetings and prepare 3 direct reports for them.Project implementation – We implemented the new Pokeno – Pukekohe services in January 2021 and the Hamilton – Matamata service in July 2021. I am now working on the implementation of the new Meteor service in Hamilton (this will require 4 additional buses, 10 additional drivers) and the tentative date is in December 2021. People and Asset Management - I am also responsible for the recruitment of drivers and operations staff as well as subsequent training of staff to keep them always upskilled. I closely work with workshop team to ensure that all vehicles are road worthy and that they are cleaned to the highest standard under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions. The current driver strength is around 185 and the operations staff is 6.Change Management – The depot was suffering monthly penalties due to failure of KPIs with the highest being $76,000/- in July 2020. New strategies, new procedures and intense engagement with the team has made a huge difference with the penalty being reduced to under $1000/- for the month of May 2021.

In charge of implementation of Regional Infrastructure Technical Specifications (RITS) new ticketing system for the Waikato Regional Council. The project required upwards of 200 staff to be trained in the correct usage of the new machine. The project also required a constant dialogue with the WRC team to resolve various logistical and technical issues both prior to the implementation as well as subsequent foundation. The full training was completed in an extremely short time of just 3 weeks prior to the go-live date of the 6th of July 2020. Training material, both in paper format as well as videos were prepared to help the drivers to understand and grasp the new system in the shortest possible time. The project was a huge success.

I was inducted by the owners to manage the scheduled services contracted to Auckland International Airport Limited (AIAL) along with the company’s own commercial service that provides customers an opportunity to travel at competitive fares from the airports to various contracted hotels and vice-versa. The driver strength was 60 and one of my responsibility to keep sourcing and inducting quality drivers in a tight market. The fleet strength was 24.Change management – to slowly shift the company policies and procedures away from a personal style to a more professional manner, also to streamline the work procedures with emphasis on health, safety and training and to reduce wasteful expenditure.Project implementation – 1. Successfully completed a point-to-point trial for AIAL to transfer customers working out of AIAL and nearby offices from 2 nos. close by railway stations to areas around the airport and back. The outcome of this trial would determine a regular service of this nature by the end of this year. This would enable fewer cars to congregate around the airport vicinity. 2. Worked on the logistics and implementation of the requirement of AIAL for the transportation of 2000 contractor staff that would be required to park their vehicles at remote sites and be ferried to the airport and vice-versa. 3. Stakeholder management – As our primary principal, it was my responsibility to ensure that all the terms and conditions of the contract with Auckland International Airport Limited were fulfilled and implemented correctly.People and Asset management – had prepared a robust programme for induction and training of new drivers as well as refresher training of existing drivers with special focus on professional driving and superior customer service.

I was the 1st point of contact for dealing with our external stakeholder, Auckland Transport. I was transferred from the sister company Manabus.com to take over this newly created position. Company had won the Auckland Transport’s South Auckland PTOM tender comprising new services to be commenced from November 2016. Responsible for getting assets to comply with the NZTA as well as RUB rules, route verification, driver training as well as kitting of drivers and their rosters. The results were extremely satisfactory as the company started receiving bonuses month on month as soon as the trail period ended as part of the T&Cs of the PTOM tender. On the strength of this outcome, the company won another East Auckland tender for services to commence from December 2017.The fleet strength was 140 buses, and the driver strength was 220+. I was also Acting Operations Manager when the incumbent was away from work for more than 7 days at a time.Senior Operations Coordinator (September 2015 to June 2016) with Manabus.comThis was an inter-city service operation. I was responsible to setting up proper operations procedures as well as train other operations team members as none of them had prior operations experience; they had all been inducted from customer service background. Working with the planner, more robust rosters were created, absenteeism and breakdowns were reduced by almost 30%. I was in charge when the Operations Manager was away for more than 7 days at a time.

Senior Operations Coordinator (September 2015 to June 2016) with Manabus.comThis was an inter-city service operation. I was responsible to setting up proper operations procedures as well as train other operations team members as none of them had prior operations experience; they had all been inducted from customer service background. Working with the planner, more robust rosters were created, absenteeism and breakdowns were reduced by almost 30%. I was in charge when the Operations Manager was away for more than 7 days at a time.

I started work with the company from their Wiri, Manukau depot as a driver to understand firsthand the trials and tribulations faced by a driver as well as to get a geographical picture in my mind about the area of operation. Within 6 months, I was in the office as part of the team managing the operations. The fleet strength hovered around 137 buses and the driver strength fluctuated between 200 to 220. I was managing a team of 50 drivers as a supervisor.

Real estate salesperson as well as Franchise owner - secured many awards and was known for my niche marketing skills as well as tough negotiations for my vendors.

General Manager of a shipping company, responsible for the recruitment of seafarers as well as operations & ship management of international shipping companies in Asian waters. Managed offices and staff at multiple locations while based in Mumbai, India.