• Age: 30
• Role: Operations Manager
• Employer: TransPar Group
• Location: Hawaii

Eric Kramlick’s path into student transportation began somewhat by chance. After college, his first full-time role was in dispatch and operations with TransPar, a solutions provider offering management, staffing, and advisory services to the transportation industry.

He started by coordinating shuttle bus routes for universities across the country. After a year, he relocated to Hawaiʻi to join the company’s school bus routing team, a move that deepened his exposure to student transportation and its impact on daily school operations.

After three years in routing, he had the opportunity to fill a position vacated by retirement, and he became the district transportation officer for Maui County in 2021. In this role, he focuses on both day-to-day operations and transportation policy.

Kramlick’s supervisor, Mark Lindstrom, says he is an “outstanding employee, meticulous, extremely dependable, and above all, a very caring individual.

Lindstrom explained that while Kramlick works directly for TransPar in Hawaii, he volunteered to fulfill a role that the state of Hawaii needed. “Eric has succeeded not only in this daily role, but met the challenge when contractors were unable to hire the required number of bus drivers when new contracts were implemented throughout the islands,” he said. “He worked tirelessly to adjust routes, work with school staff and community leaders to bring about the best possible solution for all, especially when it came to transportation for students.”

One of the things he loves most about his job is also what frustrates him: the variability. “I love that no two days are the same, but I know that sometimes when things don’t go according to plan, it can be difficult,” he said. “But I do love the challenges that we come across on a daily basis.”

He also recently earned his Certified Director of Pupil Transportation (CDPT) certification from NAPT.

Lessons Learned from Disaster

In August 2023, Kramlick (and countless others) faced one of his biggest challenges: the deadly wildfires that struck Lahaina primarily on the island of Maui. Over 100 people died in the fires, and thousands of buildings were destroyed. The work to rebuild and repair the damage is still ongoing today.

“This unprecedented disaster left an entire community without answers, and our task was to restore school bus transportation to a community that was left reeling,” he recounted. “The lesson learned was in interdepartmental communication, working with the MVA team, the schools, the safety and security department, and with school bus contractors in order to reconnect displaced students with temporary learning sites, and now to resume service to a rebuilding community.”

Kramlick’s work did not go unnoticed. Keith Hayashi, superintendent of the Hawai'i public school system, recognized his exceptional dedication and unwavering commitment to the state’s schools during this time. “Your support … allowed our schools to reopen. As a result of your efforts and leadership, more than 2,000 students returned to their Lahaina schools for in-person learning.”

Advice & Goals

In an industry with so many moving parts, Kramlick encourages otherstofind what niche most interests you within the transportation equation. Since we all work together toward the same goal, find a place you can make a home and a career in.

One day, Kramlick hopes to seemore public awareness for what we do. “The fact that to this day school buses still get passed on a daily basis is mindboggling to me,” he said. “I think it will take buy-in by the community at large in order to better understand not only what we do on a daily basis, but also their role in the puzzle in order to ensure safety for students getting to school.”