Transport accident statistics and practical safety results indicate that technological solutions cannot ensure the viability (safety, sustainability, reliability and efficiency) of complex systems and structures without addressing human factors. This problem is especially acute for transport systems as highly complex technological and social structures aimed at ensuring the efficiency and safety of an entire sphere of human life. In transportation systems and technologies, the human factor plays a critical role. The successful operation of transport systems requires consideration of the human factor at all levels – starting from the development, design and planning of systems and technologies, training and education to the involvement of society in decision-making processes. Therefore, it is essential to develop the concept of human factor management and analyze the main problems in transport systems associated with the human factor to improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of their functioning. The article is devoted to the analysis of the human factor problem in transport systems and the search for solutions to manage it. The purpose of the article is to analyze the main problems in transport systems associated with the human factor and to develop the concept of human factor management for further search for solutions to improve the safety and reliability of transport systems. A set of instruments was proposed in the study to achieve the goal and solve the set tasks. Problems connected to the human factor in transport systems were analyzed. The main directions for solving problems with the influence of the human factor on the safety of transport systems were systematized. The main principles, models and ways of developing the concept of managing the human factor problem in complex systems, including transport, were outlined. A systematization of the risk management strategy was proposed. A matrix for the relationship between risk management strategies and approaches to managing the safety of complex systems was proposed. A new look at the principle of adaptive ergonomics as an implementation of the tolerance strategy was proposed, and applying the principle of adaptive ergonomics to transport systems was considered. The main motivation of the work is to attract the attention of the scientific and educational community to the problem of human factor and the need to use the concept of human factor management in the educational process to improve the general safety culture in society.