Bus Driver careers guide

What Is A Bus Driver?

Once you’ve got a driving licence you can train to drive a bus or coach, driving regular routes through town or country. You’re also responsible for the safety of your passengers, but knowing exactly how to handle any situation is all part of the training.

DID YOU KNOW? As a coach driver you may get the chance to drive abroad as part of your job, and there is often a high demand for bus drivers. There are increasingly part-time opportunities open to you, too.

What Does A Bus Driver Do?

You can be employed by local bus companies, holiday tour companies in the UK or abroad, or long distance operators. You could also work in community transport, driving schoolchildren or vulnerable people like hospital patients.

Some day-to-day bus driver activities include:

• Taking fares
• Checking passes and tickets
• Driving a regular bus route
• Keeping to timetables so your bus reaches stopping points on time
• Paying attention to health and safety (e.g. only shutting and opening the bus doors when it’s safe)

Useful Skills To Put On Your CV:

• Great driving skills and awareness of traffic rules, safety and security
• Good observation and concentration skills
• Good customer service and communication skills (you will need to be polite but assertive with difficult passengers, and generally able to keep calm and friendly)
• Good geographical knowledge of the route (this comes with training)
• HOT TIP: Some knowledge of foreign languages will help if you want to drive abroad

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

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School, College And Training

Driving a bus or coach doesn’t require you to have any set academic qualifications, but employers may want you to have some GCSEs or the equivalent at grades 9-4.

To become a bus or coach driver you need to:

• Be at least 18 (or 21 if you want to drive a coach or bus abroad)
• Have held a full UK driving licence for at least a year (you’ll need this to train for your PCV licence)

You also need the following items, which you can get through training:

• Hold a Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) licence
• Hold a Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC), also known as a Driver Qualification Card (DQC)
• For some jobs you’ll also need a digital tachograph card, a smart card which stores information about your daily work driving the bus.

Apprenticeships

You can get into this job through completing a bus driving apprenticeship, usually known as a Passenger Carrying Vehicle Driving Apprenticeship. This gives you the opportunity to earn a salary while getting structured learning that leads to an industry-recognised qualification.

Typical qualifications you can get through apprenticeships or training in the bus or coach industry include:

• Level 2 qualification in road passenger transport
• Level 2 QCF Award in knowledge of a professional bus and coach driver
• Additional specific qualification related to your work (e.g. first aid, health and safety)

With time and experience you could become a service controller, service inspector, depot manager overseeing the whole bus depot, or a driver training instructor.

You could also train up for the Transport Manager CPC in Passenger Transport and start your own business.

You could also specialise in the type of goods you carry. For example, with an Advisory Dangerous Goods Certificate (ADR) you would be allowed to driver tankers full of hazardous goods like toxic chemicals.

Work Experience Tips

It can help your application if you have already got driving experience. If you did well on your driving test with only a few (or even no) minor points that is worth telling an employer as it shows you are a conscientious driver.

Any previous work you have done involving customer service will be important here. Sometimes you will need to use negotiation and communication skills with passengers who are being difficult, or are confused about an aspect of the service, or have fallen sick.

Getting Experience

Top Tip: Previous work experience where you have been responsible for cash handling will also be relevant to the job!

Examples of relevant work experience include:

• Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
• Work placements in a company
• Work placements on a degree course

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles with these words in the title:

• Passenger carrying vehicle driver apprentice
• Passenger carrying vehicle driving (bus and coach) apprenticeship
• Trainee bus driver
• Trainee PCV driver (Passenger Carrying Vehicle)

Find an Apprenticeship

Skills for Logistics

Careers in Logistics

Freight Transport Association (FTA)

Driving Standards Agency (DSA)

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.