What does a Bus Driver do?
Bus drivers are mainly responsible for safely transporting passengers to their destinations. Bus drivers must be attentive and highly focused to monitor road situations at all times, avoiding any cause of accidents. A bus driver must also ensure to follow all safety policies and procedures during the travel. Bus drivers should also be knowledgeable in monitoring the engine's condition, spot any unusual signals and inconsistencies of the vehicle system that might compromise everyone's safety and comfortability.
Bus driver responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real bus driver resumes:
- Demonstrate knowledge of designate routes in metro area.
- Provide transportation for city of buffalo residents by driving metro city bus.
- Work as the employee trainer for CDL's as well as performed orientation for all new employees.
- Drive on narrow streets, in high traffic areas, around trolleys, and heavy pedestrian areas.
- Operate a bus carrying passengers in accordance with the rules and regulation of the MTA bus company.
- Help riders with wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, and other conditions board and exit the bus safely.
- Assist in the boarding of passengers using wheelchairs or other mobility aids and properly secure wheelchairs and scooters.
- Pick up and deliver students safely, follow policies and procedures, obey all dot regulations, professional environment.
- Participate in a health awareness group at MTA and run a 5k with different organizations to improve health wellness.
- Assist in implementing behavioral goals set by students, families, school staff, and as stated in the IEP.
- Meet with teachers/ school administration/parents regarding student's behavior and create safety plans as part of the student's IEP.
- Train to perform emergency first aid on passengers, including CPR when require and in accordance with company policies and procedures.
- Transport clients to non-emergency appointments, rehabilitation and hospitals.
- Participate in a health awareness group at MTA and run a 5k with different organizations to improve health wellness.
Bus driver skills and personality traits
We calculated that 26% of Bus Drivers are proficient in CDL, DOT, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Patience, and Hand-eye coordination.
We break down the percentage of Bus Drivers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CDL, 26%
Received Certified Driver's License (CDL) - Class B with a P & S endorsement, no restriction.
- DOT, 9%
Perform daily maintenance check and operational inspection of assigned vehicle according to DOT regulations.
- Customer Service, 9%
Provided administrative support to school staff while demonstrating superior customer service to students and external client.
- Safety Rules, 8%
Maintained order and executed safety rules, including evacuating buses in emergencies and instructing passengers of safety rules.
- CPR, 6%
Bus Driver, provided transportation to and from school for developmentally disabled individuals, wheelchair lift operation, CPR Certified.
- Passenger Endorsement, 6%
Drive students to and from school I have air brakes endorsement passenger endorsement school bus endorsement and tanker endorsement Class b license
"cdl," "dot," and "customer service" are among the most common skills that bus drivers use at work. You can find even more bus driver responsibilities below, including:
Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for a bus driver to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "bus drivers regularly interact with passengers and must be courteous and helpful." Additionally, a bus driver resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "drive safely and obey all traffic laws while maintaining all guest in bus in order and happy. "
Patience. Another essential skill to perform bus driver duties is patience. Bus drivers responsibilities require that "because of possible traffic congestion and sometimes unruly passengers, bus drivers are put in stressful situations and must remain calm and continue to operate their bus." Bus drivers also use patience in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provide excellent customer service and patience with all passengers. "
Hand-eye coordination. This is an important skill for bus drivers to perform their duties. For an example of how bus driver responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "driving a bus requires the controlled use of multiple limbs on the basis of what a person observes." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a bus driver: "provided administrative services and coordination for the activities of the public transportation system, which includes fixed-route bus".
Physical health. bus driver responsibilities often require "physical health." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "federal and state regulations do not allow people to become bus drivers if they have a medical condition, such as high blood pressure or epilepsy, which may interfere with their operation of a bus." This resume example shows what bus drivers do with physical health on a typical day: "maintain a safe and healthy environment transport student to safely transport student to school drive through traffic and obey traffic laws. "
Visual ability. Another crucial skill for a bus driver to carry out their responsibilities is "visual ability." A big part of what bus drivers relies on this skill, since "bus drivers must be able to pass vision tests." How this skill relates to bus driver duties can be seen in an example from a bus driver resume snippet: "performed visual inspections and reported any mechanical problems or defects. "
The three companies that hire the most bus drivers are:
- AAvis Budget Group160 bus drivers jobs
- CCoach USA94 bus drivers jobs
- FFirst Transit84 bus drivers jobs
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Compare different bus drivers
Bus driver vs. Coach operator
A school bus monitor works closely with the bus driver to ensure safety while students are entering, riding, and leaving the bus. The bus monitor ensures discipline and assistance. Their duties and responsibilities include directing students on pick-up and drop-off points and facilitating communication between management and parents.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, bus driver responsibilities require skills like "cpr," "transport children," "safety equipment," and "windshield wipers." Meanwhile a typical coach operator has skills in areas such as "incident reports," "transportation services," "direct reports," and "defensive driving." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Coach operators really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $62,006. Comparatively, bus drivers tend to make the most money in the education industry with an average salary of $37,869.The education levels that coach operators earn slightly differ from bus drivers. In particular, coach operators are 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a bus driver. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Bus driver vs. School bus monitor
A Bus Attendant performs a variety of support tasks to ensure that passengers get to receive optimal services. Although the extent of their responsibilities depends on their place or industry of employment, it typically revolves around answering questions about bus routes and other services, directing passengers on and off the bus, assisting passengers with special or particular needs, adjusting seats, and handling documents. Bus Attendants must prepare and hand out refreshments, distribute blankets or pillows, and operate wheelchair lifts.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real bus driver resumes. While bus driver responsibilities can utilize skills like "dot," "passenger endorsement," "vehicle inspections," and "post-trip inspections," school bus monitors use skills like "behavior problems," "bus safety," "kids," and "behavior issues."
On average, school bus monitors earn a lower salary than bus drivers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, school bus monitors earn the most pay in the transportation industry with an average salary of $28,331. Whereas bus drivers have higher pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $37,869.Average education levels between the two professions vary. School bus monitors tend to reach similar levels of education than bus drivers. In fact, they're 3.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Bus driver vs. School bus operator
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, bus drivers are more likely to have skills like "customer service," "vehicle inspections," "mechanical problems," and "local traffic regulations." But a school bus operator is more likely to have skills like "dmv," "safety standards," "traffic regulations," and "clean vehicle."
Most school bus operators achieve a similar degree level compared to bus drivers. For example, they're 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Bus driver vs. Bus attendant
Types of bus driver
Updated January 8, 2025
