Bus Drivers, School
Drive a school bus to transport students. Ensure adherence to safety rules. May assist students in boarding or exiting.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Speaking
- Operations Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Transportation
- Public Safety and Security
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Mechanical
- Law and Government
- Geography
- Personnel and Human Resources
What the work involves
- Check the condition of a vehicle's tires, brakes, windshield wipers, lights, oil, fuel, water, and safety equipment to ensure that everything is in working order.
- Comply with traffic regulations to operate vehicles in a safe and courteous manner.
- Drive gasoline, diesel, or electrically powered multi-passenger vehicles to transport students between neighborhoods, schools, and school activities.
- Escort small children across roads and highways.
- Follow safety rules as students board and exit buses or cross streets near bus stops.
- Keep bus interiors clean for students.
- Maintain knowledge of first-aid procedures.
- Maintain order among students during trips to ensure safety.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (59.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (33.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (42.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Bus Drivers, School is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Higher on contact with others than 58% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 55% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 89% of occupations compared | 28% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 57% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 71% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 62% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 57% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 73% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 6.5%
- Contact with others about half the time: 5.34%
- Contact with others most of the time: 20.99%
- Constant contact with others: 67.17%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 10.01%
- Fairly important: 35.88%
- Important: 2.86%
- Very important: 18.31%
- Extremely important: 32.94%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 12.89%
- Fairly important: 5.17%
- Important: 26.87%
- Very important: 27.19%
- Extremely important: 27.88%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.62%
- Very little freedom: 3.38%
- Limited freedom: 23.51%
- Some freedom: 26.54%
- A lot of freedom: 43.95%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 16.37%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.5%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.7%
- Every day: 66.43%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 2.82%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 31.42%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.01%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 32.3%
- Every day: 3.44%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 11.54%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 30.23%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.73%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.52%
- Every day: 11.98%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 23.31%
- Fairly serious: 8.83%
- Serious: 9.91%
- Very serious: 6.87%
- Extremely serious: 51.08%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 53-3051.00 · SOC 53-3051 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8