Bus Driver CV Examples & Writing Guide
A bus driver CV gets an interview when it shows your PCV licence category (D, or D1 for minibuses), a current Driver CPC card, your safety record in miles or years without an at-fault collision, your punctuality and attendance numbers, and the duties you can work. Below is a full sample plus bullets, skills, personal statements and a school transport version.
Bus driver CV example
This sample is for a bus driver with about eight years behind the wheel: a year of dial-a-ride community transport, two and a half school years on home-to-school contracts, then four years on local city routes. The name, employers and schools are made up. Replace the licence details, vehicles, routes and numbers with your own.
Darnell Whitfield
Bus Driver (PCV Category D, Driver CPC)
Leeds · 07700 900143 · darnell.whitfield@email.com
Summary
Bus driver with 8 years in local bus, school and community transport work: about 230,000 miles with zero at-fault collisions. PCV licence category D with Driver CPC (card valid to 2028) and an enhanced DBS check. Drives single-deck, double-deck and articulated buses on 6 city routes at 92% on time (depot average 84%), with 99% attendance and 4 passenger commendations in 2025. Available for split duties, early starts, weekends and bank holidays.
Experience
Bus Driver · Regional bus operator, city depot (300+ buses), Leeds
Mar 2022 – Present
- Drive single-deck, double-deck and 18-metre articulated diesel and hybrid buses on 6 local routes, 900–1,200 passengers a day, on 9- to 10-hour duties including a split duty two days a week.
- Hold 92% punctuality against an 84% depot average (measured by the on-board AVL system) by running to the timing points and radioing control early about delays.
- Zero at-fault collisions in 4 years and about 150,000 miles; passed every quarterly assessment drive and every random company drug and alcohol test.
- Board 6–10 wheelchair users a day using the ramp and kneeling system and manage the wheelchair space fairly with buggy users; 1 upheld complaint and 4 written commendations in the last 18 months.
- Complete the daily walkround check on every run-out and report defects on the electronic defect reporting system.
School Transport Driver · Coach operator running home-to-school contracts for the local council (180-vehicle fleet), Wakefield
Aug 2019 – Feb 2022
- Drove a 72-seat double-deck school bus on two morning and two afternoon routes: 118 pupils, 47 stops and 3 schools on a 6:45 to 9:00am and 2:45 to 5:00pm split duty.
- Zero accidents and zero pupil injuries over 2.5 school years and about 40,000 miles; covered key-worker school runs and NHS staff shuttles during the 2020 and 2021 school closures.
- Cut behaviour reports to schools on the route from 60+ a year under the previous driver to 22 with set seating and a rules talk in the first week.
- Did a full walk-through after every run to check no child was left on board, plus the daily walkround check on lights, doors and seat belts; no defects found at 3 DVSA roadside checks.
- Drove 20–25 school trips and sports fixtures a year outside the 2020–21 restrictions, including 4 overnight trips, and received the company's 2021 safe driver award.
Community Transport Driver (Dial-a-Ride) · Community transport charity running dial-a-ride for the council, Leeds
Jun 2018 – Jul 2019
- Drove 18–24 passengers with disabilities or limited mobility a day, door to door, in a tail-lift minibus on a 20- to 30-trip schedule planned in the booking system.
- Secured wheelchairs and scooters with 4-point tie-downs and lap and diagonal belts on 10–14 boardings a day; zero securement incidents.
- Kept 93% of pickups inside the agreed 30-minute window, 5 points above the contract target, with zero at-fault collisions.
Education
PCV category D training and Driver CPC initial qualification (Modules 1 to 4)
Bus and coach driver training school, Leeds, 2018
A-levels (2) and GCSEs including English and maths
Secondary school and sixth form, Leeds, 2012
Certifications
- PCV licence, category D (includes D1), DVLA, clean licence
- Driver CPC, Driver Qualification Card valid to 2028 (35 hours periodic training completed 2023)
- Enhanced DBS check, on the DBS Update Service
- Defensive driving course (Driver CPC periodic module), 2022
- Passenger assistance and disability awareness training (Driver CPC periodic module), 2023
- Emergency First Aid at Work, renewed 2025
Skills
What a bus operator or council transport team checks first
Bus drivers are hired by depot operations managers at bus companies, council passenger transport teams and the safety or transport managers at coach and community transport operators. Before reading your bullets, they check whether you can legally and safely be put on a bus.
- Licence and Driver CPC. A PCV licence (category D, or D1 for minibuses) and a Driver Qualification Card with its expiry date. If you hold only a car licence, say so and apply where the operator trains you.
- Driving record. They will check your licence with the DVLA: penalty points, any drink-driving or drug-driving conviction, any disqualification. State your clean years and miles.
- Attendance and shift flexibility. Early duties leave the depot before 5am, school work is split duties, and weekends and bank holidays are part of bus work. Give your attendance percentage and the duties you will take.
- Temperament with passengers. Fare disputes, pupils, wheelchair users, drunk passengers late at night. Show it with numbers: complaints, commendations, wheelchair boardings, behaviour reports.
“I read the licence line, the CPC card date and the accident record before anything else. Then I want an on-time number and a straight answer on split shifts and weekends. A driver who writes "safe and reliable" with no miles behind it gets a phone screen at best; one who writes 200,000 miles, zero at-fault collisions and 98% attendance gets a road test.”
Bus driver job description for a CV: weak and strong bullets
Most bus driver CVs list duties every driver has. Rewrite each line with the vehicle, the route, a number and a result. Six rewrites from local bus, school, community transport and coach work:
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Drove a bus on assigned routes. | Drove single-deck, double-deck and articulated buses on 6 local routes, 900–1,200 passengers a day, on 9- to 10-hour duties including split duties and weekends. |
| Maintained a safe driving record. | Zero at-fault collisions in 8 years and about 230,000 miles; clean licence and every random drug and alcohol test passed. |
| Kept to the timetable. | Ran 92% on time against an 84% depot average by working to the timing points and radioing control about delays before they spread to the next journey. |
| Assisted passengers with disabilities. | Boarded 6–10 wheelchair users a day with the ramp and kneeling system and managed the wheelchair space with buggy users; zero boarding incidents in 4 years. |
| Transported pupils to and from school. | Carried 118 pupils on 2 morning and 2 afternoon routes with 47 stops and 3 schools; zero accidents and zero pupil injuries over 2.5 school years. |
| Drove private hire and tour trips. | Drove 53-seat coaches on 30–40 private hire jobs a year, including 12 multi-day tours in the UK and continental Europe, with zero drivers' hours infringements on the digital tachograph at roadside checks. |
Bus driver CV skills that managers look for
List 10 to 14 skills: driving and vehicle skills first, then equipment and systems, then passenger and safety skills written as facts.
Driving and vehicle skills:
- Vehicles you have driven: single-deck, double-deck, 18-metre articulated, midibuses, tail-lift minibuses, 12- to 15-metre coaches, electric or hybrid
- Kneeling and ramp systems, tail-lifts and wheelchair tie-downs
- Daily walkround checks and defect reporting
- Timing points, diversions, mirror use in tight urban turns, reversing with a banksman
- Defensive driving, eco-driving, bad weather and night driving
Equipment and systems:
- AVL and on-board computers (Trapeze, INIT and similar), two-way radio procedure
- Ticket machines and payment systems (Ticketer, contactless and mobile ticket readers), passenger counters
- Digital tachograph, driver card and drivers' hours rules for coach work and longer routes
- Community transport booking schedules; pupil passenger lists and CCTV on school vehicles
Passenger and safety skills, written as facts: complaints and commendations per year, wheelchair boardings a day, behaviour reports, years without an at-fault collision, attendance percentage, first aid. "Excellent customer service" carries no weight; "4 commendations, 1 upheld complaint in 2025" does.
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Bus driver personal statement and career objective examples
Use a personal statement once you have driven passengers for pay; use a career objective if you have a new PCV licence, a car licence only, or are switching from lorry or delivery driving. Three or four lines: licence category and CPC, the vehicles and service you have run, one safety number, one service number, then the duties you can work.
Bus driver with 8 years and about 230,000 miles in local bus, school and community transport work, zero at-fault collisions. PCV category D, Driver CPC to 2028, enhanced DBS. 92% on time on 6 city routes, 99% attendance, 4 commendations in 2025. Available for split duties, weekends and bank holidays.
School transport driver with 6 years on home-to-school contracts for a county council, carrying 100–130 pupils a day on 2 morning and 2 afternoon routes with zero accidents and zero pupil injuries. PCV category D, Driver CPC, enhanced DBS on the Update Service, 20+ school trips a year. 15 behaviour reports last school year on a route that averaged 50.
New PCV category D holder (Driver CPC initial qualification completed August 2026) with a clean 9-year car licence and 5 years of on-time shift work in a distribution centre. Seeking a trainee bus driver role; available for early duties, split duties and weekends.
Category C+E HGV driver with 7 years and 600,000 miles without an at-fault collision, moving to passenger work; PCV theory and hazard perception tests passed, practical test booked for January 2027. Comfortable with digital tachographs, drivers' hours rules and walkround checks; Driver CPC current. Seeking a local bus or coach driver role, open to any shift.
School transport driver CV: what to add
Home-to-school transport is a large part of bus and coach work in the UK, usually run by operators on council contracts, including SEND routes with a passenger assistant on board. A transport manager is hiring for a split duty, for calm with children, and for someone who will pass an enhanced DBS check. Give them:
- Your licence category (D or D1) and Driver CPC, and your enhanced DBS check with the year and whether you are on the Update Service.
- Your route in numbers: pupils, stops, schools, vehicle type and seats, duty times, plus SEND routes, midday runs and school trips a year.
- Safety procedures by name: checking the vehicle is empty after every run, seat belt reminders where fitted, safe boarding and alighting, emergency evacuation drills with pupils.
- Pupil behaviour with a number: behaviour reports, set seating, how you work with the school, the passenger assistant and parents.
- Availability in the school holidays (private hire, rail replacement, summer schools) or your plan for the gaps; operators will ask.
PCV licence, Driver CPC, tachograph card and medical: how to list them
Driving a bus or coach with more than 8 passenger seats as a job needs a PCV licence: category D1 for minibuses with 9 to 16 passenger seats, and category D for full-size buses and coaches. Professional drivers also need the Driver CPC. Write them exactly as they read on your licence and Driver Qualification Card, with expiry years, high on the page.
- Licence category: D covers all buses and coaches; D1 is limited to minibuses with up to 16 passenger seats and a maximum length of 8 metres. Note any restriction codes on your licence, such as automatic only.
- Driver CPC: the initial qualification (Modules 2 and 4, on top of the licence tests) and then 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years. Write the expiry date on your Driver Qualification Card (DQC).
- Medical: a D4 medical report when you first apply for the licence, then again at 45, every 5 years until 65 and every year after that. Mention it only if a renewal is coming up or the advert asks.
- Digital tachograph and drivers' hours: local bus routes up to 50 km usually run under GB domestic drivers' hours rules without a tachograph, while coach work and longer routes come under the retained EU or AETR rules with a digital tachograph and driver card. Write "digital tachograph driver card, valid to 2029" if you hold one.
- DBS check: an enhanced DBS check for school and SEND transport. Say if you are on the DBS Update Service, which lets a new employer check it online.
- Also list defensive driving, passenger assistance and disability awareness training, first aid, MiDAS for minibus work and safe driver awards, each with the year.
PCV licence, category D (includes D1), DVLA, clean licence · Driver CPC, DQC valid to May 2029 · Digital tachograph driver card valid to 2028 · Enhanced DBS on the Update Service
Bus driver CV with no experience: how to get hired and trained
Bus operators are short of drivers in many parts of the UK, and many will train you for the PCV licence and Driver CPC and pay you while you do it. They need a clean licence, someone who can pass the D4 medical, a drug and alcohol test and background checks, and proof that you turn up early and stay calm with people.
- 1Check the basics: a full car licence held for a set time (each operator sets its own, often 1 to 3 years), few or no penalty points, the minimum age for the licence category (check the current gov.uk rules; many operators recruit from 21), and no convictions that would rule out school transport work.
- 2Put the title you want under your name ("Trainee Bus Driver" or "Bus Driver, PCV training in progress") and a two-line career objective with your clean driving years and the duties you can work.
- 3Turn every driving and people job into bullets with numbers: drops a day, miles a year, van or forklift operation, customers a shift, years without an accident or a missed shift.
- 4Apply to bus operators' trainee driver schemes, coach companies that run school contracts and community transport charities in your area, and ask when the next training course starts.
Format, PDF or Word, and keywords for a bus driver CV
- One page is usually enough, two at most, with the advert's job title in your header (bus driver, PCV driver, school transport driver, coach driver, community transport driver).
- Order: header with title, licence category and CPC; personal statement or career objective; licences and qualifications; skills; experience with vehicle type and route numbers; education. The licence block goes above experience because it is the first filter.
- PDF unless the advert or portal asks for Word; councils and large bus groups use online application portals that accept either.
- A plain single-column layout like the cvplex ats-classic template. No photo, no date of birth, no driving licence number (category and expiry dates are enough).
- Give each employer a size and service type ("regional bus operator, 300+ buses, local routes") and explain gaps: school contracts follow term dates, and coach work is seasonal.
Words to mirror from the advert when they are true for you: PCV licence, category D, D1, Driver CPC, DQC, digital tachograph, drivers' hours, walkround check, defect reporting, local bus, school transport, community transport, wheelchair ramp, punctuality, defensive driving, at-fault collisions, ticket machine, AVL, pupil behaviour, split duties, coach, enhanced DBS.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write a bus driver CV?
Put your title and licence category with Driver CPC under your name, then a three-line personal statement with years and miles, zero at-fault collisions, the vehicles and service you have run, one service number and the duties you can work. List the licence, CPC and DBS next, then skills, then each employer with route and safety numbers. One or two pages, PDF.
What skills should I put on a bus driver CV?
Vehicles you have driven, walkround checks and defect reporting, timetable and punctuality, wheelchair ramp and kneeling systems, defensive driving, radio, ticket machine and AVL systems, pupil behaviour management for school work, and drivers' hours and digital tachograph for coach work. Write people skills as numbers: complaints, commendations, behaviour reports.
What is a good bus driver job description for a CV?
One bullet per duty with the vehicle, the route and a number: "Drove double-deck buses on 6 local routes, 1,000 passengers a day, 92% on time, zero at-fault collisions in 4 years." Add walkround checks, wheelchair boardings, passenger handling and, for school work, pupils, stops, schools and end-of-run checks.
How do I write a bus driver CV with no experience?
Lead with your clean driving record, your provisional PCV entitlement or training place if you have one, and your readiness for the D4 medical, drug and alcohol test and background checks. Turn delivery, lorry, warehouse or customer-facing jobs into numbered bullets, state your shift availability, and apply to bus operators and coach companies that train new drivers and pay for the licence and CPC.
What is a good career objective for a bus driver CV?
Two or three lines with your licence status, clean driving years, relevant work and duties: "New PCV category D holder with Driver CPC and a clean 9-year record, 5 years of on-time shift work, seeking a trainee bus driver role; available for early duties, split duties and weekends." Skip "seeking a challenging position."
Is a school transport driver CV different from a local bus driver CV?
Same structure, different details. A school transport CV shows the enhanced DBS check, pupils, stops and schools per route, SEND work with passenger assistants, end-of-run checks and behaviour reports. A local bus CV shows punctuality, passengers a day, wheelchair boardings, ticket machine and AVL systems, and complaints versus commendations.
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How this page was made: a first draft was written with AI assistance from cvplex's example library, then edited and fact-checked by the cvplex Careers Team. Examples are fictional composites; numbers are illustrative. Report an error via the editorial policy page.