Could you be a bus driver? There are hundreds of opportunities to drive buses and coaches across Bristol, Bath, North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. You can join more and more different people switching to a rewarding career that makes a massive difference to the lives of people in communities across the West of England and play a huge part in meeting our ambitious net zero targets.
If we’re going to have a quicker, more reliable and more affordable bus network simply put we need more bus drivers. That’s why the West of England Combined Authority, led by Metro Mayor Dan Norris, is busy connecting residents and bus companies, and investing in training.
“Sorting the driver shortage is a vital step to fix the bus and coach network. Your community needs your skills to get vital buses and coaches moving. Under my leadership I’m determined the West of England gets more drivers trained up.”
Callum turned to bus driving to help fund his University studies, and add some extra skills to his CV.
Student Callum Pringle (19) has ambitions of flying high one day taking the controls of a commercial airline to get people to destinations across the world. For now, he is happy with his feet firmly on the ground working for bus operator Stagecoach as a driver in his spare time, helping local people get to where they need to be across the region.
Didi is now a confident driver in the UK after moving from Romania to the UK and having 6 weeks training.
Didi is a coach driver for Bakers Dolphin and has not looked back since he joined the company last year.
Ryan Holt was initially inspired to work as a coach driver from his Grandad who used to work for Bakers Dolphin.
Now he travels to exciting locations including Longleat, Harry Potter Studios, even Lake Garda in Italy!
People from all walks of life and backgrounds can be a bus driver, there are shift patterns to suit everyone.
Andy Ballentine decided to try coach driving after redundancy and now enjoys travelling the South West and beyond and meeting people.
People from all walks of life and backgrounds can be a bus driver, there are shift patterns to suit everyone.
Some say it’s a chance to have a job where you get thanked more than any other profession. That’s because drivers are respected people at the heart of communities, moving people to work, school, doctors appointments and the shops. Quite simply life would grind to a halt for many residents without bus drivers.
You may be entitled to Future Bright’s free career support to help you take your next step at work. Learn more about Future Bright and see if you’re eligible or email futurebright@westofengland-ca.gov.uk for more information.
As the regional transport authority, we are improving transport including buses, trains, walking and cycling.
We combine the latest technology with improvements in infrastructure to test out innovations.
We will generate over a million new rail journeys and give 80,000 more people access to train services.