Bus and coach drivers
Bus and coach drivers drive road passenger-carrying vehicles such as buses, coaches and mini-buses.
- Employees (UK)
- 83k
- Median annual pay
- £33,947
- Exposure score ?
- 3.9/10 Low 3.9/10 Low strict reading, with tools is 3.9/10 with-tools reading, strict is 3.9/10
- Wage exposure
- £1.10bn £1.10bn
Higher exposure than 94% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Report delays, mechanical problems, and emergencies to supervisors or dispatchers, using radios.
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Make announcements to passengers, such as notifications of upcoming stops or schedule delays.
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Complete reports, including shift summaries and incident or accident reports.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Report delays, mechanical problems, and emergencies to supervisors or dispatchers, using radios.
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Make announcements to passengers, such as notifications of upcoming stops or schedule delays.
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Complete reports, including shift summaries and incident or accident reports.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Subway and Streetcar Operators" (53-4041.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 10 tasks, unaided
Report delays, mechanical problems, and emergencies to supervisors or dispatchers, using radios.
Make announcements to passengers, such as notifications of upcoming stops or schedule delays.
Complete reports, including shift summaries and incident or accident reports.
Greet passengers, provide information, and answer questions concerning fares, schedules, transfers, and routings.
What still needs a person
6 of 10 tasks
Monitor lights indicating obstructions or other trains ahead and watch for car and truck traffic at crossings to stay alert to potential hazards.
Operate controls to open and close transit vehicle doors.
Drive and control rail-guided public transportation, such as subways, elevated trains, and electric-powered streetcars, trams, or trolleys, to transport passengers.
Regulate vehicle speed and the time spent at each stop to maintain schedules.
Direct emergency evacuation procedures.
Attend meetings on driver and passenger safety to learn ways in which job performance might be affected.
Tasks via O*NET "Subway and Streetcar Operators" (53-4041.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 10 tasks, with tools
Report delays, mechanical problems, and emergencies to supervisors or dispatchers, using radios.
Make announcements to passengers, such as notifications of upcoming stops or schedule delays.
Complete reports, including shift summaries and incident or accident reports.
Greet passengers, provide information, and answer questions concerning fares, schedules, transfers, and routings.
What still needs a person
6 of 10 tasks
Monitor lights indicating obstructions or other trains ahead and watch for car and truck traffic at crossings to stay alert to potential hazards.
Operate controls to open and close transit vehicle doors.
Drive and control rail-guided public transportation, such as subways, elevated trains, and electric-powered streetcars, trams, or trolleys, to transport passengers.
Regulate vehicle speed and the time spent at each stop to maintain schedules.
Direct emergency evacuation procedures.
Attend meetings on driver and passenger safety to learn ways in which job performance might be affected.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Process, plant and machine operatives, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons