How To Become A Tour Bus Driver: What It Is and Career Path

What is a tour bus driver and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a tour bus driver. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.15 an hour? That's $37,754 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 32,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreTour Bus DriverUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,754

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.0

Growth Rate 5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.15%

Asian 4.90%

Black or African American 25.13%

Hispanic or Latino 17.04%

Unknown 4.12%

White 47.66%

Gender

female 20.34%

male 79.66%

Age - 56

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 56

Stress Level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.8

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.6

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a tour bus driver

Explore tour bus driver education requirements

Most common tour bus driver degrees

High School Diploma

31.4 %

Bachelor's

27.9 %

Associate

22.5 %

Start to develop specific tour bus driver skills

Skills	Percentages
CDL	32.00%
Transport Passengers	22.23%
DOT	18.62%
Pre	7.47%
Post-Trip Inspections	3.63%

Complete relevant tour bus driver training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New tour bus drivers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a tour bus driver based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real tour bus driver resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed tour bus driver usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed tour bus driver in most of states. 18 states require tour bus drivers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License Url
Kentucky	Specific course required	State exam required	School Bus Driver
Maryland	Specific course required	State exam required	BUS DRIVER, SCHOOL
Alaska	Specific course required	State exam required	Bus Driver, School
Idaho	-	State exam required	Commercial Drivers
Illinois	Specific course required	State exam required	COMMERCIAL DRIVER (TRUCK AND BUS OPERATOR)

Research tour bus driver duties and responsibilities

Conduct vehicle inspections on bus pre and post-schedule trips for bus maintenance and passenger safety.
Certify in CPR and sensitivity training.
Require to maintain CDL drivers licensing on a yearly basis.
Conduct deliveries of medical equipment throughout Florida, collect payments, and ensure proper cleanliness of medical equipment

Prepare your tour bus driver resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your tour bus driver resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a tour bus driver resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Tour Bus Driver Resume templates

Build a professional Tour Bus Driver resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Tour Bus Driver resume.

Apply for tour bus driver jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a tour bus driver job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do tour bus drivers rate their job?

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Tour Bus Driver reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2023

Cons

Not enough overtime , the hours are not enough, and since their are meaningful, being able to sign up for overtime helps . Then there are the class C drivers who take advantage of bus drivers, by cutting us off, or just not being aware that a 40ft/ 60ft bus can not stop on a dime And while class C drivers take unnecessary traffic risk. A bus driver must stay alert and expect the unexpected every minute under the wheel of a bus

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2022

Cons

The road rage drivers: people lose their empathy when driving. They become aggressive and angry by the slightest event on the road. Hence, taking the fun out of driving. However, driving is still relaxing and fun.

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

The ability to gain the trust of a customer to know satisfied and happy with the assignments set all personal belongings and artifacts have not been touched or moved and deliver to him one time it is a sure note for return business which Fields customer service and repetitive returns safety orientated and knowledgeable have a special detail and driving skills safety assured first and foremost