Numerous bus tour providers have to reduce their offerings because many companies have too few drivers and vacancies are very difficult to fill. In some cases, job advertisements do not receive any applications at all.

There are people who couldn't imagine working full-time in bus transport. Everyday life is too stressful and the daily responsibility towards the passengers is too high. Others, on the other hand, are really passionate about their job and can't imagine any other career than being a “full-blooded bus driver”. The problem, however, is that there are potentially many people who could imagine becoming “full-blooded bus drivers”, but they fail because of the high costs that have to be paid to obtain a class D driving license.

Class D and C driving licenses can be very expensive

The saying “everything used to be cheaper” is certainly true, at least when it comes to driving licenses, because even after adjusting for inflation, it used to be cheaper to get driving licenses of classes C and/or D. Males were once able to do this as part of their military service and then have their military driver's license converted into a civilian one for a small administrative fee. This has not been possible in this form for a long time and is certainly not as cost-effective for drivers. If you want to get a C and/or D license, you have to pay a lot in driving school costs and test fees. Many young people who would be interested in becoming truck and/or bus drivers cannot or do not want to raise these sums.

Many drivers of the so-called boomer generation are gradually retiring, but every year there are fewer and fewer “young drivers”. For a long time, this could be concealed by attracting interested parties from Eastern Europe and/or the Balkan region for the jobs. But these job markets have also largely been “scoured” and some people have reoriented their careers away from the steering wheel.

The sum of all the circumstances is: bus companies have major problems finding new drivers. More and more companies are making very attractive offers, but interest seems to be very limited. In many regions, public transport buses no longer operate on their own line concessions, but are instead ordered services from cities, states and/or transport associations. It is therefore a priority to deploy the existing driving staff in this segment, because the possible loss of public transport orders can threaten the company's existence.

Offers have to be scaled back due to a lack of drivers

The Association of Baden-Württemberg Bus Companies explains, among other things, that customer demand in the area of ​​bus travel has increased significantly. Many trips are quickly booked up, but providers are limited in their ability to bring additional capacity onto the market because many companies are suffering from an acute shortage of drivers.

Expressed in numbers: According to an internal association survey carried out in Baden-Württemberg, 82 percent of entrepreneurs stated that they had problems finding new bus drivers. Of these, 63 percent said that the planned travel offerings had to be reduced because of this or that additional trips for which there would definitely be demand could not be organized due to a lack of drivers. The association also notes that it can be complicated for non-EU citizens to obtain the appropriate work permits. In addition, existing bus driving licenses have to be converted into national ones, for example German ones, which is associated with high costs. Some interested parties, for example from Ukraine or Turkey, would shy away from this. However, there are also many companies that not only offer such people support with dealing with the authorities, but also cover the costs of rewriting their driving license. Drivers, especially those with years of previous experience, are desperately wanted.

It should also be noted that simply possessing the appropriate driving license class does not entitle you to drive the corresponding vehicles commercially. In addition, a professional driver's license for the transport of goods or passengers is also required. In Austria, this is a state matter and access is regulated a little differently depending on the federal state, but one thing is the same everywhere: an official exam, which has also been about driving and rest times for several years, must be taken. Even this is financially supported, i.e. paid in full, by employers who are urgently looking for new drivers.