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Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity

Drive bus or motor coach, including regular route operations, charters, and private carriage. May assist passengers with baggage. May collect fares or tickets.
  • Summary

  • Details

  • Work Activities

    • Record information, such as cash receipts and ticket fares, and maintain log book.
    • Inspect vehicles and check gas, oil, and water levels prior to departure.
    • Report delays or accidents.
    • Assist passengers, such as elderly or individuals with disabilities, on and off bus, ensure they are seated properly, help carry baggage, and answer questions about bus schedules or routes.
    • Park vehicles at loading areas so that passengers can board.
    • Inspect vehicles and check gas, oil, and water levels prior to departure.
    • Handle passenger emergencies or disruptions.
    • Announce stops to passengers.
    • Regulate heating, lighting, and ventilating systems for passenger comfort.
    • Record information, such as cash receipts and ticket fares, and maintain log book.
    • Load and unload baggage in baggage compartments.
    • Maintain cleanliness of bus or motor coach.
    • Announce stops to passengers.
    • Drive vehicles over specified routes or to specified destinations according to time schedules, complying with traffic regulations to ensure that passengers have a smooth and safe ride.
    • Collect tickets or cash fares from passengers.
    • Read maps to plan bus routes.
    • Advise passengers to be seated and orderly while on vehicles.
    • Drive vehicles over specified routes or to specified destinations according to time schedules, complying with traffic regulations to ensure that passengers have a smooth and safe ride.
    • Assist passengers, such as elderly or individuals with disabilities, on and off bus, ensure they are seated properly, help carry baggage, and answer questions about bus schedules or routes.

    Skills

    • Complex Problem Solving
      • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
    • Programming
      • Writing computer programs.
    • Service Orientation
      • Looking for ways to help people.
    • Equipment Selection
      • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
    • Persuasion
      • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
    • Operations Analysis
      • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
    • Active Learning
      • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
    • Social Perceptiveness
      • Understanding people's reactions.
    • Science
      • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
    • Critical Thinking
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
    • Systems Evaluation
      • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
    • Troubleshooting
      • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
    • Time Management
      • Managing your time and the time of other people.
    • Management of Personnel Resources
      • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
    • Instructing
      • Teaching people how to do something.
    • Coordination
      • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
    • Operations Monitoring
      • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
    • Mathematics
      • Using math to solve problems.
    • Active Listening
      • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
    • Learning Strategies
      • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
    • Quality Control Analysis
      • Testing how well a product or service works.
    • Management of Material Resources
      • Managing equipment and materials.
    • Equipment Maintenance
      • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
    • Speaking
      • Talking to others.
    • Monitoring
      • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
    • Judgment and Decision Making
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
    • Repairing
      • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
    • Technology Design
      • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
    • Installation
      • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
    • Negotiation
      • Bringing people together to solve differences.
    • Reading Comprehension
      • Reading work-related information.
    • Writing
      • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
    • Operation and Control
      • Using equipment or systems.
    • Management of Financial Resources
      • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
    • Systems Analysis
      • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    Abilities

    • Depth Perception
      • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
    • Speech Clarity
      • Speaking clearly.
    • Glare Sensitivity
      • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
    • Auditory Attention
      • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
    • Time Sharing
      • Doing two or more things at the same time.
    • Perceptual Speed
      • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
    • Speed of Closure
      • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
    • Gross Body Coordination
      • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
    • Finger Dexterity
      • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
    • Gross Body Equilibrium
      • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
    • Dynamic Strength
      • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
    • Control Precision
      • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
    • Wrist-Finger Speed
      • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
    • Far Vision
      • Seeing details that are far away.
    • Peripheral Vision
      • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
    • Sound Localization
      • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
    • Oral Expression
      • Communicating by speaking.
    • Extent Flexibility
      • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Speech Recognition
      • Recognizing spoken words.
    • Hearing Sensitivity
      • Telling the difference between sounds.
    • Oral Comprehension
      • Listening and understanding what people say.
    • Written Comprehension
      • Reading and understanding what is written.
    • Problem Sensitivity
      • Noticing when problems happen.
    • Deductive Reasoning
      • Using rules to solve problems.
    • Flexibility of Closure
      • Seeing hidden patterns.
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
      • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
    • Spatial Orientation
      • Knowing where things are around you.
    • Visualization
      • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
    • Inductive Reasoning
      • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
    • Rate Control
      • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
    • Speed of Limb Movement
      • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
    • Night Vision
      • Seeing at night or under low light.
    • Fluency of Ideas
      • Coming up with lots of ideas.
    • Category Flexibility
      • Grouping things in different ways.
    • Number Facility
      • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
    • Memorization
      • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
    • Near Vision
      • Seeing details up close.
    • Multilimb Coordination
      • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
    • Explosive Strength
      • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
    • Trunk Strength
      • Using your lower back and stomach.
    • Stamina
      • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
    • Visual Color Discrimination
      • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
    • Written Expression
      • Communicating by writing.
    • Manual Dexterity
      • Holding or moving items with your hands.
    • Selective Attention
      • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
    • Mathematical Reasoning
      • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
    • Information Ordering
      • Ordering or arranging things.
    • Originality
      • Creating new and original ideas.
    • Dynamic Flexibility
      • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Response Orientation
      • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
    • Reaction Time
      • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
    • Static Strength
      • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    Knowledge

    • Psychology
      • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
    • Sociology and Anthropology
      • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
    • Philosophy and Theology
      • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
    • English Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
    • Public Safety and Security
      • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
    • Design
      • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
    • Physics
      • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
    • Administration and Management
      • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
    • Engineering and Technology
      • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
    • Law and Government
      • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
    • Chemistry
      • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
    • Medicine and Dentistry
      • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
    • Education and Training
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
    • Communications and Media
      • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
    • Production and Processing
      • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
    • Sales and Marketing
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
    • Customer and Personal Service
      • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
    • Mathematics
      • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
    • Telecommunications
      • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
    • Transportation
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
    • Administrative
      • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
    • Economics and Accounting
      • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
    • Food Production
      • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
    • Building and Construction
      • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
    • Computers and Electronics
      • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
    • Mechanical
      • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
    • Personnel and Human Resources
      • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
    • Biology
      • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
    • Geography
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
    • Therapy and Counseling
      • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
    • Foreign Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
    • Fine Arts
      • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
    • History and Archeology
      • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    Education

    Education
    High school diploma or equivalent
    Work Experience
    No work experience
    Training
    1 to 12 months on-the-job training

    Pay

    Washington Annual Salary
    70360/yr
    Washington Hourly Wage
    33.83/hr

    Washington Employment Trends

    Currently Employed
    9,220
    Yearly Projected Openings
    1310

    Personality

    Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:
    • Dependability
    • Self Control
    • Cooperation
    • Concern for Others
    • Attention to Detail
    • Independence

    Tools

    • Automotive doors
    • Automotive hydraulic systems
    • Busses
    • Fire extinguishers
    • Grease guns
    • Informational signs
    • Lifts
    • Minibuses
    • Minivans or vans
    • Mobile medical services first aid kits
    • Mobile phones
    • Public address systems
    • Security cameras
    • Tablet computers
    • Tire pressure gauge
    • Two way radios
    • Wheelchair accessories

    Technology

    • Internet browser software
    • Map creation software
    • Operating system software