It’s not just police officers: bus drivers will be officially getting younger under government plans to relax laws on 18-year-olds behind the wheel.
A shortage of drivers across the transport industry has prompted moves to lower minimum age requirements for bus and coach drivers in Great Britain, as well as speeding up training for bus, coach and lorry drivers.
Although there are already a small number of teenage bus drivers, qualified drivers under 21 are restricted to driving shorter routes of up to 31 miles (50km), ruling out jobs on most intercity coach services and many rural bus routes.
The Department for Transport said the proposals should bring more reliable services and help passengers travel with confidence. It will tweak rules to allow prospective bus and HGV drivers to start theory and off-road training before receiving their provisional licence, to help tackle shortages in the passengers transport and haulage sector.
The DfT said the changes would not affect safety but would allow drivers to complete training and start work faster.
The minister for roads, Guy Opperman, said: “Being a bus, coach or lorry driver can be an excellent career for young people and these proposals could help get younger talent into transport, encouraging diversity in the sector.”
He added it would go “some way to continue to ease driver shortages, delivering more reliable bus and coach services and a more resilient supply chain”.
While driver shortages have abated since the problems seen during the height of the Covid pandemic, according to industry estimates from the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) there are still almost 10% fewer coach drivers than needed and demand is likely to grow.
Graham Vidler, the chief executive of the CPT, said he welcomed the moves. “As 18-year-olds are allowed to drive an articulated lorry already, there is a clear case for allowing them also to drive all types of coach and bus services.”
Meanwhile, Labour has announced plans to accelerate bus franchising, allowing more local transport authorities to take back control and end what it called the “postcode lottery” of bus services.
Labour said if elected it would create a further 250m passenger journeys a year with greater flexibility over funding and support for public ownership.
The shadow transport secretary, Louse Haigh, said: “Labour will give every community the power to take back control of their bus services, and will support local leaders to deliver better buses, faster.”
She said it would “create and save vital routes and services, end today’s postcode lottery of bus services, and kickstart a revival of bus services across England”.
The policy would bolster rules that have allowed metro mayors to re-regulate bus services in their region, now in operation in Manchester and soon to follow in Liverpool and West Yorkshire.
