Glossary
Transit Bus Driver Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential transit bus driver terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key transit bus driver vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in transit bus driver training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- ADA
- Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Defensive driving
- Driving that anticipates hazards.
- Extra board
- A list of drivers who fill open runs.
- Farebox
- Equipment that collects fares.
- Fixed route
- A bus route with set stops and schedules.
- Headway
- Time between buses on a route.
- Kneeling
- Lowering the front of the bus for easier boarding.
- Layover
- Scheduled time at the end of a route.
- On-time performance
- How closely buses keep to schedule.
- Paratransit
- Door-to-door service for riders with disabilities.
- Pull-out
- Leaving the garage to start service.
- Road supervisor
- A supervisor who monitors routes in the field.
- Run
- A driver’s assigned work for a shift.
- Securement
- Strapping wheelchairs in place.
- Seniority
- Length of service, used to pick runs.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Transit Bus Driver practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Transit Bus Driver training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.