– Nobody wants to become a bus driver when it is so difficult to become one. Lukas Skrede (20) took the vocational driver course at Os’s high school outside Bergen. At one point he had to choose between becoming a truck driver or a bus driver. Like most others in the class, he chose a truck. – Most people imagined a big, black trailer. I was also dazzled by how big everything was, but actually I had a blast. Long, unpredictable days and nights in the back of the trailer made him regret it. He would rather be a bus driver. But it was difficult. – That election was really the “point of no return”. It should be easier for young professional drivers to be allowed to drive buses, believes Lukas Skrede (20). He dropped out just one month before completing his professional driver’s certificate. Had he finished, he would have had to wait four years before he could drive a bus. Photo: Synne Lykkebø Hafsaas / news Had to jump off and start over You must be 24 years old to be allowed to drive a bus in Norway. But if you are an apprentice bus driver, you get a dispensation for the age requirement. But if you have chosen a truck but would rather drive a bus, you have a problem. Then you have to wait until you turn 24 before you can get your bus licence. 20-year-old Lukas dropped out just one month before he got his professional driver’s certificate. If he had received his diploma, he would have had to wait four years. Because you can’t be an apprentice in something you already have a certificate in. Lukas believes that it should have been possible for him to switch from lorry to bus after completing professional driver training. But it is not so. In order to get behind the wheel of a bus, he had to retake parts of his education. – It is unfair. They should make an exception for those who have relevant experience. We have already driven a heavy truck, he says. It has been a few extra years at school for Lukas Skrede (20). Bus driver and sponsor Arne Ingar Åkvik in Tide thinks it’s a shame that the road has become so long. Photo: Synne Lykkebø Hafsaas / news These are the rules: Students who take the vocational driving course at upper secondary school take the same vocational certificate. But at some point they have to choose whether they want to be an apprentice as a truck driver or a bus driver. You actually have to be 24 years old to drive a bus and 21 years old to drive goods in Norway. But if you are an apprentice in a relevant company, an exception is made for the age requirement. But the exception to the age requirement follows your choice. If you choose a lorry, there is no exemption from the age requirement for buses. These are two different tutorials. Once you have completed your certificate as a professional driver, you cannot change your mind. You cannot be an apprentice in something for which you already have a vocational certificate. You can extend professional driver competence for goods transport to apply to passenger transport, or vice versa, by carrying out a competence extension. But because there is an age requirement of 24 to drive a bus, you have to wait until you reach this age before you can take the licence. Source: Norwegian Directorate of Education, Norwegian Public Roads Administration Demands that the rules be changed There is a great shortage of bus drivers in Norway. To close the gap, a thousand new drivers must be recruited every year from now on. Business policy manager Jofri Lunde at NHO Transport wants a more flexible education course. – Everyone who chooses the professional driver course must obtain a certificate for bus and goods transport at the same time. Then they can choose what they want and vary throughout their working life. At the same time, she believes that it must be easier to change your mind if you choose the “wrong” course at upper secondary school. – It is sad that the school run is a barrier. We need greater flexibility. The curricula must be adapted, so that we can recruit more bus drivers. Business policy manager Jofri Lunde at NHO Transport believes that the education course should be changed so that you get a certificate for bus and goods transport at the same time. Photo: Moment Studio / Moment Studio Believes age makes better drivers Senior advisor Arvid Mytting in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration says that the age requirement of 24 for buses is the same across Europe. And that everyone is obliged to follow it. – We have gone to great lengths to let the younger ones go, he says. He believes that goods and passenger transport are two completely different things. – Driving a bus is demanding. You must transport people, handle people and act correctly. The human part is important. There, age will create a safer driver. At the same time, he is not adverse to the proposal to expand training for professional drivers. – All possibilities Senior adviser Ole Christian Norum in the Norwegian Directorate of Education says that there is little they can do about the education course as long as the requirements are as they are. – The consequence is that it costs him some time. But he has every opportunity to become a bus driver, says Norum. Lukas has gained a few extra years at school. Because he skipped the vocational certificate as a professional driver, he was given the opportunity to become an apprentice as a bus driver anyway. He is now an apprentice at the Tide bus company. – It has been a long road and a lot of hardship, but I have made it. Luckily. But something should be done to make the road easier for others. Lukas Skrede has gained a few extra years at school. Because he skipped the vocational certificate as a professional driver, he was given the opportunity to become an apprentice as a bus driver anyway. Photo: Synne Lykkebø Hafsaas / news
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Lukas (20) despairs over age requirements for young bus drivers – news Vestland
