How Much Does Bus Driver Training Cost?

Your bus operators’ accidents cost you money. They cost you lost time, rising insurance premiums, loss of business, fines, and court appearances.  Worse yet, an accident can cost someone their life.

That’s why training your bus operators is crucial. An effective bus driver training program will reduce accidents. Thus, you can protect your drivers, your passengers, your company, and the motoring public all while saving yourself money. But some people wonder, if the goal is to save money, why should you spend money on training? And how much should a training program cost?

We’ll explore what you should be spending on training and how to weigh the costs versus the benefits.

The Cost Factors of a Training Program

Asking how much training costs is a bit like asking how much a trip to the grocery store will cost. Where are you shopping? What are you planning to cook? In short, it depends.

There are many variables that influence the cost of bus driver training, such as:

• Type of training (online vs. in-person)
• Number of drivers
• Training frequency
• Employee pay
• Equipment used
• And more

In order to give you a realistic picture of your training costs, we’ll focus on the price of in-person vs. online, as that’s the biggest difference. 

The Cost of In-Person Training

In-person training is an important part of any bussing operation. In-person training includes activities such as new-hire orientation and recurring safety meetings. However, it also includes hands-on training that might happen on the closed course or coaching out on the road.

In-person training is typically more expensive than online training. If you’re doing it in-house, you will need to factor-in the following costs:

• The wages and salaries of all people involved (that includes operators, trainers, managers, anyone coordinating the training, etc.)
• Renting facilities to host training (if necessary)
• Wear and tear on the equipment you’re using

You might also purchase outsourced in-person training like LLLC Instructor Certification. Programs such as LLLC typically charge per attendee, and the price can range anywhere from about $1,000 to $3,000 per head depending on the training provider. There will usually be travel expenses as well.

This is important: while in-person training is expensive, you cannot have a successful bussing operation without it. Your employees need face-to-face interaction with the company in order to feel welcomed and committed to their job. Even more importantly, no one can learn how to be a safe, defensive driver without hands-on practice.

If you do not utilize in-person training, you will pay exponentially more in rising cost of loss.

The Cost of Online Training

Online training, or sometimes called self-directed training, involves your bus operators taking safety and defensive driving lessons on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. This is usually hosted via a learning management system.

While online training cannot replace hands-on practice, it’s an effective and efficient way to educate your employees on:

• Concepts related to safety, risk management, and accident prevention
• Principles of defensive driving
• Company policies and procedures
• Laws and regulations

Best-in-class bussing companies use online training to reduce the amount of in-person training that is necessary. If you implement this model, you will have reduced training time and costs without sacrificing results. 

Online training is usually billed as a monthly or yearly subscription, but some providers will sell courses à la carte.

Subscription-based online training is most often priced based on how many drivers you have. For example, The Bus Safety Course has price tiers. To see your exact cost for this program, see below:

It’s also important to evaluate what’s included with the subscription. A program like The Bus Safety Course includes access to your own learning management system and complete customer support, while other options will only give you access to the courses themselves.

For more info, check out our blog on the top 4 mistakes bussing companies make when choosing a training program.

You might be looking to avoid a subscription fee and have your drivers just take a course one-time. While this will save you money up-front, you must not lose sight of your goal. You want to reduce accidents and injuries in order to protect your people and reduce your cost of loss. Putting your operators through an online training program one time will do nothing to support your safety efforts. It’s a waste of time and money.

Is Training Worth The Cost?

Just like we said earlier, it depends. You will need to perform a cost-benefit analysis to determine if you will receive a positive return on investment from whatever training program you’re evaluating.

To do so, start with how much you’re paying per accident on average today. It’s important to not just factor-in the obvious costs like vehicle repairs, fines, settlements, rising insurance premiums and workers’ compensation. You also need to take into account the hidden costs, such as lost time from all of your employees involved with your post accident procedures.

In our experience, bussing companies can expect to pay $12,000 on average per accident.

Then, compare that $12,000 to the cost of your bus driver training program. If the program costs you less than $12,000/year to implement, it only needs to prevent one single accident to be worth the money. In most cases, you can expect any program worth its salt to prevent 20 to 40% of your yearly accidents.

Anyway you cut it, implementing a training program will save you money. 

If you’d like to learn more about The Bus Safety Course and try it for free, follow this link.