Becoming a bus or coach driver in France
Two separate qualifications stack up for coach driving in France: the D licence, and the professional qualification that turns it into a job.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
To drive a bus or coach in France you need a D licence, which covers vehicles designed for more than 8 passengers besides the driver, plus the initial driver qualification. The Highway Code sets the minimum age at 24 for the D licence and 21 for the D1 licence, limited to 16 passengers and 8 metres, with a car licence (category B) held first (article R221-5). The initial qualification lowers those ages. After the 280-hour long course you may drive a coach from 21, from 20 within France, and from 18 on scheduled routes of 50 km or less. After the 140-hour fast-track course, known as FIMO, the age is 23, or 21 on those short routes (Transport Code, articles R3314-4 and R3314-6). After that, a 35-hour refresher course, the FCO, is compulsory every 5 years.
Bus or coach: from what age, and when is the next refresher?
Minimum age to drive a coach
23 years
| D licence age without the qualification | 24 years |
| Refresher (FCO) due in | 2.0 years |
| Refresher length | 35 h |
Two qualifications, two purposes
The D licence is a driving licence: it shows which vehicles you can handle. The initial driver qualification, which everyone calls FIMO (formation initiale minimale obligatoire), is a professional qualification: it shows you may drive them for a living. French law requires both from anyone driving passenger vehicles commercially. Courses often bundle them, but the rules, ages and hours are separate.
The job itself comes in several forms: scheduled intercity routes, school runs, occasional hire, tourism and long-distance touring, and city bus networks. The bus driver pay page sets out the collective agreement scale for each.
The licence: D or D1
Article R221-4 of the Highway Code defines the categories. D1 covers vehicles designed and built for no more than 16 passengers, driver excluded, and no longer than 8 metres. D covers vehicles designed for more than 8 passengers, driver excluded. D1E and DE add a trailer over 750 kg.
| Category | Vehicles | Minimum licence age |
|---|---|---|
| D1 | up to 16 passengers, up to 8 m | 21 |
| D | more than 8 passengers | 24 |
The Highway Code classes these as public transport vehicles, category M2 or M3 (article R311-1). Heavy licences come with a medical fitness check under article R221-10 of the same code: ask your prefecture how it works before enrolling. If you hold a licence from outside the EU, check first whether it must be exchanged for a French one.
Initial qualification: long or fast-track
The Transport Code provides two initial qualification courses, which open different ages:
| Course | Minimum length | Coach (D) from | Minibus (D1) from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long (R3314-2) | 280 h | 21; 20 within France; 18 on scheduled routes of 50 km or less | 21; 18 within France |
| Fast-track, or FIMO (R3314-5) | 140 h over 4 consecutive weeks | 23; 21 on scheduled routes of 50 km or less | 21 |
The long course is mostly for young people: it allows coach driving from 18 on domestic scheduled routes of 50 km or less, or without passengers, with specific measures for school transport under 20. The fast-track FIMO is the usual route for a career change: four intensive weeks, often combined with the D licence in a single programme.
A driver already qualified for goods who moves to passengers, or the other way round, does not start again: a 35-hour top-up course is enough (articles R3314-7 and R3314-8).
Refresher training every five years
The qualification is not for life. Article R3314-10 requires every driver to take compulsory periodic training every 5 years, the FCO (formation continue obligatoire). It lasts 35 hours (article R3314-11), over 5 consecutive days or in blocks of at least 7 hours. It may be completed up to a year early (article R3314-12), and one FCO covers both passenger and goods vehicles (article R3314-13).
A driver who misses the deadline must complete the course before driving again (article R3314-14). The calculator above gives your minimum age according to your course and the work you aim for, and the time left before your next FCO.
Employers and job titles
The road transport collective agreement lists driving jobs in its job classification for passenger driving staff: coach driver, driver-conductor who also handles fares, driver on commercial intercity coach services (coefficient 142 V), tourism driver (145 V), long-distance touring driver (150 V) and senior touring driver (155 V). A tourism driver needs at least two years’ experience; a senior touring driver eight years, four of them at coefficient 150 V. School-period drivers have been on coefficient 140 V since 1 September 2022, except on services dedicated to disabled or reduced-mobility passengers (amendment no. 115).
City bus networks come under a different collective agreement, with their own pay scales. Before paying for a course, ask the employers in your area how they recruit and train new drivers; it is a fair question for a first interview. Training and the job run in French, and passengers expect clear spoken French on board.
A typical career-change path
- Check your category B licence and take the medical check required for heavy licences.
- Choose between the long course and the fast-track FIMO, depending on your age and the work you want.
- Take the D licence, often at the same centre and in the same period as the FIMO.
- Obtain the qualification, then apply for scheduled routes, school runs or tourism.
- Note your FCO deadline, 5 years after qualifying.
Coach driving is a salaried job. Starting your own group transport firm also takes the passenger transport competence certificate and a Community transport licence. For self-employed driving, the routes are taxi or VTC work.
What this page leaves out
The price of courses, the D licence and the FIMO varies between providers and is not set by any law, so we do not publish it, and we name no training centre. The D licence tests themselves, how they are organised and how long you wait for a slot are governed by texts other than those read for this page.