Shuttle Driver Job Description: Duties, Template & Pay (2026)
A shuttle driver job description has to answer one question before any other: does this vehicle need a CDL? Most hotel, dealership and campus shuttles do not, some airport and hospital shuttles do, and getting it wrong either breaks the law or shrinks your applicant pool for no reason. This page has a template you can copy, the federal line between the two, and what the job pays.
What a shuttle driver does
A shuttle driver moves people on a fixed loop or on request: guests between a hotel and an airport terminal, patients and visitors between parking and a hospital entrance, service customers between a dealership and their office, students across a campus. The federal occupation is shuttle drivers and chauffeurs (SOC 53-3053), and O*NET’s reported job titles include airport shuttle driver, shuttle bus driver, van driver, transportation driver and special needs bus driver.
The O*NET task list is more mechanical than most employers expect. Near the top: testing lights, brakes, horn and wipers, and checking tires, oil, fuel and safety equipment before a run. Then complying with traffic law, making sure passengers follow safety rules, operating wheelchair lifts to load and secure riders with special needs, reporting malfunctions, and picking up on a strict schedule. Further down: luggage, radioing dispatch, accident reports, trip logs and cleaning.
What the task list undersells is that this is a customer service job with a steering wheel.
| Working conditions | Share reporting it |
|---|---|
| Working in an enclosed vehicle | 97% every day |
| Outdoors, exposed to all weather | 73% every day |
| Dealing with the public rated extremely important | 69% |
| Constant contact with others | 63% |
| Consequence of an error rated extremely serious | 50% |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | 35% every day |
Two rows matter. 73 percent are outdoors in all weather every day. And half say the consequence of a mistake is extremely serious, which is the honest reason your screening should focus on driving record and judgment rather than years of experience.
Shuttle driver job description template
Copy this into your ATS, replace the bracketed fields and delete the lines that do not apply. It is written for a non-CDL van or small bus; the CDL section below tells you what to change if your vehicle crosses the line.
Job title
Shuttle Driver [/ Courtesy Driver / Van Driver] — [Shift], [Company name], [City, ST]
Summary
[Company name] is hiring a shuttle driver to run our [hotel-to-airport / parking-to-campus / dealership customer] shuttle in [city]. You are often the first and last person our [guests / patients / customers] talk to, so the job is half safe driving and half making people feel looked after.
[Days and hours]. [Pay range, plus tips if applicable]. [Vehicle: e.g. 14-passenger cutaway, no CDL required / 24-passenger bus, Class B CDL with P endorsement required].
What you will do
• Drive [route or loop] on schedule and respond to on-demand pickups from [dispatch / front desk / app]
• Complete a pre-trip inspection every shift: lights, brakes, tires, fluids, wheelchair lift and safety equipment
• Help passengers board and exit, load luggage, and secure wheelchairs and mobility devices
• Follow traffic law and company safety rules, and make sure passengers do too
• Keep a trip log of runs, passengers and mileage in [system or paper log]
• Report vehicle problems, delays and incidents to [dispatch / supervisor] right away
• Keep the vehicle clean inside and out
• Answer passenger questions about [the property / the campus / the area]
What you need
• Valid driver’s license and a driving record that meets our insurance standard: [e.g. no more than X moving violations in 3 years]
• [Minimum age required by our insurer, if any]
• Able to lift luggage up to [weight] and operate a wheelchair lift
• Comfortable working outside in all weather
• Friendly and calm with the public, including tired, late or upset passengers
• [CDL Class B with passenger (P) endorsement — only if the vehicle is designed to carry 16 or more people including the driver, or weighs 26,001 lbs or more]
Nice to have
• Experience in hospitality, customer service or passenger transport
• [First aid / CPR certification]
• [Passenger assistance or wheelchair securement training]
• [Second language spoken by many of our passengers]
What we offer
• [Pay range], [tips policy], [shift differential]
• [Schedule and how far ahead it is posted]
• [Benefits and eligibility date]
• [Paid training, including CDL training if offered]
• [Next job: lead driver, dispatcher, CDL driver, front desk]
How to apply
[One step. Name, phone, and a yes/no on the license.]
Requirements: what to ask for, and what to drop
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Driver’s license | Required. What you need to state is your insurer’s motor vehicle record standard, because that is what disqualifies people. |
| CDL | Only if the vehicle legally requires one (see the next section). Demanding a CDL for a 12-passenger van cuts your pool to a group that can earn more driving a bus or a truck. |
| Experience | Ask for none. BLS lists short-term on-the-job training as typical. |
| Education | BLS lists no formal educational credential as typical entry-level education; 56 percent of O*NET respondents say a high school diploma or equivalent is required. |
| Physical | Name the luggage weight and whether there is a wheelchair lift or ramp. |
| Drug testing | Required under DOT rules for CDL drivers. For non-CDL roles it is your policy, and your state’s cannabis law may limit it. |
When a shuttle driver needs a CDL with a passenger endorsement
The federal definition is in 49 CFR 383.5. A vehicle used in commerce to carry passengers is a commercial motor vehicle for CDL purposes if it has a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more (Group B), or if it does not reach that weight but is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver (Group C). Drivers of passenger vehicles in either group also need the passenger (P) endorsement, which under 49 CFR 383.93 takes both a knowledge test and a skills test.
That splits shuttle work into two jobs:
- No CDL: vans, SUVs and small cutaway buses designed for 15 or fewer people including the driver, under 26,001 pounds. Count the seats the vehicle was designed for, including the driver’s — not the seats you use.
- CDL with P endorsement: buses designed for 16 or more including the driver, or any vehicle at 26,001 pounds or more. These drivers are also in the DOT drug and alcohol testing program; our guide to DOT drug testing requirements covers what that involves.
The CDL is not the only federal line. The broader FMCSA safety regulations use a different definition in 49 CFR 390.5: in interstate commerce, a vehicle designed or used to carry more than 8 passengers including the driver for compensation, or more than 15 not for compensation, is a commercial motor vehicle. That can bring parts of the safety rules into play for a van that needs no CDL. Where passenger-carrying vehicles are covered, the hours-of-service limit in 49 CFR 395.5 is 10 hours of driving after 8 consecutive hours off duty, with no driving after 15 hours on duty. Whether your free courtesy shuttle counts as “for compensation,” and whether state rules reach an in-state route, are questions to settle with your state DMV and FMCSA guidance before you post.
Customizing it by setting
Hotel and airport shuttles
The most common version, and the most customer-facing. Say whether the driver keeps tips, what the loop is, and whether the job includes bell or front desk duties between runs — some do, and it changes who applies.
Hospital, medical campus and senior living
Riders are patients, visitors and residents, many with limited mobility. Put wheelchair lift operation and passenger assistance in the duties, and say whether the driver helps riders to the door. If you also staff transport inside the building, the patient transporter job description covers that role.
Car dealership shuttles
Usually a sedan or minivan taking service customers to work and back, often part-time. If the job includes lot porter work, say so.
University, corporate and campus shuttles
Fixed routes on a timetable, often on larger buses — which is where the CDL question usually bites. Larger buses make it a bus driver job; our bus driver job description is the better starting point. If you are deciding whether to run a shuttle at all, see our guide to employee shuttle and transportation benefits.
What shuttle drivers earn
Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs had a median wage of $37,290 a year, about $17.93 an hour, in May 2025. The BLS category combines shuttle drivers with chauffeurs and limousine drivers, so read it as the pay level for non-CDL passenger driving in general.
There were 251,500 people in the occupation in 2025, and BLS projects employment to grow 7.1 percent to 269,400 by 2035, with about 35,500 openings a year over the decade. Most of those openings replace people leaving the occupation rather than new positions.
If your shuttle requires a CDL with a P endorsement, the $37,290 median is the wrong benchmark. Those drivers can also qualify for transit and intercity bus jobs, where BLS reports a May 2025 median of $59,050. Price the CDL role against that market, not against hotel van drivers.
What it costs to reach a shuttle driver
Our benchmark has no shuttle-specific role family, and the CDL truck driver family is the wrong comparison for a job most applicants can do on a regular license. The closest fit is the sector: Transportation & Logistics campaigns ran a median cost per applicant of $13.34 on Meta, with the middle half of campaigns between $5.26 and $25.17, a blended figure of $10.28 and a 13 percent apply rate, across 184 campaign-months. The all-role median is $13.88.
The lever is the apply rate: across the benchmark, applicant conversion explains about 70 percent of the variation in cost per applicant. A short on-platform form that asks about the license keeps applicants a resume upload loses.
Hiring other drivers and guest-facing staff? See the bus driver, delivery driver and valet attendant job descriptions, valet interview questions, and hospitality recruiting for the hiring side.
The job description is not the job ad
The template sets expectations and sits in your ATS. The ad has to stop someone who was not looking.
- Lead with the hours and the pay, including tips if the driver keeps them.
- Say “no CDL needed” in the first two lines when it is true. It is the biggest filter a candidate applies.
- Name the vehicle and the route: “airport loop, 14-passenger van, days.”
- Keep the application to one step with a license question. Your motor vehicle record check happens later anyway; our guide to MVR checks covers how those work.
The full argument is on job ad copywriting.
Frequently asked questions
What should a shuttle driver job description include?
The vehicle and whether it needs a CDL, the route or loop, the hours and pay, the pre-trip inspection and passenger assistance duties, the driving record standard your insurer requires, the lifting involved, and how to apply. The vehicle and license line matters most, because candidates decide on it first.
What does a shuttle driver do?
They drive passengers on a scheduled loop or on request, inspect the vehicle before each shift, help riders board, load luggage, secure wheelchairs, keep a trip log, report problems to dispatch and keep the vehicle clean. In hotel, hospital and dealership settings the job is as much customer service as driving.
Does a shuttle driver need a CDL?
Only if the vehicle meets the federal definition in 49 CFR 383.5: a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more, or a vehicle designed to transport 16 or more passengers including the driver. Those drivers also need the passenger (P) endorsement. Vans and small buses designed for 15 or fewer people including the driver, under 26,001 pounds, do not require a CDL.
How much do shuttle drivers make?
Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs had a median wage of $37,290 a year, about $17.93 an hour, in May 2025. Shuttle jobs that require a CDL compete with transit and intercity bus driving, where the May 2025 median was $59,050.
What are the requirements to be a shuttle driver?
A valid driver’s license and a driving record that meets the employer’s insurance standard, the ability to lift luggage and operate a wheelchair lift, and comfort dealing with the public. BLS lists no formal educational credential as typical, with short-term on-the-job training. A CDL with a P endorsement is required only for larger vehicles.
Do shuttle drivers get drug tested?
Drivers who must hold a CDL fall under the DOT drug and alcohol testing rules. For non-CDL shuttle drivers, testing is a matter of company policy and state law, and several states limit testing for cannabis.
Is a shuttle driver a good job?
It is a steady entry-level job with low barriers, and BLS projects 7.1 percent growth in the occupation between 2025 and 2035. The pay is modest unless the role requires a CDL.
How much does it cost to recruit a shuttle driver?
On Meta, Transportation & Logistics campaigns ran a median of $13.34 per applicant across our managed campaigns, with the middle half between $5.26 and $25.17 and a 13 percent apply rate. We do not have a shuttle-specific role family, so that sector figure is the closest benchmark.
Other job description templates
Hiring shuttle drivers?
The description is the document. Getting it in front of drivers who are not on a job board is the part we do.
Wage, employment, projection and education data for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs (SOC 53-3053) and transit and intercity bus drivers (SOC 53-3052): U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025–35 and May 2025 OEWS. Tasks, job titles, work context and education survey: O*NET OnLine 53-3053.00. CDL, endorsement, commercial motor vehicle and hours-of-service rules: 49 CFR 383.5, 383.93, 390.5 and 395.5 (eCFR). Read at source 28 September 2026. Cost-per-applicant and apply-rate figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, 891 managed campaigns and 1,334 campaign-months.