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Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity vs Locomotive Engineers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity and Locomotive Engineers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity Locomotive Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$57,440
$77,400
Employment · BLS OEWS
148,980
31,990
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
64th pct
34th pct

At a glance

Dimension Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity Locomotive Engineers
Median pay $57,440 $77,400
Employment 148,980 31,990
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.3%) About average (+0.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 20,900 2,200
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 64th pct Moderate · 34th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 33rd pct · 20% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman — No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Transportation, Far Vision, Public Safety and Security, Operation and Control, Control Precision, Multilimb Coordination, Depth Perception, Operations Monitoring, Spatial Orientation, Response Orientation, Reaction Time, Problem Sensitivity, Rate Control, Near Vision, English Language, Selective Attention, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Time Sharing, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Time Management, Written Comprehension, Auditory Attention, Speaking, Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Perceptual Speed.

Specific to Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Service Orientation
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Law and Government
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Night Vision
  • Glare Sensitivity

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Education and Training
  • Active Learning
  • Complex Problem Solving

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Specific to Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity or Locomotive Engineers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity vs Locomotive Engineers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/bus-drivers-transit-and-intercity-vs-locomotive-engineers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity vs Locomotive Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/bus-drivers-transit-and-intercity-vs-locomotive-engineers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-bus-drivers-transit-and-intercity-vs-locomotive-engineers,
  title  = {Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity vs Locomotive Engineers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/bus-drivers-transit-and-intercity-vs-locomotive-engineers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.