Guides/Theory test

Bus Theory Test in Ireland (Category D): Format, Fee, What the Bus-Only Questions Ask

Updated 29 October 2026 · 5 min read

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The bus theory test is 100 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, pass mark 74, fee €72. One sitting covers both category D (any bus) and D1 (minibus, 9 to 16 passenger seats). It is the same exam structure as the truck test, and most of the bank is shared, but about 108 questions are only ever asked of bus candidates. Those are the ones that catch truck drivers adding a D.

Format and fee

There is no negative marking. Every question has one correct answer out of four. You sit it on a computer at a Prometric centre and get the result on the spot; the pass certificate is valid for 2 years, so book the learner permit application inside that window.

If you plan to drive both trucks and buses, the combined CD test is the cheap route: €84 once instead of €72 twice. If you already passed the truck (C) theory test within the last 2 years, you add bus with the 40-question BMT for €45 rather than repeating the full 100.

Who can sit it

You need a full category B (car) licence first, Irish or EU/EEA/Swiss. You can sit the theory test before you are old enough for the permit, but there is no point going too early because of the 2-year certificate limit. The permit ages for bus are the highest of any category.

The 21-with-CPC rule is why most people going for a job on a bus do the Driver CPC alongside the licence rather than after it: it takes three years off the waiting.

What the bus-only questions cover

Of the 848 questions in the D bank, 740 are shared with the truck test: speed limits, tachographs, braking, weather, signs, hours. The remaining 108 exist only in the bus test and they are all about the people on board. A sample of what they ask, with the official answers in short:

• Wheelchair users: position the bus as close to the kerb as possible so the ramp or lift lands on the footpath, not the road.
• Schoolchildren getting off: tell them to stay off the road until the bus has moved away and to check the road before crossing.
• Under-17s on board: the driver is legally responsible for making sure they use the right seat, booster or seatbelt.
• Start of the day: a walk-around check of the vehicle before the first journey, the same habit the CPC walkaround test later examines.
• Standing passengers: a bus carrying them is limited to 65 km/h everywhere, including the motorway.

Expect doors, mirrors and passenger safety to come up in the "safe and responsible driving" section, which is the largest of the five sections in every sitting. Truck drivers who skip the bus-only material tend to lose exactly the marks they can least afford.

Speed limits the bus test asks about

These limits follow the vehicle, not the sign. A coach on a 120 km/h motorway is still held to 100. The bank asks the national-road figure for a single-decker without standing accommodation (80 km/h) and the standing-passenger limit (65 km/h) in several different wordings.

Going professional: the theory test is CPC Step 1

1. Step 1: pass this bus theory test and apply for the D or D1 learner permit.
2. Step 2: the Driver CPC case study test, 3 scenarios with 15 questions each, 135 minutes, 28 of 45 to pass with at least 5 per case, €72. The bus case studies are different from the truck ones.
3. Step 3: the practical driving test in the bus.
4. Step 4: the CPC walkaround ("show me, tell me") test on the vehicle.

How to prepare

The bank is 848 questions. At 50 a day that is a little over a fortnight to see everything once, and the section quotas mean nothing can be skipped. Work through the five sections in order, then sit timed 100-question mocks until you pass three in a row at 90 or better. A 74 on a mock is a coin toss on the day.