Vehicles-for-Hire & Transport · 6 min read · Last updated
Driving children to school privately is among Toronto's most safety-sensitive licensed work: any driver that uses a bus or vehicle to transport children to school privately needs a City licence, and child-safety screening sits at the centre of the application. Here is what drivers — and the services that hire them — need to know.
The City of Toronto lists this under its “Driver” category: “Any driver that uses a bus or vehicle to transport children to school privately.”
Who needs this licence?
The category covers any driver using a bus or vehicle to transport children to school privately — private school bus drivers, van and shuttle drivers for school-run services, and drivers for private student-transport operations. The word doing the work is privately: this is the licence for private arrangements, layered on top of whatever provincial rules apply to the vehicle being driven.
The reason the category exists is not mysterious. The passengers are children, the trips repeat daily, and the parents are not aboard — so the City licenses the person at the wheel, with screening designed around who is being carried rather than what.
What documents do you need?
- Government-issued identification (two pieces, at least one with a photo)
- An Ontario driver's licence of the class required for the vehicle — buses carry their own provincial class requirements
- Police record and screening checks, including the vulnerable sector screening requested for people working with children
- Any driving-record documentation and other items on the City's checklist
Order the screening first. It is the heart of this application and routinely its slowest item — and transporting children is not work anyone may start while the paperwork catches up.
Zoning and premises requirements
There is no premises to zone — the work happens on the school run. The geography that matters is operational: school zones, designated pick-up and drop-off points, and the traffic rules written to protect children around schools. Services that park a fleet of buses or vans at a yard have a premises question of their own, but it belongs to the business, not to the driver's licence.
Inspections and approvals
For this licence, scrutiny means screening: the police and vulnerable sector checks at application, kept current over the life of the licence, plus the state of your provincial driving record. The vehicle's mechanical fitness runs on its own track of obligations. Expect Municipal Licensing & Standards to treat any complaint involving children with the seriousness a parent would want — that seriousness is the category's entire point.
How much does it cost?
The licence carries an application fee and an annual renewal fee, set in the City's licensing fee schedule, confirmed during the application and paid to the City directly. For drivers employed by a school-run service, who pays is a matter for the employment arrangement — settle it before filing.
How to apply
Apply to Municipal Licensing & Standards — through the City's online Business Licence & Permit portal, available since January 2026, or in person — with the identification, provincial licence, screening results and checklist items assembled. Services hiring drivers should build the licence timeline into hiring: a driver who cannot yet be licensed cannot yet be scheduled.
Permits2Go's workspace tracks the screening and documents for each driver so a service's whole roster reaches licensed status before the school year starts.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renew annually and keep the screening current — for work with children, an up-to-date file is the licence's whole meaning, and the City expects changes that affect your suitability to be reported, not discovered. Time renewals against the school calendar: September waits for no application.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What sits at the centre of Toronto's licensing for private school transportation drivers?
Because the passengers are children, the licence is built around screening the person at the wheel — that is the category's core.
2. Who needs this licence?
The category covers private student-transport arrangements — private school buses, vans and school-run services — not personal family driving.
3. Does the City licence replace the provincial driver's licence class required for a school bus?
Two layers again: the province governs what class of vehicle you may drive, and the City licenses the private school-transport work itself.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Toronto, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.