Category D driving licence (or D1)

A bus driving licence, including a trolleybus

Category D includes buses, articulated buses, trolleybuses, and articulated trolleybuses. These are vehicles designed and built to transport over eight passengers in addition to a driver.

Content

• General Information: category D
• Course for category D drivers
• Category D1 driving licence
• State exams for category D and D1 drivers
• Other useful information for category D students

General Information: category D

With a category D driving licence you can tow a light trailer (with a maximum mass of 750 kg).

The prerequisite for a category D right to drive is holding a category B driving licence for at least two years (this does not include the period of holding a provisional driving licence or having a limited right to drive).

Category D also includes trolleybuses. In order to become a trolleybus driver, you need to pass a driving school course for category D and pass the exams at the Transport Administration. After that, you need to take additional training at Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS, where you will learn about the peculiarities of electric transport, but you do not need to take any additional exams at the Transport Administration.

Course for category D drivers

A category D course consists of at least 20 theory lessons and at least 20 driving lessons. The purpose of the course is to help the trainee learn the basics of driving a category D vehicle so they would be ready to operate vehicles belonging in this category safely and with consideration to others. For more information on the category D curriculum, please click here.

Category D1 driving licence

A subcategory D1 vehicle is designed and built to transport up to 16 passengers in addition to the driver and its length does not exceed eight meters.

With a subcategory D1 driving licence you may tow a light trailer (with a maximum mass of 750 kg).

The prerequisite for being granted the right to drive is holding a category B driving licence for at least one year. The time of holding a provisional driving licence and having a limited right to drive are not taken into consideration.

The curriculum is the same as for category D, which is why subcategory D1 courses are not very common in Estonia – the training and the price are practically identical so people prefer to obtain the full category D driving licence.

State exams for category D and D1 drivers

The rules for state exams of category D and subcategory D1 drivers are the same.

The theory test consists of 50 questions, twelve of which are about road safety. You are allowed a maximum of five mistakes, but only one in the case of questions about road safety. You will have 40 minutes to complete the test.

The driving test is carried out in two stages – exercises on the training track and driving on the road. You have to complete the following exercises on the training track:

• reversing onto a marked area with a turn;
• parking a bus.

You will have up to 10 minutes to complete the two exercises. The diagrams, descriptions, and assessment criteria of the exercises are available here.

The road traffic part of the driving test lasts at least 45 minutes.

For more information on state exams and assessment, please click on this link.

After completing the tests, you will be issued a category D driving licence at the age of 24 (the minimum age for category D1 is 21). A driving licence is issued with a term of validity of five years.

A category D driving licence provides an automatic right to drive a category T vehicle and a combination of vehicles with a maximum mass of 18,000 kg.

Other useful information for category D students

The theory course for bus drivers can be completed in a classroom or online.

Liikluslab also helps prepare for the theory test – check and improve the level of your knowledge. The study environment will indicate the likelihood of passing the test (if interested, read more about the AI algorithms here.

To start your training, you must first select a suitable driving school. You can read about the aspects to consider when choosing a driving school and where to find a list of driving schools along with the feedback of trainees here.

Before starting a driving course, you should obtain a medical certificate; if you already have one, check its validity. This process is described in greater detail here.

If you fail the driving test of the Transport Administration three times, you are referred back to a driving school for continued training. You can read more about it here.