Coach and bus fleets are fighting a war on two fronts. They cannot recruit enough drivers, and they are losing those they do have to back and neck injuries.
But it doesn’t have to be that way, says Michael Whitehouse, Design and Development Engineer at steering systems manufacturer Pailton Engineering. Here, he tells the story of creating the company’s ergonomic driver pod, that debuted at Busworld Brussels in 2025.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) problems are now one of the biggest causes of absence among bus drivers in the UK. Transport for London (TfL) contractors saw almost 20,000 sick days due to MSK injuries in three months, according to the TfL safety, health and security quarterly report released in May 2025.
In the report, MSK injury was the most common cause of long-term absence after mental health, and the most common cause of short-term absence after coughs and colds.
In a 2024 survey of 400 bus drivers by the RMT union, four in five (79%) reported MSK injuries from work, and one in four (23%) said they had taken more than a week off work in the past year as a result.
Meanwhile, a bus driver shortage is affecting fleets around the world as fewer people are attracted to the role. Operators have tried increasing wages as a response, but attracting drivers to the industry using financial incentives alone might not be sustainable.
Per mile, wage raises have increased bus operator costs by 17% between 2023-25, according to the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s regular Cost Monitor, which analyses bus operators’ finances.
The ergonomic challenge for bus driver workstations
In February 2025, TfL carried out an investigation into the ergonomics of bus driver workstations and produced a report on the inclusive and ergonomic bus cab of the future.
TfL says: “There are shortages of bus drivers in London and across the UK, with challenges around the recruitment and retention of drivers… we know from our engagement with bus drivers that poor ergonomics, comfort and adjustability are crucially important.”
Pailton set out to demonstrate to bus manufacturers that simple ergonomic improvements to the seat-column interface would help to mitigate these issues by making the cab more comfortable for any driver, no matter their height or body type.
We thought that a showpiece at one of the industry’s biggest trade shows, Busworld 2025, would be the way to go. The idea began as a life-size bus driving simulator that would show what day-to-day life for the driver is like.
At the same time, I was heavily involved in developing our new fully electric tilting head steering column, which we wanted to debut at Busworld. The electric steering column has been redesigned from the ground up to make it more compact and robust.
The new column enables both tilt and telescopic adjustment and features our unique tilting head mechanism, which makes it the only product of its kind offering this level of adjustability. The new column fits seamlessly into existing cabins, with ±55mm telescopic movement and ±7.5 degrees of tilt movement.
Being fully electric, it also uses an electric clamp rather than the pneumatic clamps of previous models, so no longer requires a compressed air supply. The electric clamp uses a linear actuator controlled by the CAN bus system to generate a clamping force exceeding 1200N.
Pod aims to tackle bus drivers’ musculoskeletal injuries
Eventually, we had the idea of combining the new column and the simulator. But rather than using a visual simulator to show the industry what its drivers see, we thought we could create something that shows operators what their drivers feel. We’d create a bus driver workstation, complete with dashboard, that people could sit in
The goal was to create a robust, industrial-looking frame that could replicate a bus cab without the rest of the vehicle. We chose aluminium extrusion for its strength and clean finish, and the frame design evolved through several iterations to ensure stability for transport and display.
We would use third-party dashboard plastics to demonstrate how the column could integrate with any dashboard.
Once the layout was agreed, fitting the electric steering column was straightforward, and the team experimented with seat positioning and flooring options before locking down the final concept. Although Pailton Engineering has its own coating facilities, we opted for a specialist powder coat to achieve the premium finish required for a high-profile showpiece.
It wasn’t all plain sailing, though. A late dashboard change meant redesigning brackets at speed, but the team delivered a fully functional pod in time for Busworld, complete with integrated electronics to synchronise seat and column movement.
Performance of bus cab pod at Busworld 2025
Once the pod was built, the real test was whether drivers of all shapes and sizes could get comfortable.
At the office, we only had our extremes – one team member at 6’7” and another at 5’2” – so we started there. If they could both find a good position, we knew that the concept worked.
Successful testing gave us confidence to display the pod at Busworld Brussels 2025, where it proved its worth. Every visitor was able to find a comfortable sitting position within a couple of minutes. For those who saved their settings, the electronic memory function recalled their preferred position within eight seconds when they returned.
What’s next for effort to tackle MSK issues?
This ergonomics project has been years in the making. We unveiled the first prototype of the electric column at Busworld 2019 and used that industry feedback to improve the design. We did the same at Busworld 2023. It’s very satisfying to see the finished product in action at last, though really the journey for this column is only just beginning.
Pailton Engineering will keep working to improve life for bus drivers. Hopefully, our bus driver pod showed builders and operators that simple changes can lead to better ergonomics and that it is possible to decrease total cost of ownership by reducing musculoskeletal-related injuries and sick leave for drivers.
By proving that a single workstation can adapt to every driver, the pod shows how better ergonomics can help fleets tackle two of their biggest challenges: keeping drivers healthy and keeping buses moving.
In the future, we’d like to see seats automatically adjusting to the driver’s position, perhaps using an online rota to identify the next driver or a keycard. Who knows? Maybe one day a visual scan of the driver’s figure will enable the workstation to predict the most comfortable position before they even sit down.
Pailton Engineering designs and manufactures steering systems for the coach and bus, heavy goods and military vehicle sectors. For more information on the electric steering column and other components, visit www.pailton.com.
