CDL Passenger Endorsement Practice Test
Every other endorsement is about the load. This one is about people, who move around, ask questions, get on with things they should not be carrying and occasionally have to be told to sit down. The passenger endorsement is the licensing system's way of checking that you know the difference.
20 questions, 16 right to pass. Free, untimed, no account.
Correct · A
A shuttle bus is far too light to need a CDL on weight alone. How many people must it be designed to carry before its driver needs one anyway?
- 16 or more, counting the driver Correct answer
- 16 or more, not counting the driver
- More than 16, counting the driver
- 15 or more, counting the driver
49 CFR Part 383, Commercial Driver's License Standards, 383.91 Commercial motor vehicle groups, p. 383.91
Passenger practice test: quick facts
What this practice test does. Your state's own numbers are cited separately.
- Questions per test
- 20
- Right answers to pass
- 16
- Time limit
- None
- Cost
- FreeNo account, no card, no limit on retries
- Questions in the bank
- 41Drawn fresh every time you start
- Every answer cited
- YesDocument, section and page on each one
- Last reviewed
- September 2026Re-checked against the source once a year
- Written from
- Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook
What this test covers
Every subject below has cited questions behind it. The number is how many are in the bank right now, and each draw is weighted across them.
- Carrying passengers 41
How hard the bank is
Every test you start pulls a mix, so you get the easy marks and the ones people actually fail on.
- Straightforward 10
- Moderate 22
- Hard 9
Sample Passenger questions
Real questions from the bank, with the answer and the page it came from. Open a few, then take the test properly.
A shuttle bus is far too light to need a CDL on weight alone. How many people must it be designed to carry before its driver needs one anyway?
- 16 or more, counting the driver
- 16 or more, not counting the driver
- More than 16, counting the driver
- 15 or more, counting the driver
A vehicle that meets neither the Group A nor the Group B weight definition still falls into Group C if it is designed to transport 16 or more passengers including the driver. The driver is part of the count, so 15 passenger seats plus the driver's seat already makes 16 and the licence is required. Miscounting the driver, or reading it as "more than 16", is what puts people one seat the wrong side of the line.
You already hold a CDL and want to add the passenger endorsement. What must you pass?
- A knowledge test and a skills test
- A knowledge test only
- A skills test only
- A knowledge test, plus a skills test only if the bus has air brakes
Passenger is one of the two endorsements that make you drive: it takes both a knowledge test and a skills test, and school bus is the other. Double and triple trailers, tank vehicles and hazardous materials are knowledge tests alone, which is why drivers who have added one of those expect to add this one the same way.
Which endorsements can be carried on a commercial learner's permit?
- Passenger, school bus and tank vehicle
- Passenger and school bus only
- Any endorsement that can go on a full licence
- None; a learner's permit carries no endorsements
A learner's permit may carry only three: passenger, school bus and tank vehicle. Hazardous materials and double or triple trailers cannot go on a permit at all, so a learner cannot practise toward them the way a prospective bus driver can.
You want a passenger endorsement that will let you drive a full-size transit coach. What vehicle must you take the skills test in?
- A passenger vehicle of the class the endorsement is wanted for
- Any vehicle the testing site provides
- Any passenger vehicle, whatever its class
- The exact bus your employer intends you to drive
The skills test has to be taken in a passenger vehicle meeting the requirements of the vehicle group the endorsement is for. Test in something smaller and the endorsement is limited to that class, so the vehicle you book decides what you are allowed to drive afterwards.
Which subject is the passenger endorsement knowledge test required to cover?
- Proper use of emergency exits, including push-out windows
- Placarding a load and reading shipping papers
- Coupling and uncoupling a second trailer
- The effect of liquid surge on a partly filled tank
The required subjects are loading and unloading passengers, use of emergency exits including push-out windows, responses to emergencies such as fires and unruly passengers, procedures at railroad-highway grade crossings and drawbridges, braking, and general operating practices. Placards, coupling and liquid surge belong to the hazardous materials, double/triple and tank endorsements.
You are taking over a bus and the previous driver's inspection report lists two defects. When may you sign that report?
- Once the defects have been certified as repaired, or certified as not needing repair
- As soon as you have read it, since your signature only confirms you saw it
- Only after you have re-inspected the bus yourself and found the same two defects
- Never, because a report is signed only by the driver who wrote it
Your signature on the previous driver's report certifies that the defects reported are fixed, or have been certified as not needing to be fixed. So review the report first and sign only when one of those two certifications is on it. Signing merely to acknowledge you read it is what leaves an unrepaired fault in service under your name.
Which wheels on a bus may never carry recapped or re-grooved tires?
- The front wheels
- The rear drive wheels
- The inside wheels of a rear dual set
- Any wheel, on a bus of any size
Recapped and re-grooved tires are barred from the front wheels of a bus. A front tire failure takes the steering with it, which is why the front wheels are singled out; a retread is legal elsewhere on the bus, so answering "any wheel" is as wrong as answering "the drive wheels".
Besides a fire extinguisher, what emergency warning equipment must a bus carry before it goes into service?
- Three reflective triangles, or at least six fuses, or three liquid-burning flares
- Six reflective triangles, or at least three fuses
- Two reflective triangles, or two liquid-burning flares
- Three reflective triangles only, because fuses and flares are no longer accepted
The requirement is a fire extinguisher plus one of three warning sets: three reflective triangles, at least six fuses, or three liquid-burning flares. The bus also needs spare electrical fuses unless it has circuit breakers. Swapping the three and the six is the usual slip.
How to use this test
-
Take it cold, once
Do not revise first. You want to know which subjects are actually weak, and a clean run tells you that in ten minutes.
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Read the reason, not the score
The explanation for each answer opens on the next page with its handbook page. That is the bit that makes it stick.
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Retry only what you missed
The result page has a button for exactly that. Far faster than sitting the whole thing again.
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Come back on another day
A different draw each time exposes different gaps. Two runs a week beats ten in one evening.
Why this one is different
You can check every answer
Document, section and page on all of them, plus the date it was read. Nothing goes live without all four.
Nothing is behind a paywall
Every question in the bank is free, every time. There is no premium tier holding the hard ones back.
Scored by subject
You find out which topic is costing you marks, not just a number out of 20.
More about this test
What changes when the freight can walk
You cannot fuel a bus with passengers aboard except in circumstances the handbook sets out precisely. You cannot let anyone stand ahead of the standee line. Certain hazardous materials cannot travel on a bus at all, and others only in limited quantities, which is a rule that catches drivers who are used to freight. Emergency exits have to be checked before you move, not when you need them. And a disruptive passenger has to be dealt with, but there are rules about where you may put them off.
None of that is difficult. All of it is specific, and the questions are written by people who know that drivers tend to answer from common sense.
The driving side
A bus is long, tall and full of weight that shifts as people move. Braking distances are longer than the size suggests, mirrors matter more because there is no rear window worth using, and stopping at the kerb is a manoeuvre with its own hazards. Railroad crossings have their own rules for buses, stricter than the ones that apply to trucks, and they appear on this test almost every time.
Inspection points that only buses have
Passenger seats, emergency exits and their alarms, the handrails and steps, the emergency roof hatches, the wheelchair lift if there is one, and the signalling equipment. A bus pre-trip includes the inside of the vehicle, which is a habit freight drivers have to build from scratch.
How to use this practice test
Twenty questions are drawn fresh from the bank each time. Answer one and the reason opens on the next page with the section and page it came from. The result splits your score across passenger rules, driving and inspection, so you can see what is weak, and you can retry only what you missed. Take it a few times over a week rather than all at once: the draw changes and the gaps move.
If you are heading for school buses
The school bus endorsement sits on top of this one, so passenger comes first either way. Studying the two in the same stretch works well, because the loading and unloading material in the school bus test assumes you already know the general passenger rules.
Also worth reading
Last reviewed September 2026. Sources are re-checked against their publishers once a year.
Questions about this test
Who needs the passenger endorsement?
How many questions are on the passenger test?
Can I carry hazardous materials on a bus?
What is the standee line?
Do school bus drivers need this endorsement too?
Are the railroad crossing rules different for buses?
Still not sure?
Every question names the document and page behind it, so a wrong answer is something you can prove rather than argue about.
Other tests to take
Ready when you are.
20 questions drawn fresh from 41 cited ones. No account, nothing to pay, and every question in the bank is free.