Fix diesel trucks and buses for fleets and transit agencies, including pension jobs in transit.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 6,000 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $107,700 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
You are paid from your first day. Over the 4,000 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $71,800 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $62,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $40,000 at the lower end to about $90,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 5 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$3,000 to $6,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$62,000
Lower end
$40,000
Upper end
$90,000
Job Bank's national figures for truck and transport mechanics, 2023 to 2024: a median of $29.89 an hour, about $62,000 a year at 40 hours a week, with a lower end of $19 and an upper end of $43.27 an hour. Job Bank puts this trade in one group with car mechanics, so the figures cover both. Among the provinces, British Columbia has the highest median, $35 an hour.
A share of the journeyperson rate
First-year apprentice
Apprentice pay is a share of the journeyperson rate and rises as you progress. Transit agencies hire apprentices too, at union rates. In Ontario no share is set in law: your sponsor agrees your rate, often in a union or company agreement, and it can never be below the minimum wage.
$42 an hour
The median in the Northwest Territories, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces, British Columbia is highest at $35. Ontario's median is $30 and New Brunswick's is the lowest, at $24.75. These figures include car mechanics, who are in the same Job Bank group.
Roughly, all in
$3,000 to $6,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The apprenticeship is paid, so the money goes on tools and fees rather than tuition. The low end is a starter tool set of about 3,000, with your employer covering the classroom fees. In Ontario the first school block is free from January 2026, and your first certificate exam is free once your apprenticeship is complete. The high end is paying the classroom fees for blocks 2 and 3 yourself, about 400 each, a 5,000 starter set, and one exam retry at 150 plus tax. Tools keep accumulating for years after you qualify, often 10,000 to 25,000 over a career, and fleets and transit agencies tend to supply more of them than car dealerships do. The Canada Apprentice Loan gives up to 4,000 per block with no interest and EI (Employment Insurance) covers the class weeks.
Roughly $3,000 to $6,000 in total, mostly tools. The old federal apprenticeship grants closed on March 31, 2025. The new federal Red Seal Completion Bonus pays $5,000 if you finish your apprenticeship and get certified in a Red Seal trade on or after April 1, 2025. Applications open November 16, 2026.
Benefits are the norm
Job Bank reports that 85% of the mechanics in this group get at least one non-wage benefit, such as a pension, health coverage or paid leave.
A defined-benefit pension
One that pays a set amount every month for life. Common at transit agencies and municipalities.
Union wages and shift premiums
Nights and weekends pay extra at transit.
Health, dental and boot allowances
Steady hours
Fleets pay by the hour, not flat rate.
Overtime
Trucks run all night, so do the shops that fix them.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
An apprenticeship of about three and a half years, compulsory in Ontario. Diesel, air brakes, hydraulics and electronics.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 with math, physics and shop. OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program) or Alberta's RAP (Registered Apprenticeship Program) lets you start early.
Find a sponsor
Weeks to months
Truck dealerships (Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Volvo), trucking fleets, bus companies, school bus operators and transit agencies. Transit agencies post apprentice openings publicly.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
With Skilled Trades Ontario (trade code 310T), Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, SkilledTradesBC or your province's authority.
Work and study
About 3.5 years
Ontario requires 6,720 hours: 6,000 on the job plus 720 in school over three college blocks.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the exam. The Red Seal title is Truck and Transport Mechanic, valid across Canada.
Math
Pressures, ratios, electrical values.
Physics
Air brakes are pressure and physics.
Shop or auto technology
Time with engines and tools.
Computer literacy
Every truck has a diagnostic port and software.
English
Inspection reports are legal documents.
In Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta you must be a registered apprentice or certified to work on trucks and buses. In Alberta the work falls under the heavy equipment technician trade. Quebec requires it in the regions covered by an auto industry joint committee. Elsewhere the trade is voluntary. The Red Seal endorsement, Truck and Transport Mechanic, lets you work in any province.
Ontario
Truck and coach or diesel programs at Centennial, Conestoga, Cambrian and Fanshawe.
Alberta
SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology).
British Columbia
BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology), Vancouver Community College.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan Polytechnic.
In Quebec the trade is called heavy road vehicle mechanic, you usually start with a vocational diploma, and in several regions a joint committee for the auto service industry runs the apprentice cards and exam.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Heavy Road Vehicle Mechanics needs a high school diploma, or age 16 with Secondary IV language, second language and math. From 18, the general development test is another way in.
DEP in Heavy Road Vehicle Mechanics (5330, or 5830 in English)
About 17 months
1,800 hours of maintenance, diagnosis and repair on trucks, buses and other heavy road vehicles. In English at one Riverside School Board centre in Montérégie.
Register as an apprentice
When hired
Once hired in a region covered by a CPA (Comité paritaire de l'industrie des services automobiles, the auto service joint committee), you register with it and get an apprentice competency card.
Your diploma counts as hours
On registration
In Lanaudière-Laurentides the DEP is credited as 1,800 apprenticeship hours. Your card moves up a level at 2,000 and 4,000 hours.
Qualification exam
After 6,000 hours
At 6,000 hours you can sit the professional qualification exam. Pass it and you move up to a journeyperson (compagnon) card.
Quebec's provincial trade certificate for truck mechanics is voluntary. But in the regions a CPA (Comité paritaire de l'industrie des services automobiles, the auto service joint committee) covers, you work under its apprentice cards and exams, and Job Bank names it as the regulator. The hours and levels differ a little from one committee to the next, so ask the one for your region which rules apply to your shop.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Air brake endorsement and a truck licence
A DZ (medium truck) or AZ (tractor-trailer) licence in Ontario lets you road-test what you fix.
Electric and hydrogen bus training
Transit agencies are converting fleets. High-voltage tickets are in demand.
Emissions and aftertreatment specialist
Modern diesel exhaust systems are a common cause of breakdowns and hard to diagnose.
Truck-trailer service technician (a second trade)
Trailers, reefers and hydraulics.
Automotive service technician (a second trade)
Adds cars and light trucks.
Driver's licence with a clean record
Basic welding
Pre-apprenticeship program
Fleets and transit recruit from these.
WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials) certificate
A cheap one-day course.
Comfort with nights
Fleet shops run around the clock.
Transit garages at the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission), Calgary Transit, TransLink and others employ large maintenance staffs. Pay is usually hourly and unionized, often with a defined-benefit pension, one that pays a set amount for life. Competition for these postings is real, and new hires often start on nights.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Fleet shops run in shifts. A day shift starts around 7am with preventive maintenance: greasing, brake inspections, oil changes on tractors due back on the road by evening. Then diagnosis: a check-engine light, an air leak, a failed emissions system. Transit shops pull buses off the road at night and have them ready for the 5am pull-out. Everything is big and heavy, and lifts and cranes do the lifting.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Skilled Trades Ontario issued 436 Certificates of Qualification for truck and coach technicians in 2025. Its trade report puts the pay at about $60,000 to $95,000 a year.
Job Bank expects a moderate risk of a shortage of truck and transport mechanics, and the car mechanics grouped with them, from 2024 to 2033. About 140,400 people worked in the group in 2023.
The federal Red Seal Completion Bonus pays $5,000 to anyone who earns a Red Seal certificate on or after April 1, 2025 after a registered apprenticeship. Applications open November 16, 2026.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Vehicles and equipment first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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