ATM is launching a new academy to train drivers

It was not enough simply to cover the cost of the licence required to drive local public transport vehicles. Nor was it enough to pay for the months of training before they started work. And so ATM, which has recruited 1,100 drivers since 2025, has decided to go the extra mile to make itself more attractive, both nationally and beyond, and has decided to set up a fully-fledged training centre for drivers, the ‘Driver Hub’, which will be inaugurated on Wednesday at the Foody Business Centre in Sogemi, on Via Lombroso in Milan. The new training centre aims to guide the drivers of the future through their induction into the company, step by step. The first course will be able to accommodate up to 265 aspiring drivers, around 10 per cent of whom are from Tunisia.

The new training centre, as the company explains, serves as a place to support professional training, as well as a venue for socialising and building community: it is here that future drivers are supported by teachers, theory instructors and driving instructors as part of a programme leading to employment, whilst they await joining the Milan Transport Company on a six-month paid work placement contract. The project is one of several initiatives the company has launched with an investment of 4 million euros to recruit staff, support their induction into the company and facilitate their professional development; this also includes housing allowances to cover the first three months’ rent and the cost of D and CQC licences.

The strategy has proved effective, as evidenced by the 1,100 new recruits we have taken on since 2025, marking a genuine reversal of the previous trend – so much so that more drivers are joining than leaving. In the six classrooms of the Driver Hub, aspiring drivers will take part in courses that will pave the way for their recruitment. The programme stipulates that, during the first month, new recruits will be trained at affiliated driving schools, attending 130 hours of theory lessons and completing 10 hours of driving practice. Over the following five months, they will undergo ATM training at the new Driver Hub, comprising over 450 hours of theory and 65 hours of practical training. Once they have passed the test and obtained their D licence and CQC, candidates are hired on a permanent basis and, over the following five weeks, continue their training with 65 hours of practical driving instruction directly on the bus, trolleybus or tram route assigned to them.