Dreams of driving in cars, traveling via train or airplane, riding a bike and similar images generally explore themes of will, autonomy, direction, movement of psychological energy and focus. It presents an image of what may (or may not) be in control.
Being driven around by someone in your personal car may speak to other individuals (or less conscious forces) being at the helm. Missing a flight can reflect frustration in trying to take off in life and being thwarted. Even dreams of riding animals like horses touch into the ability to harness momentum and explore new areas of interest.
Share your vehicle dreams in the comments below. Provide context, insight or potential meanings you’ve considered. I’ll be offering some reflections (utilizing an archetypal and symbolic perspective).
This is an open forum and communal exchange, feel free to comment on others' posts if you’re inspired or have an insight to share.
So fascinating. Last year, I had tumultuous car dreams for months, particularly when I began analysis. I would be driving in the car and it would veer off a cliff, crashing, either alone or with someone I care about in the passenger seat; crashing a car into another car, almost stupidly / consciously; driving a car up a steep incline and having it disappear, and suddenly I’m falling on wet or icy ground. Always at night. These dreams would progress into me driving a car through complex highways and security stations and eventually making my way through, but not unscathed, and sometimes not without someone (often a man) taking my car from me, saying it needed repair.
These dream images have subsided. Some context is that I applied to grad school (soon entering it) for a subject I’m passionate about but have a lot of fear and trauma surrounding, music. Developing agency, and confronting both fear and passion has taken a lot of work. (Thanks dream analysis.)
The most recent transportation dream I had was being on an empty subway car, soaring high above a city, the sun rising and the world just coming awake. I enjoyed that time, but made a decision to get off at the next stop, a decision whose atmosphere of discernment and trust felt new and energetic.
The tumultuous car dreams definitely seem to reflect that difficult confrontation. Typical dreams during those periods are crashing, losing control, suddenly realizing we are no longer driving our car, etc. The progression is interesting to! Perhaps showing how the inner work was developing to more complex ground. Some of these themes are reminiscent of a dream I recounted in this audio post: https://www.theartemisian.com/p/dreamwork-in-practice-2
The latest dream has an interesting contrast between being taken somewhere (subway ride) vs exercising authority. I can see how that would feel energetic, exciting, perhaps speaking to some aspects of life that align with those themes?
I dream often of being in the ocean with sharks. I'm usually in the water with them. They aren't scary dreams but tend to feel as if I'm out of my natural environment and quite conscious of large, potentially dangerous creatures with me. Last night I dreamed that I was riding a jetski over shark-infested waters, zipping quickly and turning really abruptly, so much so that a man on a pier cautioned me to slow down so I wouldn't turn over into the water with them.
I've usually likened these dreams with sharks to family/relationship dynamics coming to light from my unconscious. I've had those dreams with varying kinds of sharks, in varying depths and visibility of water and they've all seemed to reflect issues I was becoming aware of and integrating, things that felt scary or difficult to accept (especially in terms of family history) but I was accepting them as being present without fear. I'm a little baffled by my new placement of above the water, especially in a jetski. (I've only ridden one once, and it was with an ex partner in a pretty toxic relationship.) My attitude towards the sharks was different as well. Being removed from the water with them made me fear them more.
What would you say some of your associations are to sharks, or what comes up, outside of family dynamics? Do they seem fearsome in waking life, are they an animal of interest, do they fascinate you? Do you ever encounter the sharks in these dreams?
I find the intensity of fear interesting when you are removed from the water. It seems paradoxical, but I think it's possible that a closer interaction with the shark and its meaning may be necessary. Often when we are encountering shadowy/uncertain things in the psyche, there is a desire to run away or create space from it. The more we interact with it, the more we uncover what's truly at the core, and the images of dreams usually change. I suspect the sharks are more than what they seem...and may even evolve if you were to somehow swim or interact with them directly.
As for the jetski, I get the feel of fast movement bypassing what is below. You can't pay great attention to the depths when you're zipping around. Perhaps being flung into the shark infested waters (which might psychologically be a confrontation that wasn't consciously chosen or intentional) is what is being warned against. How might you interact with the sharks in a way that is contained, protected, yet still allows for communication?
I read this a few days ago and then last night had a bus dream! I was staying alone overnight at a hotel at the top of the mountain. The next day I bumped into my brother and he told me to come say hi to his friends on a bus and get some bread. We were talking and eating for a while and then I realized the bus had been slowly rolling down the mountain the whole time. I hopped off and began to walk back up the mountain to get to my car. The bus driver saw me and very graciously offered to drive me back up the mountain. I felt embarrassed but I accepted. This seemed to happen twice, the accidentally going down the mountain in the bus and then sheepishly accepted a ride back to the top where I needed to get my car.
I’m still considering what it might mean for me right now, but it stood out to me because of this discussion 💛
So far I’m associating my car with my own will and effort and the bus with the support of friends and family
I think those are good associations to start with. Dreams of driving in your own car usually link back to personal will, autonomy, driving energy forward, etc. A bus is a collective/shared mode of transportation, linking back to others.
What I find interesting is the bus driver. In theory, he's responsible for driving and the one whose allowing the bus to roll down the hill (which is dangerous). But, he also acts as a support and offers to help you up the moment. What might this figure represent for you? What qualities did they have, if you can recall?
The other night I was on a commuter public train that supposedly took me from Iceland to England. Very hypermodern design wise but chaotic on the inside, with people I didn't know mingling with ones I did coming in and out at every stop. At one point a full corps of choreographed Cultural Revolution era Red Guard popped into existence (I read a book about that period recently, harrowing stuff) but the party atmosphere was still there. It was a lot of fun despite me not really getting to my destination.
I was getting out of a cramped bedroom with a bunk bed. Some guy rolls out of the top and hands me an item, telling me not to open the packet till I got in the taxi. He seems sagelike in a funny way so I trust him. A few choices later and there's a fire exit door, I know to leave here and sure enough there's a black cab waiting. I get in and look at the thing he gave me, it's beads of some sort but I knew it was some kind of key. Flash forward and I'm crawling over the top of a monstrous labyrinth, neon and hellish. No fear, I was having a pretty good time adventuring honestly.
There's a stone circle of clean cut, continuous stone, surrounding a pool. Two spirits are floating in an ascending spiral, and gift me a surfboard that pops out of the sand. I turn away to a vast expanse of purple and blue, water and air at the same time. Aether is shallow but so fast, my board leaves traces of multicoloured light and the camera goes to third person view for a bit. Joy and exhilaration. The scale of everything is bigger than on Earth, like at least 2-2.5x. It's nighttime, but so alive and fresh and energetic; eventually I arrive at a hall of the gods. Here I meet Mithras, and we have a great conversation.
The evolution from train, taxi to surfboard catches my attention. A vehicle of movement that others are a part of (and that you don't steer), to one where you have likely requested to be taken to a destination (at least in theory) to an embodied, personal vehicle that you steer.
It seems that joy and fun are woven through out the dream, but experienced on different levels. How would you compare the party atmosphere of the first scene to the exhiliration in the last?
The party was fun but had this edge of uncertainty to it, like not really knowing what to expect/chaotic. The surfboard one was one of the best I've had in a while, but I'm not sure the three dreams happened in chronological order nonetheless
Hi! I love this topic. Noticing the shift in vehicles in my dreams and the associated feelings has been hugely edifying for me of late. I used to dream nearly constantly about missing flights or busses, or driving poorly without being sure where I was headed. I was always dependent on my family to give me a ride to the airport, and they were always busy or distracted. Very frustrating. Recently I've dreamed of riding a bicycle, and just a few nights ago of roller skating. Once, I found myself loping like a cheetah down a deserted highway towards a city skyline. These ways of getting around were FUN, and seem to indicate a shift from having big ideas about a grand trip, to just using my own energy to get around in simple ways.
The shift in motif is a big part of developing a consistent dreamwork practice. Dreams often move in series, although when we don't pay attention, they can seem quite isolated. In this case, there's a lot of development with the vehicles. I find it especially interesting that it changed from things like planes and buses to bicycles or roller skates; a change that does seem to reflect a shift towards your own energy and ability to get around.
I've been thinking a lot about how dreams progress and connect during intense periods of psychological or spiritual focus, like meditation retreats or shamanic dietas. And would be curious for your reflections/Jungian perspectives on that.
During these retreats, I often notice a clear evolution in dream symbols night over night. For example, a house might start as an unfinished shack and become a completed mansion, or a vehicle might develop from a bicycle to a limousine. I might also shift from being a reluctant passenger to an active driver in these dreams. With that said, there's almost always a time lag: in early retreat dreams, I'm often unaware of retreat rules and break them. As the retreat goes on, my dream self becomes aware of these rules and follows them. Curious your reflections on why there's this lag, and what practices might accelerate the recognition of these external containers by the unconscious (I imagine all the usual stuff e.g. intention setting, journaling, amplification/association, active imagination, ritual etc).
These symbolic progressions carry well-established meanings within the spiritual lineages I work with, often interpreted as evidence that the retreat's energetic process is unfolding effectively. What's particularly cool to see is that many participants, even those unfamiliar with these interpretations, frequently report experiencing the same set of symbols and similar progressions in their dreams.
Hi! I had this dream: I was in the car back seat. My mother was driving and my father was the copilot. Suddendly I realized that my mother is dead or at least near to die and I have to take the steering wheel before que crash.
I use to have this kind of dreams in all variety: flights and airports, buses, crazy driving,...
Whose driving the car says a lot about what is in control, what is driving the energy and momentum forward in life, a situation, etc. In this case, your mother is driving and its up to you to take over control. Your mother in your dream could be symbolic, speaking to aspects of the mother archetype, qualities within yourself, etc. Or, if it seems appropriate, it could refer to your actual mother and those relational dynamics.
The biggest shift in the dream is realizing you have to move out of the backseat (a passive position) to taking control. Does this dream align with a time in your life where you are exerting more autonomy? Or perhaps making some changes? It may also be showing a way towards resolution and growth (the aspects of the mother are dying/losing power, now its time to take the wheel).
For a while as a child I had recurring lucid dreams in which I’d go on these epic adventures, often heroically saving other people, with my mode of transportation being… a flying rope. I’d hold one end of the rope in each hand, step with both feet on the middle bit, and simply will it to fly. It took a few seconds of intent focus on the rope, plus unwavering desire to make it fly, and absolute certainty that it will. It always yielded in the end. I’d use the same mental focus to navigate it in the air. Another time I flew on a flying shovel haha. Those dreams were full of bright colours and intense yet soft light that didn’t burn the eyes, and victorious quests, and a lot of flying, and wide expanses with gorgeous vistas, and so much freedom — of the kind where the very fabric of reality bends to your will. Children’s imagination is something else.
Wow, I absolutely love these dreams, truly the magic of childhood imagination coming through. Especially that your modes of transportation were unlikely...a rope, a shovel. The sense of will, intent, focus and desire really aligns with these types of dreams. Do you feel that you have access to those traits and qualities readily in life? Recurring lucid dream experiences of that through out childhood makes me wonder if those aspects are parts of your personality that you readily use.
Hmm great question! I’ve never thought of it that way. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly driven, wilful or goal oriented, no. Desire comes easy to me though, and I always know what I (don’t) want. But I do struggle with consistency, sustained attention, follow-through and (self) doubt in my adult life. Wasn’t like that as a kid.
It could be related to feeling like my life is somewhat in the hands of others. I do feel like I don't have as much "control" over my life as I used too, and although I love the people in my life, I do often miss my independence. It's all starting to slowly unfold in my mind now... Thank you for your help and interpretations, I'll definitely be pondering these ideas more on my own!
This is a very interesting topic of discussion! I frequently have dreams where I'm on a public bus going somewhere. Usually it's after dark, and I'm always alone. In one recent dream I got off of the bus at night and realized I had no shoes on. I was standing in the street barefoot and holding a large microphone in my hand. I ended up walking around my hometown looking for a pair of shoes to wear. The dream goes on, but I don't want to get too off topic from the discussion of movement in vehicles. Ive always loosely associated the busses in my dreams as being symbolic of the path I'm on in my life right now, but at the same time I feel like that is very general. I'm aware it could have a way deeper, more significant meaning, but I haven't really out what that is yet.
I like the connection to the path you're on in life, I believe vehicles reflect that back to us with their implications of movement and taking us from place to place. The question becomes: why a bus and not another vehicle?
A bus is a public mode of transportation, one we do not drive ourselves, with clear and delineated routes mapped out. There's also always an exchange...a fare to ride the bus. Compare that to driving your personal car, which might speak to cutting a path that carries more autonomy and freedom.
Is there anything about the path of life you're on right now that speaks to some of those bus themes? Whether you're following a clearer path laid out, considering one, etc. I also think the change from getting off the bus to walking on foot is worthy of further consideration. Maybe there's some shifting towards an embodied path you're treading, a deeper connection to concrete reality, and possibly needing some support or proper "protection" for it?
I have a recurring dream that pops up from time to time where I'm driving the car and very prototypical expressions of control like the steering, the brakes, the gas, etc. All begin to fail.
I have noted without doubt these reflect a feeling of losing control in waking life, with a hint of helplessness.
When considering dynamics of control in dreams I find it helpful to first recognize that one often has no control over the framing of the dream in the first place. That's to say, most dreams throw us in the middle of something without our conscious decision to be there and that in itself always presents a baseline feeling of lacking control. It's definitely something I've learned I need to control for when analyzing the underlying emotional context.
So fascinating. Last year, I had tumultuous car dreams for months, particularly when I began analysis. I would be driving in the car and it would veer off a cliff, crashing, either alone or with someone I care about in the passenger seat; crashing a car into another car, almost stupidly / consciously; driving a car up a steep incline and having it disappear, and suddenly I’m falling on wet or icy ground. Always at night. These dreams would progress into me driving a car through complex highways and security stations and eventually making my way through, but not unscathed, and sometimes not without someone (often a man) taking my car from me, saying it needed repair.
These dream images have subsided. Some context is that I applied to grad school (soon entering it) for a subject I’m passionate about but have a lot of fear and trauma surrounding, music. Developing agency, and confronting both fear and passion has taken a lot of work. (Thanks dream analysis.)
The most recent transportation dream I had was being on an empty subway car, soaring high above a city, the sun rising and the world just coming awake. I enjoyed that time, but made a decision to get off at the next stop, a decision whose atmosphere of discernment and trust felt new and energetic.
The tumultuous car dreams definitely seem to reflect that difficult confrontation. Typical dreams during those periods are crashing, losing control, suddenly realizing we are no longer driving our car, etc. The progression is interesting to! Perhaps showing how the inner work was developing to more complex ground. Some of these themes are reminiscent of a dream I recounted in this audio post: https://www.theartemisian.com/p/dreamwork-in-practice-2
The latest dream has an interesting contrast between being taken somewhere (subway ride) vs exercising authority. I can see how that would feel energetic, exciting, perhaps speaking to some aspects of life that align with those themes?
I dream often of being in the ocean with sharks. I'm usually in the water with them. They aren't scary dreams but tend to feel as if I'm out of my natural environment and quite conscious of large, potentially dangerous creatures with me. Last night I dreamed that I was riding a jetski over shark-infested waters, zipping quickly and turning really abruptly, so much so that a man on a pier cautioned me to slow down so I wouldn't turn over into the water with them.
I've usually likened these dreams with sharks to family/relationship dynamics coming to light from my unconscious. I've had those dreams with varying kinds of sharks, in varying depths and visibility of water and they've all seemed to reflect issues I was becoming aware of and integrating, things that felt scary or difficult to accept (especially in terms of family history) but I was accepting them as being present without fear. I'm a little baffled by my new placement of above the water, especially in a jetski. (I've only ridden one once, and it was with an ex partner in a pretty toxic relationship.) My attitude towards the sharks was different as well. Being removed from the water with them made me fear them more.
What would you say some of your associations are to sharks, or what comes up, outside of family dynamics? Do they seem fearsome in waking life, are they an animal of interest, do they fascinate you? Do you ever encounter the sharks in these dreams?
I find the intensity of fear interesting when you are removed from the water. It seems paradoxical, but I think it's possible that a closer interaction with the shark and its meaning may be necessary. Often when we are encountering shadowy/uncertain things in the psyche, there is a desire to run away or create space from it. The more we interact with it, the more we uncover what's truly at the core, and the images of dreams usually change. I suspect the sharks are more than what they seem...and may even evolve if you were to somehow swim or interact with them directly.
As for the jetski, I get the feel of fast movement bypassing what is below. You can't pay great attention to the depths when you're zipping around. Perhaps being flung into the shark infested waters (which might psychologically be a confrontation that wasn't consciously chosen or intentional) is what is being warned against. How might you interact with the sharks in a way that is contained, protected, yet still allows for communication?
I read this a few days ago and then last night had a bus dream! I was staying alone overnight at a hotel at the top of the mountain. The next day I bumped into my brother and he told me to come say hi to his friends on a bus and get some bread. We were talking and eating for a while and then I realized the bus had been slowly rolling down the mountain the whole time. I hopped off and began to walk back up the mountain to get to my car. The bus driver saw me and very graciously offered to drive me back up the mountain. I felt embarrassed but I accepted. This seemed to happen twice, the accidentally going down the mountain in the bus and then sheepishly accepted a ride back to the top where I needed to get my car.
I’m still considering what it might mean for me right now, but it stood out to me because of this discussion 💛
So far I’m associating my car with my own will and effort and the bus with the support of friends and family
I think those are good associations to start with. Dreams of driving in your own car usually link back to personal will, autonomy, driving energy forward, etc. A bus is a collective/shared mode of transportation, linking back to others.
What I find interesting is the bus driver. In theory, he's responsible for driving and the one whose allowing the bus to roll down the hill (which is dangerous). But, he also acts as a support and offers to help you up the moment. What might this figure represent for you? What qualities did they have, if you can recall?
The other night I was on a commuter public train that supposedly took me from Iceland to England. Very hypermodern design wise but chaotic on the inside, with people I didn't know mingling with ones I did coming in and out at every stop. At one point a full corps of choreographed Cultural Revolution era Red Guard popped into existence (I read a book about that period recently, harrowing stuff) but the party atmosphere was still there. It was a lot of fun despite me not really getting to my destination.
I was getting out of a cramped bedroom with a bunk bed. Some guy rolls out of the top and hands me an item, telling me not to open the packet till I got in the taxi. He seems sagelike in a funny way so I trust him. A few choices later and there's a fire exit door, I know to leave here and sure enough there's a black cab waiting. I get in and look at the thing he gave me, it's beads of some sort but I knew it was some kind of key. Flash forward and I'm crawling over the top of a monstrous labyrinth, neon and hellish. No fear, I was having a pretty good time adventuring honestly.
There's a stone circle of clean cut, continuous stone, surrounding a pool. Two spirits are floating in an ascending spiral, and gift me a surfboard that pops out of the sand. I turn away to a vast expanse of purple and blue, water and air at the same time. Aether is shallow but so fast, my board leaves traces of multicoloured light and the camera goes to third person view for a bit. Joy and exhilaration. The scale of everything is bigger than on Earth, like at least 2-2.5x. It's nighttime, but so alive and fresh and energetic; eventually I arrive at a hall of the gods. Here I meet Mithras, and we have a great conversation.
The evolution from train, taxi to surfboard catches my attention. A vehicle of movement that others are a part of (and that you don't steer), to one where you have likely requested to be taken to a destination (at least in theory) to an embodied, personal vehicle that you steer.
It seems that joy and fun are woven through out the dream, but experienced on different levels. How would you compare the party atmosphere of the first scene to the exhiliration in the last?
The party was fun but had this edge of uncertainty to it, like not really knowing what to expect/chaotic. The surfboard one was one of the best I've had in a while, but I'm not sure the three dreams happened in chronological order nonetheless
Hi! I love this topic. Noticing the shift in vehicles in my dreams and the associated feelings has been hugely edifying for me of late. I used to dream nearly constantly about missing flights or busses, or driving poorly without being sure where I was headed. I was always dependent on my family to give me a ride to the airport, and they were always busy or distracted. Very frustrating. Recently I've dreamed of riding a bicycle, and just a few nights ago of roller skating. Once, I found myself loping like a cheetah down a deserted highway towards a city skyline. These ways of getting around were FUN, and seem to indicate a shift from having big ideas about a grand trip, to just using my own energy to get around in simple ways.
The shift in motif is a big part of developing a consistent dreamwork practice. Dreams often move in series, although when we don't pay attention, they can seem quite isolated. In this case, there's a lot of development with the vehicles. I find it especially interesting that it changed from things like planes and buses to bicycles or roller skates; a change that does seem to reflect a shift towards your own energy and ability to get around.
I've been thinking a lot about how dreams progress and connect during intense periods of psychological or spiritual focus, like meditation retreats or shamanic dietas. And would be curious for your reflections/Jungian perspectives on that.
During these retreats, I often notice a clear evolution in dream symbols night over night. For example, a house might start as an unfinished shack and become a completed mansion, or a vehicle might develop from a bicycle to a limousine. I might also shift from being a reluctant passenger to an active driver in these dreams. With that said, there's almost always a time lag: in early retreat dreams, I'm often unaware of retreat rules and break them. As the retreat goes on, my dream self becomes aware of these rules and follows them. Curious your reflections on why there's this lag, and what practices might accelerate the recognition of these external containers by the unconscious (I imagine all the usual stuff e.g. intention setting, journaling, amplification/association, active imagination, ritual etc).
These symbolic progressions carry well-established meanings within the spiritual lineages I work with, often interpreted as evidence that the retreat's energetic process is unfolding effectively. What's particularly cool to see is that many participants, even those unfamiliar with these interpretations, frequently report experiencing the same set of symbols and similar progressions in their dreams.
Hi! I had this dream: I was in the car back seat. My mother was driving and my father was the copilot. Suddendly I realized that my mother is dead or at least near to die and I have to take the steering wheel before que crash.
I use to have this kind of dreams in all variety: flights and airports, buses, crazy driving,...
Thanks!
Whose driving the car says a lot about what is in control, what is driving the energy and momentum forward in life, a situation, etc. In this case, your mother is driving and its up to you to take over control. Your mother in your dream could be symbolic, speaking to aspects of the mother archetype, qualities within yourself, etc. Or, if it seems appropriate, it could refer to your actual mother and those relational dynamics.
The biggest shift in the dream is realizing you have to move out of the backseat (a passive position) to taking control. Does this dream align with a time in your life where you are exerting more autonomy? Or perhaps making some changes? It may also be showing a way towards resolution and growth (the aspects of the mother are dying/losing power, now its time to take the wheel).
For a while as a child I had recurring lucid dreams in which I’d go on these epic adventures, often heroically saving other people, with my mode of transportation being… a flying rope. I’d hold one end of the rope in each hand, step with both feet on the middle bit, and simply will it to fly. It took a few seconds of intent focus on the rope, plus unwavering desire to make it fly, and absolute certainty that it will. It always yielded in the end. I’d use the same mental focus to navigate it in the air. Another time I flew on a flying shovel haha. Those dreams were full of bright colours and intense yet soft light that didn’t burn the eyes, and victorious quests, and a lot of flying, and wide expanses with gorgeous vistas, and so much freedom — of the kind where the very fabric of reality bends to your will. Children’s imagination is something else.
Wow, I absolutely love these dreams, truly the magic of childhood imagination coming through. Especially that your modes of transportation were unlikely...a rope, a shovel. The sense of will, intent, focus and desire really aligns with these types of dreams. Do you feel that you have access to those traits and qualities readily in life? Recurring lucid dream experiences of that through out childhood makes me wonder if those aspects are parts of your personality that you readily use.
Hmm great question! I’ve never thought of it that way. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly driven, wilful or goal oriented, no. Desire comes easy to me though, and I always know what I (don’t) want. But I do struggle with consistency, sustained attention, follow-through and (self) doubt in my adult life. Wasn’t like that as a kid.
Perhaps seeds of those aspects are still there with the inner child :)
It could be related to feeling like my life is somewhat in the hands of others. I do feel like I don't have as much "control" over my life as I used too, and although I love the people in my life, I do often miss my independence. It's all starting to slowly unfold in my mind now... Thank you for your help and interpretations, I'll definitely be pondering these ideas more on my own!
Happy to help :)
This is a very interesting topic of discussion! I frequently have dreams where I'm on a public bus going somewhere. Usually it's after dark, and I'm always alone. In one recent dream I got off of the bus at night and realized I had no shoes on. I was standing in the street barefoot and holding a large microphone in my hand. I ended up walking around my hometown looking for a pair of shoes to wear. The dream goes on, but I don't want to get too off topic from the discussion of movement in vehicles. Ive always loosely associated the busses in my dreams as being symbolic of the path I'm on in my life right now, but at the same time I feel like that is very general. I'm aware it could have a way deeper, more significant meaning, but I haven't really out what that is yet.
I like the connection to the path you're on in life, I believe vehicles reflect that back to us with their implications of movement and taking us from place to place. The question becomes: why a bus and not another vehicle?
A bus is a public mode of transportation, one we do not drive ourselves, with clear and delineated routes mapped out. There's also always an exchange...a fare to ride the bus. Compare that to driving your personal car, which might speak to cutting a path that carries more autonomy and freedom.
Is there anything about the path of life you're on right now that speaks to some of those bus themes? Whether you're following a clearer path laid out, considering one, etc. I also think the change from getting off the bus to walking on foot is worthy of further consideration. Maybe there's some shifting towards an embodied path you're treading, a deeper connection to concrete reality, and possibly needing some support or proper "protection" for it?
I have a recurring dream that pops up from time to time where I'm driving the car and very prototypical expressions of control like the steering, the brakes, the gas, etc. All begin to fail.
I have noted without doubt these reflect a feeling of losing control in waking life, with a hint of helplessness.
When considering dynamics of control in dreams I find it helpful to first recognize that one often has no control over the framing of the dream in the first place. That's to say, most dreams throw us in the middle of something without our conscious decision to be there and that in itself always presents a baseline feeling of lacking control. It's definitely something I've learned I need to control for when analyzing the underlying emotional context.