This post is not aimed at pilots,they know what I am talking about. Please forgive the broad generalisations.
I have heard this "glorified busdriver" epithet for 40 years now. It is either intellectual dishonesty or terminal ignorance.
Once you have qualified as an airline pilot, you have only just begun the long road to "Airline Captain". You will not be permitted to jump into the left seat of any reputable air carrier's aircraft, no matter how clever you are.
You will now start to learn the skills required to captain a large aircraft.
You can look forward to sim checks, line checks, type checks, etc, for the rest of your career, along with constant upgrade and refresher training, CRM, dangerous goods, safety and emergency procedures, and so on and on.
In the major carriers it can take anywhere from maybe 8 if you are very lucky, up to 20 odd years to get to the big bucks in the left seat. (and 6,000 to 12,000 or more hours )
There will be anywhere from 16 to 40 odd sim checks, anywhere from 8 to 20 odd line checks, 16 to 40 medicals (any one of which might terminate your career) countless hours in groundschool for upgrades, refreshers, and the constant stream of new requirements that that the regulatory bodies put out.
Finally you heave a sigh of relief and settle into your hard earned left seat. Now you are responsible for $100 million or more of Boebus, and its 200 to 400 trusting occupants.
You will be on your own once your bus starts moving, you are not arguing a point in front of a judge or jury for them to decide the outcome, you make all the decisions. You are solely accountable. If you get it seriously wrong, you and your 400 trusting souls end up in a smoking heap in some far off place whilst the press and the world in general speculate as to how you cocked up.
If you get it only slightly wrong, it can be even worse, as you are supposed to have a working knowledge of literally thousands of pages of technical information, and rules and regulations of many different countries, (almost all of which differ from each other). They will investigate everything you did in minute detail even if it has no direct bearing on your cockup, and you will probably be prosecuted on any infraction of any area, relevant or not.
Yours is the most highly trained and checked profession of any that I am aware of.
So when your airplane starts to shake rattle and roll , make strange noises, or emit smoke, sparks, or otherwise act up, and it goes deathly quiet in the cabin, do not succumb to the temption to go on the PA and ask "is there a bus driver on board": rather just announce in a quietly firm and confident voice," this is your Captain, we have a problem, and our team of professionals is dealing with it", because you know thats true.
Busdrivers indeed, Bah Humbug!