Volgens de buschauffeur schijnt het ’s ochtends drukker te zijn dan in de namiddag.

Volgens means according to.

So Volgens de buschauffeur means according to the bus driver.

It introduces the source of the information. Dutch often puts this kind of phrase at the beginning of the sentence, just like English can do with According to the bus driver, ...

This is because Dutch is a verb-second language in main clauses.

The first part of the sentence is Volgens de buschauffeur. Once that element takes the first position, the finite verb must come next:

• Volgens de buschauffeur
  • schijnt
    • het ...

If there were no opening phrase, you would get:

• Het schijnt ...

So the word order changes because something else has been placed first.

No. Here schijnt means seems or appears.

The verb schijnen can mean two different things:

• to shine
• to seem / to appear

In this sentence, it clearly means to seem:

• Het schijnt drukker te zijn = It seems to be busier

Het is a dummy subject here, similar to English it in sentences like:

• It seems to be busy
• It is raining

The het does not refer to a specific thing. It is just there because Dutch, like English, usually needs a subject in this kind of sentence.

So:

• Het schijnt ... = It seems ...

’s ochtends means in the morning or in the mornings, depending on context.

It is a fixed time expression. The ’s is an old shortened form, also seen in expressions like:

• ’s morgens = in the morning
• ’s avonds = in the evening
• ’s nachts = at night

In your sentence, ’s ochtends means during the morning.

The apostrophe shows that this is a contraction of an older form.

Historically, ’s comes from an old genitive form meaning something like of the. Modern learners usually do not need to analyze it deeply; it is best learned as part of fixed expressions such as:

• ’s ochtends
• ’s middags
• ’s avonds
• ’s nachts

So for practical purposes, just treat ’s ochtends as a set phrase meaning in the morning.

Drukker is the normal comparative form of druk:

• druk = busy
• drukker = busier
• het drukst = busiest

Just like English usually says busier rather than more busy, Dutch usually says drukker rather than meer druk.

In this sentence:

• drukker dan = busier than

After schijnen meaning to seem, Dutch often uses te + infinitive.

So:

• Het schijnt drukker te zijn = It seems to be busier

The infinitive here is zijn = to be, and it appears at the end because Dutch often sends infinitives to the end of the clause.

A useful pattern is:

• iets schijnt ... te zijn = something seems to be ...

Dan is used in comparisons after a comparative adjective.

So:

• drukker dan = busier than
• groter dan = bigger than
• sneller dan = faster than

In the sentence:

• drukker te zijn dan in de namiddag = to be busier than in the afternoon

In de namiddag means in the afternoon, especially later in the afternoon.

Dutch can divide the day in slightly different ways depending on region and context:

• ochtend = morning
• middag = midday / afternoon
• namiddag = later afternoon
• avond = evening

So de namiddag is a bit more specifically the later part of the afternoon than just de middag.

Yes, you could. Both are natural, but they are slightly different in feel.

• ’s ochtends often means in the mornings or during the morning
• in de ochtend means in the morning

In many contexts they are interchangeable. The sentence could also be phrased as:

• Volgens de buschauffeur schijnt het in de ochtend drukker te zijn dan in de namiddag.

The version with ’s ochtends sounds very natural and idiomatic.

Most likely it is talking about mornings in general.

The combination ’s ochtends often has a general, habitual sense:

• ’s ochtends is het druk = it is busy in the mornings

So the sentence probably means that, according to the bus driver, it is generally busier in the morning than in the afternoon, not just on one particular day.

A fairly literal breakdown would be:

• Volgens de buschauffeur = according to the bus driver
• schijnt het = it seems
• ’s ochtends = in the morning / in the mornings
• drukker = busier
• te zijn = to be
• dan in de namiddag = than in the afternoon

So a close English rendering is:

• According to the bus driver, it seems to be busier in the morning than in the afternoon.

In more natural English, you might simply say:

• According to the bus driver, it’s busier in the morning than in the afternoon.