New Party Bus Company

[buckaroo2008]

I am a considering opening a party bus business from scratch in Nebraska and I need tons of help. I plan to do bar crawls, bachelor/ette parties, proms, and maybe a few tailgates. I plan to buy a school bus and move the seating against the walls, add a toilet, add a divider between the cabin and driver, add lights and a stereo system, and finally a fresh coat of pain. I first would like to know what kind of licensing, insurance, or other credentials I would need to go into service. I want to know if limos are exempt from the open container laws that are in place in my state. Is there anything I should be aware of before I open? Any advice at all would be a great help!

thanks

[brandon1]

i really cant help you because laws vary from state to state. im sure the answer to all your questions can be found on the nebraska dot site:

http://www.dor.state.ne.us/

[TGISpartybus]

My advice is forget the toilet. Unless it already comes on the bus (i.e. Limo bus or an MCI coach or something) it's going to be more pain than it's worth.

If you're going to go the school bus route, I would recommend getting something with air ride suspension. That was one mistake we made on our first bus. The ride with springs is terrible. (Just think back to when you rode in the back of the school bus and just about hit the ceiling going over a bump).

[First Class Limos]

I plan to buy a school bus and move the seating against the walls, add a toilet, add a divider between the cabin and driver, add lights and a stereo system, and finally a fresh coat of pain.

A fresh coat of PAIN?!? I know some customers that would love that! sorry I couldnt resist ;)

[brandon1]

My advice is forget the toilet. Unless it already comes on the bus (i.e. Limo bus or an MCI coach or something) it's going to be more pain than it's worth.

yeah i hate cleaning my bus just because drunk people are messy pigs most of the time, i can only imagine how bad the bathroom gets. not to mention you have to drain them.

[TGISpartybus]

Drunk guys cant even hit the mark when they are stationary. Take a look at the bathroom in a bar on a Saturday night......Not something I would want to clean up.

[First Class Limos]

Drunk guys cant even hit the mark when they are stationary. Take a look at the bathroom in a bar on a Saturday night......Not something I would want to clean up.

Not to mention PUKE!

[Digger]

We have supplied "Cookie Buckets" on the party bus... no way would I ever have a bus with a jon on it.

A person called awhile back stating that they had a bus awhile back with a restroom, but were told they could not use it... this is exactly why they didn't let the clients use it. The client thought it was wrong to not have access to it but oh-well, I doubt they would want to clean it either.

[Lowground]

well I am not sure about a party bus the size of a school bus but I built my party bus ( Ford E450 2003 shuttle bus) from scratch and so I will comment from such angle. Total cost $16,000 The only problem I have is that I should have built it earlier and I should have another one !!!
The party bus business is great , but the laws vary from state to state. Make sure you only book clients who are willing to slide a credit card in that way you have better damage control.


Here is some general info
A good electrician very important
A good carpenter is important
A good upholstery person is important

You can get most or all of lighting from www.mtgparts.com
Use hard wood floors ( no carpet)
Dance pole A MUST!!
Make sure the steroeo is kicking
Place Plasma screen behind a Plexi glass ( damage control)
Plan bar carefully so that melting ice drains outside.
Check a/c unit before purchase very costly to repair

advertise, markrt then do it again ; you wont regret. Make sure you take a video of the hottest girls you can find having fun on the bus Visit http://www.mannerslimos.com/vehicles.html and take a look at my very short video.

[ccpartybus]

I would not use the school but seats.....looks tacky. Spend some money on a carpenter and have them build you custom wrap around seating it will make a world of a difference. I agree about the hot chicks check out our commercial @ www.corpuschristipartybus.com

[brandon1]

well I am not sure about a party bus the size of a school bus but I built my party bus ( Ford E450 2003 shuttle bus) from scratch and so I will comment from such angle. Total cost $16,000 The only problem I have is that I should have built it earlier and I should have another one !!!
The party bus business is great , but the laws vary from state to state. Make sure you only book clients who are willing to slide a credit card in that way you have better damage control.


Here is some general info
A good electrician very important
A good carpenter is important
A good upholstery person is important

You can get most or all of lighting from www.mtgparts.com
Use hard wood floors ( no carpet)
Dance pole A MUST!!
Make sure the steroeo is kicking
Place Plasma screen behind a Plexi glass ( damage control)
Plan bar carefully so that melting ice drains outside.
Check a/c unit before purchase very costly to repair

advertise, markrt then do it again ; you wont regret. Make sure you take a video of the hottest girls you can find having fun on the bus Visit http://www.mannerslimos.com/vehicles.html and take a look at my very short video.

great advice.

[Rick E.]

We have supplied "Cookie Buckets" on the party bus... no way would I ever have a bus with a jon on it.

A person called awhile back stating that they had a bus awhile back with a restroom, but were told they could not use it... this is exactly why they didn't let the clients use it. The client thought it was wrong to not have access to it but oh-well, I doubt they would want to clean it either.

While I have -0- experience with "party buses"; I do sell many brand-new limo buses. A restroom is an option that costs just under $6,000 on a new bus. Some of my clients find that they can't rent limo buses that are not restroom equipped. Some of my more enterprising clients charge an additional $20/hour for use of the restroom or they keep it padlocked.

At last year's Limo Digest Show I could not stop laughing. I was showing a prospect a new Limo Bus and he was asking about if he should get or delete the restroom. One of my current clients (an NLA boardmember) was in the booth saying hello at the same time. She just looked at my prospect and said "...I don't know about you, but we charge by the hour. If our clients want to stop 4 times an hour to use restrooms we certainly are not going to be upset."

So the answer to restroom is a resounding - it all depends.

[Wade Randolph]

The only way to consider a toilet is if you have an EPA approved dump station on site. You will have to drive to a dumpsite and pay if you don't which is a huge pain. We had a marine toilet on a limo-bus and after a run there was urine all over the sides of the walls inside the head and all over the floor and toilet. There is not enough money to get me to own a bus with a toilet anymore.

[buckaroo2008]

thanks a ton for all the advice! to touch on a few things everyone has mentioned so far....

yes there will be a fresh coat of pain, i know the customers will love this. heck i might even paint the bus while i'm at it! :)

having the tv behind plexi glass is a great idea. it seems so obvious now but i couldn't figure out how i was going to mount the tv in a way that it would not get damaged. thanks for pointing out the obvious on this one.

the toilet was an idea that i came up with to use when we while tailgating and toilets are a valuable commodity. i do like the idea of locking it and possibly charging more to use it. the pain and disgust of cleaning it is something i did not consider earlier.

the seating would be great to have custom built but i think as of now i will just use the bus seats, it is only a money issue.

now i have a few more questions...
on your busses/limos is all the power for the extra lights, stereo system, and tv simply powered by the battery on the engine or is there a separate generator on board?

do you have your customers sign a liability waiver or something similar? i'm planning on talking to a lawyer but i was just curious what the rest of you do.

finally, how much should i be expecting to pay for insurance. if anything this will be the thing that gets in the way of my plans. at this point i plan to drive this myself and i have no experience in commercial driving, by the way im 20...

[First Class Limos]

ouch you are gonna be in trouble trying to get insurance on a bus being only 20 years old....

[mark f.]

I have built alot of busses with bathroom's always thought if i built my own i would make the wall's out of stainless put a drain in the floor and just hose it down and out the drain.

[BLVD Limo]

ouch you are gonna be in trouble trying to get insurance on a bus being only 20 years old....

I was thinking the same thing. Another thing to think about is the CDL with the age of 20. If memory serves me right, you won't be able to do any interstate runs until you are 21. Depending on your state's laws, you may not even be able to drive intrastate until you are 21.

[ccpartybus]

Yeah insurence is going to be way high because of your age!