Charter Bus Rental : What to Do When Planning a Trip of a Motorcoach Or School Bus

February 22, 2021

Author: I Ride Bus

There are many things to consider when planning to rent a charter bus with a professional driver, be it a full-size bus, a smaller tour bus, or a school bus. By the way, bus charter mainly rents school buses for strictly local group bus rentals. In any case, I would like to summarize some important and essential things to consider and resolve before, during and after renting a coach or school bus from any bus rental company. These points to keep in mind come from extensive experience working as a bus company operator and having made, as well as having witnessed, many clients, many mistakes and blunders resulting in rental delays, bus scheduling errors/bus drivers and other inconveniences will not show up on the day of the group bus rental.

I realize, along with our clients, that any group bus rental begins and ends with a clean, functional school bus/coach driven by an enthusiastic and punctual school bus or school bus driver. However, there are ways to ensure that all logistics fronts are covered so that customers are satisfied with the chosen charter bus rental company and the bus operating company, in turn, to be happy with their customers. It all comes down to effective and efficient communication.

First, the relationship between the client and the bus operator begins when the client requests a charter travel quote or a charter travel appraisal. There are many things that are taken into account before a bus rental company issues a quote. For example, the season, the month, the day of the month, the availability of the bus fleet, and the rates given by the 3 largest bus rental companies in the industry for a given date, just to name a few. At this stage, the customer is strictly focused (like tunnel vision) on getting the best price for the best possible charter bus services. And rightly they should be; however, not at the cost of neglecting its focus on very simple but profound details.

These crucial details, while simple, include making sure to submit the exact and correct dates for the group bus rental; provide the correct time of departure and arrival; and describe the details of the itinerary, as the destination of the additional group bus rental stops. Once these details are provided to the charter bus rental company, the bus operator issues a charter travel quote with a travel fee. The customer is now in the stage of whether or not to accept the charter bus rental company as their provider. Once the charter bus company is chosen and the customer confirms the reservation of their respective charter bus (either bus or school bus), the charter bus rental company issues a formal confirmation of the trip to the customer.

At this stage, it is crucial to double-check all the above mentioned "simple" charter details. Many times, clients receive a quote for a different date than the one indicated in the trip confirmation. In other words, there is a discrepancy between the trip price and the trip confirmation. Any bus rental company ultimately relies on travel confirmations when scheduling and finalizing the rental and the schedule of their buses. These travel confirmations are also signed by the client at the end of the booking of their group bus rental. In my personal experience, some clients fail to get their charter bus to arrive on the correct date. This seems like a ridiculous setback and it is. But everything is due to not focusing on the contracted details that are indicated in the trip confirmation.

I plan to continue the series of articles that focus on such logistical details to help customers and bus charter anticipate and overcome such errors and ultimately provide a reliable and professional charter bus rental service to our community. Keep an eye out for future posts on how to rent a charter bus and, equally important, how to make sure all the logistics of the group bus rental are in place.

I Ride Bus is a charter coach bus and school bus rental company. As the Operations Manager of a reputable charter bus rental company, I seek to inform the readers of the industry insights, chartering details, and a plethora of the publicly unknown information which is essential when chartering any bus for any group bus rental of a client's choice.

Information and its accessibility is the most valuable asset of any client, business, or enterprise. Also, the source of such information is essential for it to be reliable and accurate. I, therefore, would love to share as much as I am able, presently being an integral part of operations of a medium-size charter bus rental company.