We’ve all heard of Uber and Lyft, but there a number of other ‘travel share’ companies disrupting the transportation industry in their right. Among them is Bus.com, which is helping consumers book charter bus rentals almost as easily as they'd hail an Uber. For many people it can be extremely hard to get to festivals or even just getting to different places near and far with a large group of people. Luckily there is a service that allows you to book a charter bus with little to no worrying.
The Beginning of Bus.com
This company was started when two friends had a common problem. Wolf, and Kyle are both huge fans of going to different music festivals. In fact, for some people it is literally a way of life. Wolf used to organize buses back in Germany to get fans to the soccer games. From there the idea was started for bus.com with the mission being to help communities thrive by enabling groups to travel together effortlessly whether you rent a charter bus, tour bus, or school bus.
With Wolf’s experience he was able to realize that many of the small charter bus companies had a ton of inventory that was not being used. For a small company it is a huge problem as all it takes is one issue to ruin the profitability of their small company. From there wolf partnered with these companies and event organizers that had a hard time getting people to come to their venues. Often times the large events are held just outside of the city because overall there is just a lot more space for a cheaper price.
Funding and Evolution
This company was started in 2014 with five rounds of funding from different sources including Jackson square ventures and an investment firm from BMW. This is a huge deal because thousands of people seek funding from venture capitalists which can be a long and tedious process along with little to no success for some. Throughout the years they have really grew their business with over two million dollars in revenue.
In the past charter bus companies had little to no organization. There was no set price and little to no transparency. With Kyle’s help they were able to hone in on these problems and create and intuitive platform that allowed event organizers and different charter bus companies to be centralized on one platform.
What’s Available?
It is simple. All you need to do is fill in your trip information and you will receive an instant quote on the price along with which types of charter buses are available. The best part about this is that you do not have to tie up your money right away because there is no deposit needed. So now here comes the big question…what types of buses do they have? The answer is anything type of bus you can think of whether it is a school bus or a large coach bus. Pricing ranges from $350 a day to $995 a day for the whole bus. Keep in mind that if you are sharing it with let’s say fifteen people then it is affordable.
Once you are on the bus you will realize that the amenities cannot be beat. They typically offer everything from a bathroom to power outlets, and Wi-Fi.
My favorite part about bus.com is that if you are someone that frequently goes to festivals then all you must do is go on their website and look at the buses that they have already reserved specifically for festivals. The company is based in Canada, but they are also located in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. If you are looking to charter a bus or join along on another group then this is definitely the platform to use.
