So, you’ve booked a bus for a trip and you’re happy with the quotes you’ve received. Everything is close to being finalized, but you just want to request a few small itinerary changes, like pulling over at a scenic spot for a group photo, or stopping for lunch in a town known for its culinary delights instead of picking up fast food at a highway rest stop. All of a sudden, the price you’ve been quoted increases significantly. The small changes you made didn’t merit the extra digits to the final total, did it?
When planning trips for large groups going long distances—whether it’s for family events, social outings, or company bookings—coach bus rentals persist as the simplest and most effective way to get from point A to B. It’s a one-bus-fits-all situation, but there’s a hitch: the price of a coach bus can be rather temperamental, depending on the amount of stops you incorporate into your itinerary.
So, What Actually Factors Into your Charter Bus Rental Quote?
Why is it that the price of charter bus rentals varies so much? The truth is that there are many factors that go into the pricing of your vehicle rental like the timing of your rental, the availability of your vehicle of choice in your area, gas prices, and the overall caliber of the bus itself. But, the most important variant in the price of your bus rental is without a doubt your driver’s overall drive-time.
It turns out that many renters can forget that there’s a difference between what’s called ‘on-duty time’ and ‘drive time’, and the difference between these times factors in quite a bit with the cost of bus rentals, both in Canada and in the United States. You’d think that the bigger or more luxurious the vehicle, the more expensive the final bill would be. However, the amount of time a driver spends driving is what usually what affects the price of your rental in the end.
What’s the Difference Between “On Duty Time” and “Drive Time”?
Essentially, on-duty time refers to the total time a driver is working but isn’t necessarily driving; it may not include their lunch break, but any time spent on the job is time spent on-duty. Drive time, on the other hand, refers to the time that the driver is doing just that: driving.
Even if a bus might stop by request, it doesn’t mean that the driver is going to punch out on the clock and wait until it’s time to get going again. Those hours need to be paid for, fair and square, and it’s important to remember that both Canada and the United States have their own respective regulations when it comes to the limits of a driver’s on-duty time. These rules exist to ensure that the driver isn’t overworked, and is awake and alert while driving.
