Own A Charter Bus Company

Enlarge Image Image Gallery CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE : Larry Gates's used passenger bus represents a $23,000 investment, but it brings in an impressive $35,000 annual income (plus 200 days of free ""vacationing"" a year) .... Senior citizen groups, community service organizations, and children's clubs are often the best sources of patrons for Larry's offbeat charter tours .... By always assuming a casual attitude?and calmly dealing with situations as they arise?Larry makes sure his tour participants get a little something extra for their money .... Knowing your area ""like the palm of your hand"" is the only way to compete with larger tour operators .... Larry does most of his bus's service maintenance himself and advises anyone going into the charter bus business to enroll in a short course in diesel mechanics.

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Most folks work all year in order to get a couple of weeks off to fish, ski, or just drive around and enjoy the scenery.

Lake Sherwood, California's Larry Gates-on the other hand-has gotten off the yearly vacation treadmill. As the owner and operator of a home-based charter bus company, Larry spends about 200 days a year "on vacation" . . . but he never travels alone! By hauling children, senior citizens, Elks, Rotarians, and other such groups along with him, the busman has managed to live the life he wants to and earn an impressively high annual income!

"For most anyone who likes to travel, a one bus charter operation makes an ideal home business," says Larry, an easygoing, 37-yearold who lives in the country and loves it. "Once you're established, it's not hard to net $35,000 a year . . . without even pushing yourself."

COST VERSUS INCOME

The dollars-and-cents arithmetic involved in running a small tour company goes something like this:

Larry owns a used 39-passenger Greyhound bus, a model which can currently be bought for approximately $5,700 down and payments of around $440 a month for four years. Whether you get a Greyhound or a smaller rig, the full price of the bus will represent your actual capital investment . . . but the regular payments have to be regarded as a fixed monthly expense until you own the vehicle.

Other monthly bills-including insurance, license, and home office overhead-run, in Larry's case, about $400, $60, and $75 a month respectively. So if you add these figures to the monthly payments required to purchase a big bus, you can expect a total of about $975 per month in fixed expenses.

In addition there'll be things like fuel, tires, and maintenance to pay for. Our bus owner figures that his operating expenses work out to approximately $70 for each day he's on the road. Since Larry drives about 18 days in an average month, it costs him around $1,260 to run his rig. (Of course these figures are, as a result of today's fluctuating fuel prices, subject to frequent change.)

That pretty much covers the cash that goes out. . . here's what comes in:

On a typical one-day tour, Larry has 37 passengers who pay $7.00 each for the trip. That works out to a total of $259 per day . . . or $4,662 for his average 18-day month. If you subtract both the fixed and operating costs, you'll see that our bus driver's average net income is $2,427 per month.

Better yet, although one-day trips are just fine, Larry can earn even more on longer excursions. His overnight-trip passengers pay a flat "package" fee to cover both the ride and their accomodations . . . and the tour operator (Larry) gets back a percentage of the lodging cost from the hotels and resorts that service the tour. From time to time, our expert also arranges trips for other charter companies . . . a task for which he's paid $100 an hour. (But that kind of work, he allows, is a bonus that comes only with experience.)

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print