BusRates.com

BusRates.com Simplified

Use BusRates.com to plan your group travel easily. We are a directory of direct contact information for bus operators and travel providers across the US and Canada. By contacting companies directly, you are able to avoid commission and broker fees of up to 25%; in effect, saving you money and giving you the freedom to shop around. Our directory includes the following information for the companies listed within, enabling you to find the company that best fits your needs. Company postings on BusRates.com contain:

• General Rates
• Custom Quotes
• List of Amenities
• Specifications
• Inventory
• Company descriptions
• Website addresses
• Telephone numbers
• Email addresses

To find bus operators, hotels, attractions, events, or restaurants in your area, simply begin a search on the homepage.

What is BusRates.com?

BusRates.com strives to be the most current, complete and categorized database of charter bus companies and group travel providers available online. BusRates.com is a resource designed for the travel professional, offering help on all aspects of chartering a bus, planning your itinerary, and contacting vendors directly. Not only is this a great tool for the experienced group leader, but it also provides those who have never chartered a bus or orchestrated group travel before with the resources and information needed to plan a large group trip. BusRates.com takes most of the relevant and important information available about chartering a bus and planning your group travel and presents it in an organized, concise, easy-to-reference summary.

At BusRates.com you can locate bus companies that provide both bus and driver for your group functions by state, city or proximity using your zip code. BusRates.com also includes hotels, attractions, events, and restaurants that are members of NTA, the National Tour Association. 

To save browsing time, BusRates' listings are divided into 5 categories. Buses, Hotels, Attractions, Events, and Restaurants. Using the seach boxes, you are free to jump back and forth between the categories, adding or removing companies that fit your needs.

The bus category is further divided into the eleven bus types listed below, noting also if the company runs group tours. To further serve you, all listings are personally verified for accuracy.

• Deluxe motor coaches (Charter Bus)
• Minibuses
• School buses
• Entertainer coaches
• Executive coaches
• Limousine buses
• Party buses
• Trolleys
• Double-decker buses
• Transit buses
• Vans

BusRates.com does not list:

• Brokers or middlemen
• Fixed route/single passenger tickets
• Public transportation
• School bus companies that do not charter to the public
• Tourism and travel suppliers who are not members of NTA

(BusRates.com only lists companies that offer group charters and own the buses they charter.)

30 Phone Calls or One Search?

BusRates.com uniquely allows bus companies and tourism service providers to post their specific fleet sizes, types, amenities, general rates, and other information to help its visitors quickly find the company best suited for their client or group before making a single phone call. Buyers in need of a quick quote or even book a trip no longer need to wait two or more days for exact quotes from quote referral services because general rates are immediately available on the site for various local areas including options and inventory. 

Where We Are:

Mailing Address:

Staff:

Victor Parra of UMA, CEO, Chairman
David Brown of Holiday Tours, Board of Directors
Kathryn Eber, Marcom, Board of Directors
Dale Krapf of Krapf Coaches, Inc., Board of Directors
Mark Greer, Board of Directors
Eric Elliott, General Manager
Alex Vande Bunte, Technical and Operations
Joel Branaman, Sales and Operations

Our Mission:

To make customers aware that not all bus companies own buses; provide them with a complete, detailed database of companies in the US and Canada that do; and show them how to verify ownership. To offer a complete how-to guide for bus chartering groups. To enable group leaders to efficiently and effortlessly contact their desired service providers across hotels, attractions, events, and groups.

Our Objectives:

• To provide buyers everything they need to know before chartering a bus and booking their group travel destinations
• To make it easy for buyers to find the companies that best suits their needs
• To provide local charter bus companies and tour and travel providers with a cost effective way to receive national advertising exposure
• To facilitate an Internet marketing alliance among bus operators and tourism providers
• To promote the charter bus and group travel industries

Our History

The BusRates.com directory started with a rough list of over 10,000 bus companies across the US which took 126 hours to compile into an initial file, 248 hours to contact and verify every company on the list, which delivered some surprising results. A little over 4,000 of these listings were actual bus companies that owned buses, chartered to groups, and were currently in business. We took it one step further and asked these 4000 plus companies what types of buses they offer and then categorized them by bus type. For example, of the 60 bus companies listed in your area, 24 are active companies, and 6 companies have minibuses in their fleet, saving you time, and making it easier for you to work directly with bus owning-companies to save money as well.

BusRates.com was founded in January of 2004.  In 2009, the United Motorcoach Association (UMA) purchased a controlling interest in BusRates.com.  It was developed as a dual resource for the bus charter industry by providing free comprehensive and easy-to-use charter information for consumers and an economical venue for bus owners to promote their many services.

In April of 2010, BusRates.com entered into a strategic partnership with NTA, the National Tour Association, to expand its directory to include NTA-member hotels, attractions, events, and restaurants. This expansion was designed to help the group leader easily orchestrate their group travel needs from beginning to end.