School and field trip bus rental
Charter buses and minibuses for field trips, band and athletics travel, college tours and graduation shuttles. We handle the paperwork your district asks for, so approval is not the thing that holds up the trip.
- Background-checked, drug-tested, licensed drivers on every booking
- Certificates of insurance and W-9 sent straight to your district office
- Purchase orders accepted, with invoicing after the trip
14 to 56
students per vehicle
Seat belts
available on request
ADA
lift-equipped vehicles
24/7
support during the trip
(888) 555-0142
Call any hour, a real person answers
Get your exact price
Itemized, free, usually back within the hour.
Trips we move students on
From a single-class museum visit to a full grade travelling out of state, the booking process is the same. Only the vehicle count and the paperwork change.
Day field trips
Museums, science centres, theatres and historical sites. The bus stays with the group and waits between stops.
Overnight class trips
Washington DC, state capitals and multi-day educational tours, with driver lodging built into the quote.
College and campus tours
Multi-campus routes in a single day, with a driver who knows where a coach can actually unload on campus.
Band, choir and orchestra
Undercarriage bays take instruments and uniforms, with trailer options when the percussion does not fit.
Athletics and tournaments
Kit bags, coaching staff and a schedule that moves. Same-day changes handled by a coordinator, not a call centre.
Graduation shuttles
Families moved between overflow parking and the ceremony venue on a continuous loop through the morning.
Recurring campus shuttles
Daily or weekly routes between campuses, dormitories and athletic facilities, contracted by the semester.
Accessible transportation
Lift-equipped vehicles with securement positions for students who use wheelchairs, booked in advance.
Which vehicle suits your group
Three sizes cover almost every school booking. If your headcount falls between them, we will usually recommend sizing up rather than adding a second small vehicle, since one bus means one set of supervision.
Charter bus
The standard for a full grade or a long journey. Reclining seats, restroom, and undercarriage bays for bags, instruments or sports equipment. Lowest cost per student of any option here.
Mini coach
Right for a single class, a debate team or an honours group. Easier to park at crowded venues and quicker to load, which matters when you have four stops in a school day.
Passenger van
For small groups: a competition team, a club outing, or staff travelling separately to a venue. The only option that fits in a standard parking bay on arrival.
Safety standards and district paperwork
School bookings are approved by people who were not on the phone with us. Everything on the left is checked before an operator can accept your trip, and everything on the right is sent over without you having to chase it.
Checked before your booking is confirmed
Verified on the operator, not just promised
- Commercial driver's licence with a passenger endorsement
- Criminal background check on every driver
- Federal drug and alcohol testing programme enrolment
- Current USDOT operating authority and satisfactory safety rating
- Commercial liability insurance at or above federal minimums
- Hours of service compliance, with a relief driver on long routes
- Current vehicle inspection and maintenance records
Documents we send your district
Usually within one business day of request
- Certificate of insurance, naming the district as additional insured on request
- Completed W-9 for your accounts payable team
- Operator USDOT number so you can verify the record yourself
- Driver screening confirmation ahead of the trip date
- Itemized written quote suitable for board or PTA approval
- Invoicing against a purchase order, with net terms available
- Vehicle and driver details confirmed in writing before departure
Charter bus or yellow school bus?
District buses are the cheaper option when they are available and the trip is short. Once you go beyond about an hour each way, the comparison changes.
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Yellow school bus
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Charter bus or mini coach
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Seating
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Bench seats, upright, no recline
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Reclining individual seats with headrests
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Restroom
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None
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On board on full size coaches
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Luggage and equipment
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On laps or in the aisle
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Undercarriage bays plus overhead racks
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Comfortable trip length
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Up to about an hour
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All day, including overnight routes
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Climate control
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Varies, often windows only
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Air conditioned throughout
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Seat belts
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Varies by state and vehicle age
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Available on request at booking
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Availability
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Competes with the daily route schedule
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Reserved for your trip alone
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Typical cost
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Lower, where the district has capacity
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Higher, though close per student on full buses
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Many districts use both: yellow buses for short local trips and charter buses for anything over an hour, overnight, or carrying equipment.
When to do what
School trips have more approval steps than most bookings. This is the schedule that keeps them from becoming urgent.
Get the quote
Request pricing as soon as you have a date and a rough headcount. A written quote is usually what board or PTA approval needs, and it costs nothing to hold the conversation open.
Confirm and reserve
Approve the itinerary and place the deposit or purchase order. We send the certificate of insurance and W-9 at this point so your office is not waiting on them later.
Lock the details
Final headcount, exact pickup and drop-off addresses, and any accessibility or seat belt requirements. Changes after this point are possible but may affect the price.
Meet your driver
Vehicle and driver details are sent in advance, and a coordinator is reachable by phone from departure through the final drop off.
What a school trip costs
Charter buses are priced by the vehicle, not by the student, so cost per head falls sharply as the bus fills. A half-full bus is the most expensive way to book.
A one day field trip is usually quoted hourly, billed from when the driver reports for duty rather than from your first pickup. Overnight trips move to a daily rate with driver lodging added. Our full breakdown of rates by vehicle is on the pricing page, and every figure there is an estimate until we see your itinerary.
- Fill the bus before adding a second vehicle
- Book outside April to June where the calendar allows
- Keep the itinerary tight, since waiting time is billable time
Example: sixth grade museum trip
98 students and 6 staff, leaving school at 8am and returning by 4pm. Two 56-passenger charter buses, eight hours door to door, museum coach parking included.
Roughly $24 per student for the full day. Illustrative only, using a mid-range rate.
Planning a field trip that runs to schedule
The transport is rarely what goes wrong on a school trip. What goes wrong is the twenty minutes lost at each end, and that is usually decided before anyone boards.
Give us the real addresses, not the venue name
Coaches cannot always use the entrance families use. Museums, stadiums and campuses often have a separate coach drop-off, sometimes on a different street, and occasionally with a height restriction on the approach. Send exact addresses at booking and your driver arrives at the right gate rather than circling the block with 56 students on board.
Build loading time into the schedule
Boarding 104 students across two buses takes longer than boarding 104 adults, particularly on the return leg when everyone has a gift shop bag. Fifteen minutes at each end is realistic. Teachers who plan to the minute are the ones who end up paying for an extra hour.
Decide about seat belts early
Belt-equipped coaches exist in every market but there are fewer of them, so they need to be requested at quote stage rather than the week before. The same is true of lift-equipped vehicles for students who use wheelchairs. Neither is usually a surcharge, but both need notice.
Tell us the supervision plan
Whether chaperones are riding, how many, and whether staff need to travel separately all change the vehicle count. Districts typically set their own adult to student ratio, and it is worth checking yours before you finalize a headcount, because adding two chaperones to a full 56-seat bus means adding a second vehicle.
Food, phones and the return journey
Packed lunches and sealed drinks are fine on board. Hot food and open containers are not, mostly because of what they do to upholstery that the next group has to sit on. Most coaches have power outlets, which matters more than it sounds when the return leg is dark and quiet and every student wants their phone. If you want screens used for a film, mention it and we will confirm the vehicle has monitors.
Booking for a school?
Ask for the district document pack
(888) 555-0142
Reservations answered 24 hours a day
Related services
- Sports team travel
- Prom transportation
- Church & youth groups
- Graduation shuttles
- Charter bus rental prices
- Compare vehicle types
- All services
School trip questions
If yours is not here, call and ask. Our agents book school groups every week.
Can you invoice the district on a purchase order?
Yes. Send the PO number with your booking and we will invoice against it, with net terms available for districts and colleges we have worked with before. We provide a W-9 and a certificate of insurance for your accounts payable and risk management teams as a matter of course, not on request.
Are the drivers background checked?
Every driver holds a commercial licence with a passenger endorsement, has passed a criminal background check, and is enrolled in a federal drug and alcohol testing programme. We verify this on the operator before they can accept a school booking, and we can confirm the screening in writing ahead of your trip date.
Do the buses have seat belts?
Belt-equipped coaches are available in most markets, and there is normally no extra charge. There are fewer of them than standard vehicles, so request belts when you first ask for a quote rather than closer to the date. If your district requires them by policy, say so at the start and we will only quote vehicles that have them.
What happens if the trip is cancelled for weather?
Cancellation terms are stated in writing on your reservation, and weather cancellations are handled case by case with the operator. Tell us as early as you can, because a vehicle released the night before can often be rebooked, which gives us far more room to help than a cancellation on the morning.
Can chaperones and staff ride on the same bus?
Yes, and they count toward the seat total. A 56-seat coach carrying 50 students and 6 chaperones is full. If your district ratio adds adults late in the planning, tell us before you finalize, since it can be the difference between one vehicle and two.
Does the bus stay with us all day?
Yes. You have the vehicle and the driver for the duration of your booking, so the bus waits at each stop rather than dropping off and leaving. That waiting time is part of the hours you are quoted, which is why a tight schedule keeps the price down.
Can students eat on board?
Packed lunches and sealed drinks are generally fine. Hot food and open containers are not permitted on most vehicles. Groups are expected to leave the bus in reasonable condition, and excessive cleaning can be charged by the operator, so a bin bag at the front is worth the thirty seconds it takes.
Can you handle a trip for several hundred students?
Yes. Multi vehicle bookings run on one itinerary with one invoice and a single coordinator. We stage the buses so they arrive together rather than twenty minutes apart, which matters when a venue has one unloading zone and a fixed entry time.
Related services
Schools and colleges book these alongside field trips more often than anything else.
Get your field trip quoted this week
Send the date, destination and headcount. We will return an itemized written quote you can take to approval, plus the insurance documents your district needs.
(888) 555-0142
Agents available 24/7