Rock bands need spacious buses on their tours. It’s a good source of revenue, but provided you customised your passenger bus first.
It’s the moment every devoted fan has been waiting for. As the band takes to the stage and starts its first act, the screaming and cheering is enough to blow the roof off the stadium. After the rock show is over, you stream out with other delighted fans, everyone collectively wondering which part of the country your favourite band is flying to next.
Except – the band has a bus parked a few yards away from the venue, and you learn that they’re touring the country by bus. How cool is that? But wouldn’t it be easier to just fly from one spot to another? It would be, but you must account for major acts doing anything from 100 to 150 shows a year, across the USA. That’s a conservative estimate, with really famous rock stars doing even more shows. Now imagine living out of a suitcase all year. A tour bus is not just a bus; it becomes a home for the touring musician. Touring by bus is also more cost effective for bands than booking flight tickets.
What a tour bus is like?
There are two kinds of tour buses – the smaller ones which ferry the band and its staff to a nearby venue and back to its hotel. The bus is normally a 15 seater passenger bus customised temporarily for the band’s use, with added storage for musical instruments and a green room with restroom facilities. The seats are removed or arranged along the bus’s sides, with a wide space left in the centre for the band to move around in or jam in their spare time.
Distinct from a used 15 seater passenger bus is the bigger coach that is longer, wider and with more luggage space. These large buses are fully air-conditioned, with adequate shower space as well as bunks for each band member to rest in. This kind of bus is normally hired for an entire season, if not the entire year.
Both small and large tour buses must ideally have an upper, open-to-the-sky deck that the band can stand on and greet fans from.
As a bus company owner…
Catering to the music scene ensures steady business for your firm. However, be prepared to customise your existing 15 seater passenger buses and even the bigger buses from your fleet to fit the band’s equipment, clothing, musical instruments and other odds and ends.
Also, the bus’s driver must be an experienced one, able to drive long hours from one State to another and fully comfortable with DOT rules and regulations. There might be periodic checks on the tour bus as it moves across the country, especially if there are complaints of noise and nuisance. The driver must be able to handle these situations with tact, as also deal with medical emergencies like a pro.
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