Shuttle bus - looking for some advice

laura1202

I am just 7 weeks away from the big day. We're ironing out the details with the shuttle bus. My FI's entire side is from Boston, so they will all be staying at the hotel. Combine them, with some of my side who will be staying at the hotel and we are looking at a minimum of 80 people needing a ride to the Newark Club (where our reception is). Most large buses only hold 55 people. I know we can run a smaller bus a few times back and forth, but I am concerned about traffic and some of our guests arriving late (for those of you familiar with the area, there could be traffic depending upon what is happening at the Pru Center or NJPAC that night). I could get two buses, one large and one small which would hold over 90 people, but then we are looking at a lot of $$.

Any advice?!?

Thanks!

clarereedy

Ask your venue if they have any shuttle/bus companies they recommend.  Our venue gave us a list of a few places to call.  They may have some insight to their pricing.  If I can find my list that they sent me, I will post it. We wound up using Starlight Limo.  They had a van that we booked for three hours of round trip shuttles at the end of the night for $300. 

Another idea would be to check with your hotel.  Do they have a company that they work with?  Since you are using so many rooms at the hotel, it may be included. 

Good luck!

kasabby

Did you check with your hotel? Our hotel offers free shuttle service and says that they will get enough shuttles to make sure that all guests are accounted for and on-time.

If they don't have shuttle service, they may be able to recommend someone. I looked at a hotel and they had a shuttle service that they recommended. If I remember correctly, it was a bus for around $600 and it made unlimited trips. 

njpabzy

Did you check Lakeland bus in Dover - we are getting a 55 passenger bus for $700, which was the best deal i found but their rates are based on distance so I am not sure what the cost would be for you but worth a shot - that price was for one way each way - distance between hotel and reception is about 25 minutes so I really couldnt see us doing a smaller shuttle with multipe trips.  I also know state shuttle offers i think 10 passenger vans for $95 each way and they may be an option for you to add on but your best best is probably 2 buses as I found that the price for the 24 passenger shuttles, at least in my area, were close to the $700 for the bus.

junebride6

Try Shamrock stagecoach I know they have school buses. Not sure how you feel about it but my friend used them for their wedding and they were pretty inexpensive, held alot of guests and worked great!

cvl105

Definitely check with your hotel.  Our hotel provided transportation for our guests.  They actually used school buses and it worked out great.  If you end up having to pay for it yourself. I would suggest calling up a local school bus company.  I know it's definitely cheaper than a luxury bus. It was a fun ride home to the hotel too!

Just Jen

We were in a similar situation and wound up renting two 55-passenger buses.

Yes, it was pricey, but we never regretted the decision -- it was great to be able to have such a large portion of our wedding not worry about drinking/driving, and the result was that a lot of people wound up staying up with us for the afterparty at the hotel.

I feel like it defintely enhanced the "party" portion of our wedding

KArruzzo

Please do me and your guests all a favor - DO NOT USE SHAMROCK STAGECOACH!!!  We used them for our event, gave them a timeline for when we wanted to leave the hotel and arrive at our event, they said it would be no problem.  Needless to say the majority of our guest's missed our cocktail hour.  When I called them to complain, I was told that I was an idiot and that you need to add 30 minutes each way to allow the bus to travel there.  Our event was 9 miles from the hotel.  Don't make the same mistake that we did.