Olympia Group Transportation: Capitol Campus, Percival Landing & I-5

Quotes we have sent across Washington start around $420–$445 an hour, which puts a typical four-hour night at $1,775–$2,025. Your price depends on the date, the city, how many hours you need, the bus and your group size.

The Department of Enterprise Services, not the City of Olympia. DES manages the Capitol Campus and requires a permit for all private and commercial activities and for larger free-speech gatherings, taking applications from two business days to a year out. The campus events team is at 360-902-8881. Ask your organizer for the permit and the campus map showing where a coach may load, because a city street permit means nothing on state grounds.

The City of Olympia asks for festival and event permit applications at least 90 days before the date, and it publishes a calendar of the events that have applied. Use that calendar as an early warning. If a downtown street or Percival Landing already has a permitted festival on your date, expect closures and set your pickup point outside the barricades. Give the provider the approved event map instead of a plain street address.

Do not count on it. Percival Landing is a 3.38-acre city park with a 0.9-mile boardwalk along West Bay, boat moorage, pavilions and Harbor House, and its lawn takes special-event gatherings. The place is built for pedestrians and boaters. Ask Olympia Parks, Arts and Recreation at 360-753-8380, or your event organizer, where a longer vehicle can briefly load, and plan on the driver staging elsewhere between movements.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is a long I-5 drive north of Olympia, so the airport leg usually dominates the total. The Port of Seattle sends charter buses to the Northeast Charter Bus Lot at the north end of the parking garage and asks groups to call 206-787-5906 once they have their bags, while pre-arranged limousines pick up on the lower Arrivals Drive after checking in at the Ground Transportation Booth. Give flight numbers and bag counts, and ask how I-5 delays and flight delays are billed.

61% of every request we get is for a Saturday, and another 20% for a Friday. That is why Saturday availability is the first thing to ask about. That's what other Olympia planners asked for — your own headcount is what decides it. Count everyone who is actually getting on, then add room for luggage, coolers, instruments or formalwear. Ask each company for the legal seated capacity of the exact vehicle they're offering. Most Olympia requests are for weddings, bachelor parties, and bachelorette parties, and those nights want different amounts of floor space for the same headcount. A bus rated for twenty seats is not twenty comfortable seats in formalwear.

Not necessarily. The images here are representative renderings of a vehicle class, not photos of a bus parked in Olympia. The company covering your route names the assigned vehicle in writing when you book. Before you pay, make sure that writing gives the specific vehicle, its legal seated capacity, the features you're counting on, and what happens if it's unavailable on the day — including whether a replacement could be a different size or class.

Ask in your first message, before you have a quote. Accessible vehicles are a small slice of any local fleet and they need more lead time. Tell them how many passengers use a wheelchair or mobility device, the type and weight, whether anyone can transfer to a seat, and whether you need a lift or a ramp. Ask in writing how the device is secured, what the usable door and interior height are, and how much notice they need. Then check the accessible entrance and loading spot with each venue — Washington State Capitol Campus (Department of Enterprise Services) and Percival Landing park and boardwalk, 217 Thurston Avenue NW set their own access rules, and the right bus is no help at a door it can't reach.