Pricing tool
Budget Planner
Allocate an event budget across transportation, drinks, food, decorations, gratuity, and extras, and watch the remaining balance and per-person figure update as you adjust. The transportation line should be a written quote, not a guess; the tool does not estimate provider pricing.
- From
- $245/hr
- Most trips
- 4 hours
- Quotes sent
- 16k+
Want the real number?
This tool gives you a ballpark. Send your date and route and we will price it properly.
No spam, no obligation.
What the Budget Planner is for
Most groups start with a number in mind, say $2,000 for the night, and no idea how much of it should go on the bus versus drinks, decorations and the tip. This planner divides a total budget into six categories using a fixed split for your event type, and shows the per-person cost of the whole plan.
Use it early, before you have quotes, to see whether your budget matches the night you're imagining. Once a written quote arrives, that number replaces the bus line and everything else has to fit around it.
How to use it
- Enter your total budget. Type the full amount your group is willing to spend on the event: transportation, drinks, food, decorations and gratuity. The minimum is $100.
- Enter your group size. Enter how many people are sharing the cost. This only moves the per-person figure, which divides the entire budget rather than just the bus.
- Choose your event type. Pick bar crawl, wedding, birthday, prom or corporate. Each has its own fixed split, so the same budget divides differently depending on the event.
- Review the allocation. Read the dollar amount for each category, then the Per Person and Estimated Bus Hours cards. Hold the bus line up against any quote you've received.
Budget Planner
Planning aid. Results use the assumptions explained below; your written quote and the provider's policies are what count.
Reading the results
Each category is a fixed percentage of your total. The bus takes 65 percent for a bar crawl, 55 for a wedding, 60 for birthdays and corporate events, and 70 for prom. Driver tip is 12 percent for most events and 10 for birthdays. These splits are planning assumptions, not averages from real events, and the tip line is a share of the whole budget rather than a percentage of the rental.
Estimated Bus Hours divides the bus allocation by an assumed $250 an hour and rounds down. That hourly figure is an assumption too, and it isn't shown anywhere on the page.
The whole plan is a first draft. Replace the bus line with your written quote, the tip with the gratuity your quote specifies, and rebalance what's left.
Worked example: A $2,000 bar crawl for 20 people
Enter $2,000, 20 people and Bar Crawl. You get $1,300 for the bus rental, $300 for drinks, $40 each for food and decorations, $240 for the driver tip and $80 for extras and buffer. Per Person is $100.00 and Estimated Bus Hours is about 5.
Switch to Wedding and the bus line drops to $1,100 while decorations climb to $200, so estimated bus hours fall to about 4.
Now a real quote lands: $1,450 for five hours, gratuity not included. Your bus line is $150 short. The $240 tip line works out at about 17 percent of the actual rental, so check that's what your group intends. Trimming drinks, or asking each person for about $8 more, closes the gap.
Mistakes to avoid
Treating the bus line as a price
The bus allocation is a share of your budget, not what the trip costs. Only a written quote for your date, hours and route tells you that.
Believing the bus hours estimate
Estimated Bus Hours assumes $250 an hour, which may be nowhere near your quote. Use it to sense whether your budget is roughly in range, nothing more.
Double-counting the tip
If your quote already includes gratuity, the planner's tip line is money you don't need to set aside. Move it into the bus line or the buffer instead.
Collecting against the draft
The per-person figure divides a draft budget. Collect money only once you know the real costs, using the Cost Split Calculator on the confirmed amounts.
Where to go next
- Cost Split Calculator Turn the confirmed quote and extras into each person's actual share.
- Party bus pricing guide Understand what goes into a quote before you settle on a budget.
- Birthday parties See planning notes for one of the event types the planner covers.
- Request a quote Get a written total to replace the bus line in your plan.
Real lower-end rates to plug into this tool
Quotes across our markets · June 2023 – September 2026
- Per hour, starting around
- $245–$355
- Typical night out (4 hours)
- $1,300–$1,580
| Party size | Per hour, from |
|---|---|
| 1–10 passengers | $225–$315 |
| 11–15 passengers | $240–$340 |
| 16–20 passengers | $260–$365 |
| 21–30 passengers | $280–$400 |
| 31–40 passengers | $305–$450 |
| 41–60 passengers | $300–$450 |
Your price depends on the date, the city, how many hours you need, the bus and your group size. These come from quotes we have actually sent: the low end up to the middle of the range. Busy Saturdays cost more, quiet weeknights less. Minimum hours, the drive to your pickup, tolls and gratuity all move the final number.
Five minutes that saves the night
Full booking checklist- Pay the company named on the contract, nobody else.
- Ask for photos of the actual bus and its legal seat count.
- Get one total with hours, travel, tolls, tax and gratuity listed out.
- Read the cancellation and bad-weather terms before you put money down.
Loading polls...
Budget Planner questions, answered
Where do the budget planner's percentages come from?
They're fixed splits built into the tool for each event type, meant as a reasonable first draft. They aren't averages from real events or provider data. A bar crawl puts 65 percent toward the bus and 15 percent toward drinks, while a wedding puts 10 percent toward decorations. Adjust them once real quotes arrive.
How does the planner estimate bus hours?
It divides the bus allocation by an assumed $250 an hour and rounds down, so a $1,300 bus line comes out at about 5 hours. That hourly figure never appears on the page and may be a long way from your provider's rate, so use the estimate as a rough sense check only.
Why is the tip a percentage of my total budget, not the rental?
Every category is a share of the total you enter. So a 12 percent tip line on a $2,000 budget is $240, which works out at about 18 percent of the $1,300 bus line. When your real quote arrives, calculate the tip from the rental cost, or use whatever gratuity the quote specifies.
Why does the prom budget put so little toward drinks?
Prom groups are normally under drinking age, so the 3 percent drinks line covers water and soft drinks. Most of a prom budget goes on transportation, at 70 percent. Parents should also ask the company about their alcohol policy for trips with minors aboard.
Can I change the percentages in each category?
Not in the tool; the splits are fixed by event type. Once you know your real bus cost, subtract it and the gratuity from your total, then decide how to divide what's left between drinks, food, decorations and a buffer. The Cost Split Calculator can then work out each person's share.
What does the extras and buffer line cover?
It's a cushion for the costs that turn up late: a last-minute decoration run, extra ice, parking, an added half hour. Keeping it rather than spending it up front means a small overrun doesn't send you back to the group asking for more money.
Does the per-person amount only cover the bus?
No. It divides your entire budget: drinks, food, decorations, tip and buffer included. If you only want each person covering the bus and tip, use the Cost Split Calculator with the written rental amount instead and handle the other costs separately.
Related tools
Other free planning aids that pair with this one.
Ready for a real price?
Send us what you worked out here and we will quote your actual trip.
No obligation. Written quotes from a reservation agent. Availability varies by date, vehicle, and provider.
What we see in real requests
Taken from quote requests people sent us. These are requests, not completed trips.
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.
All markets · June 2023 – August 2026
Requests peak in April, July, and August, when prom, graduation, and wedding season all land at once. Spring dates are the ones that go first.
All markets · June 2023 – August 2026
4 hours is by far the most common ask: 71% of the requests that name a length come in at exactly that. Another 18% want 6 hours or more.
All markets · June 2023 – August 2026