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A tour bus service is an escorted tour (sometimes a
A tour bus service is an escorted tour (sometimes a package holiday
A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...
) or bus service that takes visitors sightseeing, with routes around tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural ...
s.
Information
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and also in cities such as Sydney; the best-known example is the ...
es and open top bus
An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and ...
es are commonly used, for providing a good view. Large coaches
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
are used internationally by tour operators, intercity bus lines and charters, for short and long distance destinations. These buses are larger than regular transit buses, with 2 to 4 axles (6 to 10 wheels).
The history of tour buses in North America began in the early 20th century when trucks were converted to provide a means for sightseeing within large American cities. Gray Line, the largest sightseeing operators, began operations in 1910. Sightseeing was likely a side business for many intercity bus operators because the same types of buses were used (this remains true even today). World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
saw the industry decline, but it slowly re-emerged as an alternative to driving.
Many musicians, entertainers, dancing crews and bands travel in sleeper bus
A sleeper is a person who is sleeping.
Sleeper may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Characters
* Sleeper (Marvel Comics), a Nazi German robot utilized by the Red Skull in Marvel Comics
* The Sleeper (Wild Cards), a character in the Wild Ca ...
es, commonly referred to as "tour buses". While most if not all of the buses and coaches listed above are for commercial applications, there are many coaches manufactured for personal use as motorhome
A motorhome (or motor coach) is a type of self-propelled recreational vehicle (RV) which offers mobile living accommodation.
Features
Motorhomes usually have sleeping spaces for two to eight people. Each sleeping space is either fixed or conv ...
s. These bus based motorhomes are considered the top end of the RV market.
Common features
* Padded fabric or leather front-facing seats, often reclining. * Foot and arm rests. * TV monitors connected toDVD player
A DVD player is a device that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to ...
or VCR
A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. ...
to provide entertainment or possibly analog TV or DTV for local news or programs (possibly in seats with viewer choosing what station).
* Basic lavatory
Lavatory, Lav, or Lavvy may refer to:
*Toilet, the plumbing fixture
*Toilet (room), containing a toilet
*Public toilet
*Aircraft lavatory, the public toilet on an aircraft
*Latrine, a rudimentary toilet
*A lavatorium, the washing facility in a mon ...
– riders may be discouraged from using it except in an emergency, but some newer buses feature full service lavatories
* Cool water dispenser, refrigerator, hot water urn.
* Wheelchair lift
A wheelchair lift, also known as a platform lift, or vertical platform lift, is a fully powered device designed to raise a wheelchair and its occupant in order to overcome a step or similar vertical barrier.
Wheelchair lifts can be installed in ...
or ramp and "kneeling suspension" for easier access (especially for the elderly and infirm).
* Tinted windows (and/or curtains or blinds).
* Luggage compartment (or bins) below in the underbelly of the bus, with overhead hand-luggage racks.
Tour coach manufacturers
*Motor Coach Industries
Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is a North American multinational bus manufacturer, specializing in production of motorcoaches. Best known for coaches produced for intercity transit and commuter buses, MCI produces coaches for a variety of appli ...
* Volvo Buses
Volvo Buses (Volvo Bus Corporation / formal name: ''Volvo Bussar AB'') (stylized as VOLVO) is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is based in Gothenburg.
It is on ...
** Prevost Car
Prevost (, , formally known as Prevost Car) is a Canadian manufacturer of touring coaches and bus shells for high-end motorhomes and specialty conversions. The company is a subsidiary of the Volvo Buses division of the Volvo Group.
History
...
* Mercedes-Benz buses
Mercedes-Benz has been producing buses since 1895 in Mannheim in Germany. Since 1995 Mercedes-Benz buses and coaches is a brand of EvoBus GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck.
Heritage
The world's first motorised bus was built in G ...
See also
* Brendan Sheerin *Customised buses
Customised buses are buses that have been modified for decorative purposes. The customisation is unrelated to performing their job or work, usually as public transport buses. Customised buses are also sometimes not used for a job or work, and are ...
*Tourist trolley
A tourist trolley, also called a road trolley, is a rubber-tired bus designed to resemble an old-style streetcar or tram, usually with false clerestory roof. The vehicles are usually fueled by diesel, or sometimes compressed natural gas.
The ...
* Tour operator
*Intercity bus service
An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public tr ...
*List of buses
Year refers to the first year introduced. A range of years is the period the bus was manufactured.
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References
Tourist activities Types of bus service Tourism companies {{bus-transport-stub