Have This Ready for Your Transportation Quote
- Street addresses for the pickup and the drop-off, not just the town
- The date and the pickup time; for a flight, the airline and flight number
- How many people are riding, kids included, and roughly how many bags
- Any stops, how long you’ll stay at each, and whether you need a ride back
- The vehicle you have in mind, if you have one. The fleet page shows the sizes; if you’re not sure, leave it blank and we’ll size it for you.
Planning something with several legs, like a wedding day, a 3-day tour or a shuttle loop between hotels? Put the whole timeline in one request, leg by leg, with an address and a time for each. It’s easier to price the day as a whole than piece by piece, and it shows us where one vehicle can cover 2 jobs.
After You Send It
Dispatch reads the request and checks the route, the hour and the vehicle size against your headcount and bags. If something is missing, like a return time or a flight number, we’ll ask rather than guess. Then the quote comes to the email or phone number you gave us, with each part written out.
Read it, ask about anything that isn’t clear, and confirm when you’re ready. To see how prices are built before you send anything, read how pricing works below. For flight timing, the airport pages list drive times from the Valley. Questions that aren’t about one trip are covered in the FAQ or on the contact page.
How Pricing Works
Every transportation quote we send is built in one of 3 ways, depending on the trip:
- Flat rate, one way. Airport transfers between a Valley town and an airport, set by the route and the vehicle. The rate covers the whole run, including the drive home empty; terminal timing is on the Philadelphia airport page.
- Hourly, with a minimum. Local work such as weddings, nights out, day trips and corporate days, in a car from our black car service, a stretch or Sprinter limo from our limousine service, a Sprinter van or a party bus. Each vehicle class has its own minimum, the shortest block it can be booked for, and your quote says when the clock starts and stops.
- Trip or day rate. Casino days, New York trips, game days, Poconos runs and multi-day tours, priced as a whole trip from the vehicle, the hours, the miles and any overnight. Coach sizes and multi-day tours are covered under charter bus rental.
What the Price Covers and What Changes It
What’s Included, and What Isn’t
The base price always covers the vehicle and its chauffeur or driver for the booked route or hours. It doesn’t cover your group’s show tickets, casino play, admission fees, meals or hotel rooms. A driver’s room on an overnight trip is the exception: it’s a cost of running the vehicle, so it appears as its own line. Gratuity, tolls, parking and any fuel surcharge are lines your transportation quote either includes or lists separately. The quote also states whether a deposit is due, the cancellation terms, how long the price holds and which payment methods we accept.
What Moves the Price
- Vehicle size and class. Fuel, insurance and the driver’s licensing step up with size, so a coach costs more to run than a minibus, and a minibus more than a Sprinter. Book the smallest vehicle that fits your riders and bags in comfort; for 25 people with light luggage, 2 Sprinters sometimes come in under 1 coach.
- Hours and the minimum. Hourly work starts at the class minimum, then the hours you book and any time past them set the total. Slack planned at the start usually costs less than overtime decided on the night.
- Date, day and season. Prom season, wedding season, Eagles and Penn State weekends and December holiday parties are when vehicles across the region book up first. A Thursday has more room than a Saturday night in May.
- Distance and deadhead. Miles cost fuel and driver time, including the drive to your first pickup and back from the last drop, so a one-way trip to JFK includes the empty ride home. A pickup far from Orefield, or a trip that starts outside our area and goes through a partner operator, is priced from where the vehicle starts.
- Tolls, parking and city charges. The Turnpike, the Hudson River tunnels and bridges, Manhattan’s congestion toll below 60th Street, stadium bus lots and airport fees change with the route and the vehicle, so they’re listed line by line.
- Overnights and driver hours. Federal hours-of-service rules limit how long a bus driver can be on duty in a day. A longer trip needs a relief driver or an overnight, which means a room and a full rest break for the driver. Multi-day tours are priced day by day.
Comparing quotes from more than one company? Check that each covers the same lines: gratuity, tolls, parking, deadhead and the driver’s room on overnights. A lower total that leaves 2 of those out isn’t lower.
