Davis Charter Bus Rental FAQs
About Davischarterbuscompany.com
Davischarterbuscompany.com is an advertising and quote comparison website that lets you compare bus rental options and pricing from a network of bus companies serving Davis through a national booking company. Fill out one quick form and you go straight to a results page showing vehicles, pricing, and availability for your trip — No waiting for callbacks to get pricing, no account required. Davischarterbuscompany.com is an advertising and referral website; it does not own or operate vehicles. What it does is put your request in front of far more options than you would find calling around on your own, so you can find the right bus at the right price in seconds!
No — Davischarterbuscompany.com is a comparison and referral website. What that means for you in practical terms: you use it to compare vehicles and pricing from a network of independently owned bus companies serving Davis and the surrounding area, and the transportation itself is carried out by those independent operators. Think of it as the fastest way to see what is actually available for your trip, all in one place, rather than spending an afternoon tracking down individual companies and waiting on quotes.
You fill out one form or make one call to 530-771-9760 and get more options and different price points than you would find reaching out to a single local company yourself. Instead of calling five operators, describing your trip five times, and waiting on five callbacks, you see vehicles and pricing in seconds — all in one place. Companies in the network are competing for the booking, which works in your favor.
That is the whole advantage: your time stays yours, and your options are wider!
An independently owned transportation company serving Davis. Once you fill out the quote form, you head over to a national booking platform where you choose the vehicle that suits your trip — the size, the amenities, the price. What you are choosing there is a vehicle and a price, not a company off a list.
The transportation company assigned to the booking is confirmed to you after the booking is complete, and they handle everything from that point forward.
Booking a Charter Bus
Fill out the form on this page — your pickup location, destination, date, group size, and trip times — or call 530-771-9760 and go through it with someone directly. Either way, you are taken to a search results page on a national booking company's website. That booking company partners with independent operators serving the Davis area, and right there on their site you can see the vehicles available for your trip, compare pricing, and book the one you want online.
What you are choosing is a vehicle and a price — and the whole thing takes minutes!
Your pickup city, where you are going, how many people are coming, and how many hours you need the bus. That is enough to get a quote started. The more detail you add — your stops, your start and end times, any luggage or oversized gear, and the amenities that matter to your group — the more accurate the quote comes back and the better you can match the right vehicle to your actual trip.
More detail in means better options out!
Right away — there is no waiting on a callback. As soon as you submit the form you go straight to the search results page and see quotes on the booking company's website. You are looking at vehicles and pricing for your actual trip in seconds, not hours.
If you would rather talk it through with someone, call 530-771-9760 and a live agent can walk you through your options and help you put together the right package.
The earlier the better for a popular date, and a specific vehicle or a larger group goes further ahead. That said, because Davischarterbuscompany.com puts your request in front of a whole network of providers serving the Davis area rather than one operator with one yard, short-notice trips are often still workable — that is the real advantage of comparing a network instead of calling a single company and being told no. Submit the request or call 530-771-9760 even on short notice.
You may have more options than you expect, and the only way to find out is to ask!
All of those can be requested! Hourly — sometimes called as-directed — keeps the vehicle with your group for a set block of time and works well when the schedule is flexible or the group is making multiple stops. A one-way transfer moves your group from one place to another.
A round-trip brings them back. A multi-stop itinerary runs a set route with several stops in between, which is common for brewery tours, wedding shuttles, and sporting event runs. A multi-day booking covers a trip that runs across more than one day.
Which format fits comes down to your trip. A multi-stop or overnight itinerary should be laid out in full when you submit the request — stops, timing, and where the group is staying — so the quote comes back priced correctly for the whole trip.
Charter Bus Pricing
A charter bus costs $205–$385+ per hour on weekdays, $225–$410+ per hour on weekends, and $1,650–$2,950+ per day. Those are real planning ranges, not a single price — because pricing is not one size fits all. The type and size of bus, the date, how long you need it, and how busy that weekend is locally all move the number.
The range gives you a starting point, not your final quote. Fill out the form online and see pricing for your actual trip in seconds, or call 530-771-9760 — going through the trip with someone can turn up better packages and pricing than you would find on your own!
It depends on the trip, and all three are used. A short trip of a couple of hours is usually priced hourly. A trip that runs long distance — roughly past the 100 to 200 mile mark, or heading well out of the Davis area toward Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or the Oregon border — may carry a per-mile charge instead.
A long day, generally around eight hours or more, often comes back as a day rate rather than stacked hours, simply because the vehicle is booked for so much of the day. Which structure applies to your trip is determined by the actual itinerary you submit — so the most accurate thing to do is enter the full route and let the results page show you what fits.
Six things move the price: the type and size of bus, how long it is booked, the date and day of the week, the distance and route, the number of stops, and how busy that date is locally in Davis. Sunday through Thursday prices lower than Friday and Saturday. Daytime prices lower than those same nights.
Booking the size your group actually needs beats over-booking capacity. And grouping riders into one or two pickup points instead of five cuts the hours on the clock.
One Davis-specific note worth knowing: UC Davis Picnic Day in April, commencement in June, and home Aggie football Saturdays in the fall pull the entire local market at once. On those dates, every bus in the Sacramento and Yolo County area is competing for the same inventory, and prices reflect that. Book those dates as early as you can.
For everything else, submitting the actual trip is the fastest way to see where your quote lands and whether a different day or a different vehicle brings it down!
About Charter Buses
A charter bus is a full-size passenger coach that a group hires for its own trip — with its own route, its own schedule, and no other passengers sharing the ride. It is built for moving a large group over a distance in one vehicle, and it seats roughly 40 to 56 people depending on the make and model. The group goes where it needs to go, on the timeline it sets, without coordinating around a fixed public route or a posted schedule.
From the outside, a full-size charter bus is a tall, long coach body — roughly 45 feet end to end — with high windows running most of the length and a row of luggage bay doors along the lower body. The exterior is usually finished in white, silver, black, or a solid color, though some coaches are wrapped in an operator's own graphics, so the coach that shows up will not always look the same. Inside, you will find forward-facing seats arranged in pairs on either side of a center aisle — cloth or leather depending on the make and model.
Overhead parcel racks run the length of the cabin. Toward the rear there is an onboard restroom. Common full-size models include the MCI J4500, the Van Hool CX45, and the Prevost H3-45, all of which follow this same basic layout.
Some of the amenities available on charter buses include reclining cloth or leather seats, individual climate controls, onboard restrooms, overhead parcel racks, undercarriage luggage bays, WiFi, power outlets and USB charging ports, a PA system, and flat-panel TV monitors. Amenities may vary by make, model, and operator — not every coach carries every feature, and the exact equipment on a given vehicle is confirmed during booking. If there are specific amenities your group needs — WiFi, power at every seat, or an onboard restroom — note them with your trip details when you submit the request, since that narrows which vehicles come back.
Generally 40 to 56 passengers, depending on the make and model, with 56 the most common build on a full-size coach. The MCI J4500 seats 56 as standard and is built for up to 60. The Van Hool CX45 is the same — 56 standard, up to 60.
The Prevost H3-45 also seats 56. Shorter 35-foot coaches seat closer to 44. What changes the count on the same coach: extra legroom configurations and wheelchair positions each take seats out of the total.
Because Davischarterbuscompany.com works with a network of providers, the exact coach on any given trip depends on what is available for your date and route. Submit the trip or call 530-771-9760 if the group needs a specific capacity!
A 56-passenger coach runs 14 rows, with two seats on each side of a center aisle — four seats across per row, forward-facing, with one aisle running straight down the middle. The row count drops on coaches configured with extra legroom or a wheelchair position, since both take space that would otherwise be a row. Some coaches also tier the first few rows slightly higher toward the front for sightlines.
The 14-row, 56-passenger layout is the standard full-size build.
A full-size charter bus is 45 feet long and 8.5 feet wide. To give that a real measurement to work with: roughly three cars parked end to end. That is the dimension that matters when a group is checking whether a bus fits a venue's loading area or a parking structure's turn radius.
Shorter coaches exist — most commonly around 35 feet — and they come up when access is tighter. The 45-foot coach is the standard full-size vehicle.
A full-size charter bus stands about 11 to 12 feet tall depending on the model, and traffic engineers design clearances for 12 feet. A real comparison: a little taller than the first floor of a standard house. That is the number to check against any parking structure, covered loading area, or low-clearance access road before the bus arrives.
When access height is a concern for your venue, note it with the trip details so the right vehicle is matched to the route.
WiFi is one of the amenities available on charter buses, and many coaches on the road today are equipped with it. One thing worth knowing accurately: onboard WiFi is a piece of equipment a coach is built with, not something every coach carries — so whether a given vehicle has it varies by make and operator. And onboard WiFi runs off a cellular connection, which means it is built for light use across the full coach — phones, messaging, browsing — not for 50 or 60 people doing heavy work at once.
If WiFi matters to your group, note it with your trip details when you submit the request. That narrows which vehicles come back to ones that are equipped for it!
Yes — an onboard restroom is standard on full-size charter buses, located toward the rear of the coach. It is there so the group does not have to stop, and on a long run from Davis to Los Angeles or Lake Tahoe the trip is still usually planned with real rest stops along the way. Features may vary by vehicle, so if an onboard restroom is essential for your group — especially on a trip with elderly passengers or young children — note it with the trip details when you submit the request.
Yes — charter buses are built with 110-volt AC power outlets, and coaches are commonly fitted with them at every seat, some with a USB port built into the same outlet. This is an equipment option rather than something every coach carries, so it varies by vehicle. What that means in practice: a group can keep phones and laptops charged across a long run — from Davis to San Francisco, up to Lake Tahoe, or down I-5 to Los Angeles — without hunting for an outlet at a rest stop.
If power at every seat matters to your group, note it with the trip details!
Yes, in two places — overhead parcel racks inside the coach, and undercarriage baggage bays underneath it. A full-size coach carries roughly 460 cubic feet of underfloor baggage space and around 100 cubic feet in the overhead racks. Across a full 56-passenger load that works out to roughly 8 cubic feet per person underneath and under 2 overhead — which in practice is about one checked-size bag each below plus one small carry-on above.
A few things change that math. A coach fitted with a wheelchair lift gives up some baggage bay space. Bulky gear — musical instruments, athletic equipment, event supplies, camping gear for a Yosemite run — takes the space of several standard bags.
A group heading to Lake Tahoe in ski season with boards and boots will load very differently than a group of conference attendees with a single carry-on each. State the luggage situation and any oversized items with the trip details when you submit the request so the right coach is matched to the group from the start!
Charter Bus Service in Davis, California
Just about any group trip you can think of! The most common ones through Davischarterbuscompany.com in the Davis area include airport transfers to Sacramento International, SFO, and Oakland; corporate travel and employee shuttles between Davis and Sacramento; wedding shuttles between hotel blocks and venues; concert and sporting event transportation to Golden 1 Center, Sutter Health Park, and UC Davis Health Stadium; school and university field trips through UC Davis and the Davis Joint Unified School District; winery and brewery tours through Yolo County and Napa Valley; prom and homecoming; government and military group moves; and long-distance trips to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and beyond. Whatever brings your group together, there is a bus in the network ready for it!
Davischarterbuscompany.com helps you find group transportation in Davis and across the entire Sacramento Valley and Northern California region. Nearby cities include Sacramento, Woodland, West Sacramento, Vacaville, Fairfield, Napa, and San Francisco — those are examples, not the full list. If the city you need is not named here, enter the full route when you submit the request or call 530-771-9760 and an agent will check coverage for you!
UC Davis Picnic Day in April is the single busiest transportation date in the Davis market — it draws 70,000 to 75,000 visitors to campus and takes every available bus across the Sacramento and Yolo County area. Book months ahead. UC Davis Commencement in mid-June does the same across multiple ceremony days.
Home Aggie football Saturdays from September through November spike demand each week. Prom season across Davis Senior High and Yolo County schools runs April through May. New Year's Eve fills buses for Sacramento and Bay Area celebrations.
The Yolo County Fair in late July and early August adds demand in Woodland. On those dates the whole local market gets taken early — book as far ahead as you can. And on any date, short-notice requests are still worth submitting through Davischarterbuscompany.com, because the network is wider than any single operator!
Planning Your Davis, California Charter Bus Trip
The primary airport serving Davis is Sacramento International Airport (SMF) (6900 Airport Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95837), about 11 miles east of Davis via I-80 — roughly 15 to 20 minutes off-peak, 25 to 35 minutes during commute hours. For Bay Area travel, groups also charter to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) (~75 miles, 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes) and Oakland International Airport (OAK) (~70 miles, about 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes off-peak). For airport pickups, the coach meets your group outside the terminal at the designated commercial vehicle zone that airport uses for buses — following that airport's own guidelines rather than the general rideshare or taxi area.
Gather your full group and luggage before calling the bus forward so the pickup moves quickly!
The main venue in Davis itself is UC Davis Health Stadium (864 La Rue Road, Davis, CA 95616), home of the UC Davis Aggies football team, with a capacity of 10,743. Charter bus drop-off and parking at UC Davis Health Stadium is coordinated through UC Davis Transportation & Parking Services, which manages oversized vehicle access on a per-event basis — advance arrangements are required. For Sacramento-area venues, groups from Davis regularly travel to Golden 1 Center (500 David J Stern Walk, Sacramento, CA 95814) for Sacramento Kings games and concerts, and to Sutter Health Park (400 Ballpark Dr, West Sacramento, CA 95691) for Sacramento River Cats baseball.
Traffic patterns change significantly around events at all three venues, so build extra time into your pickup window on game days!
The primary academic and conference venue in Davis is the UC Davis Conference Center (550 Alumni Ln, Davis, CA 95616), on campus. The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts (1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616) hosts major performances and lectures with a capacity of about 1,800. Both venues are on the UC Davis campus, and per UC Davis TAPS, charter buses must coordinate access in advance — bus loading zones are designated, and large-event parking is managed on a per-event basis.
For larger convention traffic, groups from Davis also shuttle to Sacramento-area venues. A repeat shuttle between a hotel and a venue should have its full schedule — number of runs, times, headcount — laid out with the request so it comes back timed and priced correctly!
Yes — any wedding venue in the Davis area. Davis is a smaller city, so many couples hold receptions at venues in Sacramento (~15 miles east) or in the surrounding wine country. Popular venues the network serves include Vizcaya Sacramento (2019 21st St, Sacramento, CA 95818), the Crocker Art Museum (216 O St, Sacramento, CA 95814), the Citizen Hotel Sacramento (926 J St, Sacramento, CA 95814), and Tres Hermanas (3000 Lake Rd, West Sacramento, CA 95691).
On the UC Davis campus, Putah Creek Lodge (1 Putah Creek Rd, Davis, CA 95616) is a popular waterside setting. The most common wedding bus setup is a shuttle loop between a hotel block and the venue — give the exact venue address and the hotel address with the request and the right vehicle gets matched to the route!
The network serves UC Davis (One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616) and all schools in the Davis Joint Unified School District, including Davis Senior High School (315 W 14th St, Davis, CA 95616) and Holmes Junior High. Groups from Davis also travel to Sacramento City College (~15 miles east) and California State University, Sacramento (6000 J St, Sacramento, CA 95819, ~18 miles east). Per UC Davis TAPS, buses on campus use designated loading zones and large groups must coordinate access in advance.
Field trips and team travel are typically pickups at the school or campus itself. Include the exact headcount and any accessibility needs with the request so the right vehicle is matched from the start!
The options around Davis are genuinely great for a group outing! Right in Davis, Sudwerk Brewing Co. (2001 2nd St, Davis, CA 95616) is the flagship local brewery with an outdoor biergarten. Nearby wineries include Berryessa Gap Vineyards (27260 Hwy 128, Winters, CA 95694, ~15 miles southwest) and Matchbook Wine Company (26836 County Rd 27, Zamora, CA 95698, ~20 miles north via CA-113).
For casinos, Cache Creek Casino Resort (14455 CA-16, Brooks, CA 95606) is about 30 miles northwest — roughly 35 to 40 minutes via CA-16 — and Thunder Valley Casino Resort (1200 Athens Ave, Lincoln, CA 95648) is about 35 miles northeast, ~40 minutes via I-80 E. For a full day, Napa Valley is ~70 miles southwest with dozens of tasting rooms. A multi-stop route is timed by how long the group stays at each stop — list the stops and how long at each one when you submit the request so the hours and pricing come back right!
Yes! Long-distance trips are one of the most popular uses for a charter bus out of Davis. Common destinations include San Francisco (~75 miles via I-80 W, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes depending on Bay Bridge traffic), Napa Valley (~70 miles, about 1 hour 15 minutes), Lake Tahoe (~100 miles via I-80 E to US-50, about 2 hours off-peak — longer with chain controls in winter), Los Angeles (~380 miles via I-5 S, about 5.5 to 6 hours), Las Vegas (~470 miles, about 7 hours), Disneyland in Anaheim (~410 miles via I-5 S, about 6 to 6.5 hours), and Yosemite National Park (~155 miles via CA-120, about 2.5 to 3 hours — Tioga Pass is closed in winter).
A long-distance trip is usually booked as a one-way transfer or a multi-day trip rather than by the hour. Overnight trips need the full itinerary — stops, timing, and where the group is staying each night — laid out with the request so it comes back priced correctly. Call 530-771-9760 or submit the full route online!