The median group asks for a quote 30 days before the trip. Wedding groups ask 98–99 days out. Concert groups ask 23 days out. Here is the lead time for every occasion we can measure.
“How far in advance should I book a party bus?” has one honest answer: it depends on what the trip is for, because the occasion sets both how early people plan and how crowded the date is. We measured the gap between the request date and the event date on 86,891 quote requests. The middle half of all groups call between 13 and 67 days out.
Lead time by occasion
| Occasion | Median lead time | Middle half | Inside two weeks | Requests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weddings | 98–99 days | 39–193 | 8.6% | 4,584 |
| Bachelorette parties | 56 days | 26+ | 14.6% | 403 |
| Quinceañeras | 56 days | 19–112 | 20.2% | 89 |
| Bachelor parties | 53 days | 23–102 | 14.6% | 3,046 |
| Winery and brewery tours | 32 days | 17–61 | 17.7% | 745 |
| Graduations | 31 days | 11+ | 27.8% | 313 |
| Game-day trips | 30 days | 10+ | 30.6% | 1,277 |
| Birthdays | 26 days | 12–51 | 27.7% | 12,386 |
| Prom | 26 days | 13+ | 25.7% | 2,869 |
| Corporate | 26 days | 12+ | 28.2% | 177 |
| Nights out | 25 days | 11–53 | 29.4% | 1,751 |
| Concerts | 23 days | 9+ | 35.4% | 1,781 |
| Homecoming | 23 days | 12–33 | 27.7% | 94 |
Three patterns in that table
Anything tied to a wedding is planned a quarter ahead
Weddings at 98–99 days, bachelorettes at 56 and bachelors at 53 are the three longest lead times we see. They are also the three occasions with the highest Saturday concentration: 72.8%, 68.5% and 60.9% of their dates respectively. Long lead times and crowded Saturdays go together, which is why a wedding shuttle booked eight weeks out is late by this book's standards.
Concerts and nights out are decided in the last month
Concert trips have the shortest median at 23 days and the highest last-minute share: more than a third of concert requests arrive inside two weeks. That is not a problem on a weeknight show. On a Saturday in August, the month that takes 36% of concert dates with July, it is.
Short notice is normal
26% of all requests reach us inside two weeks of the trip, 13% inside a week, and 4.7% within 48 hours. We quote those every day. The cost of lateness is not a surcharge; it is a narrower choice of vehicle on a weekend date.
The rule we would give a friend
Wedding: 90 days. Bachelor or bachelorette: 60. Prom, birthday, game day, corporate: 30. Concert or night out: as soon as the tickets are bought. If you are already inside those windows, call anyway; 13% of the book books inside a week.
Price your date with the people who wrote these quotes
One written, all-inclusive number for your date, hours and stops. Our own vehicles, our own chauffeurs.
