Our local airport is changing their parking and doing away with the ride out to economy parking. I saw a parking lot full of unneeded shuttle vans, and of course I started thinking. Big box, short and maneuverable with lots of windows. Gut it and leave the HVAC unit in the roof in the back to make a great cargo hauler and portable office. Anything special to know about these things other than every one has a condition unto itself? Can you register it as a private van?
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Toyman on here has one and uses it as a tow vehicle. I know he has mentioned that the handicap lift is good for moving things like engines and trannies. And I know our local car club uses one for the mobile registration/event office etc
The first thing I'd think after purchase is' "How many people farted on these seats?"
If they were specd as shuttles when new I would expect the gearing to be inappropriate for comfortable highway use.
APEowner said:If they were specd as shuttles when new I would expect the gearing to be inappropriate for comfortable highway use.
I think that would depend on the specific airport and how it's used. For example,the rental car center at DFW seems like it's halfway to Houston...to get to it we had to get on the highway. I wasn't watching the drivers' dash, but I'd bet we were cruising along at 70mph. Engine didn't sound like it was screaming, just a few little children were.
Most of the ones I have seen are the ford V10 which like to rev out anyway and sound more screamy than it really is bad for them they also only have a handful of seats since they have the luggage rack and usually the wheel chair ramp
Klayfish said:APEowner said:If they were specd as shuttles when new I would expect the gearing to be inappropriate for comfortable highway use.
I think that would depend on the specific airport and how it's used. For example,the rental car center at DFW seems like it's halfway to Houston...to get to it we had to get on the highway. I wasn't watching the drivers' dash, but I'd bet we were cruising along at 70mph. Engine didn't sound like it was screaming, just a few little children were.
You're correct. That's a good point. It would be airport dependent.
Mine was a regional transit bus. It's a 2007 Ford E450 with a 6.0 diesel. It's got 320K miles on it now. Other than high mileage and some issues from sitting for 6-8 months, it's been pretty decent. It does not ride good, it drives fair, it tows great. I think mine has 4:11 gears in it. With the 5 speed and OD, that puts it at about 2400 rpms at 70. At 70 it gets about 12 mpg.
The main issue I have with mine is the body is deteriorating. The sides are aluminum/wood/foam/wood/aluminum composite with a vinyl wrap. It has gotten water between the exterior wrap and the aluminum causing some corrosion issues. Mostly bubbles under the vinyl. The issues are probably repairable, but I'm going to be cutting the engine out of it this year to put in SanFord.
Insurance companies will not insure a cutaway shuttle bus as a personal vehicle, so insurance is pretty steep. I'm paying around $800 a year liability only, for the shuttle bus. Install a bathroom, bed and a stove and have it retitled as a RV. that will cut the insurance by a bunch. I think SanFord costs me about $160 a year.
16 is the magic number (15 passengers and 1 driver) If your bus was designed for 16 then it will be CDL (Commercial Driver's License) required.
This is why you see people take seats out of busses to get under the number 16. Less than 16 seats will allow you to drive it without a CDL but you will find that "designed with 16 seats" will not allow you non-commercial insurance unless titled as converted to RV.
John Welsh said:16 is the magic number (15 passengers and 1 driver) If your bus was designed for 16 then it will be CDL (Commercial Driver's License) required.
This is why you see people take seats out of busses to get under the number 16. Less than 16 seats will allow you to drive it without a CDL but you will find that "designed with 16 seats" will not allow you non-commercial insurance unless titled as converted to RV.
This is not true anymore with the new FMC regulations, but you would be correct 10 years ago. You can't carry more than 16 passengers as a commercial business without a P endorsement on your license, but some states don't require a CDL to get the P endorsement.
The CDL requirement now refers primarily to the GVWR of the vehicle. Anything under 26k GVWR no longer requires a CDL. I can buy a 72 passenger school bus, register it privately (in PA) and legally take 72 of my friends for a joyride without a CDL. But if you are a business with a DOT carrier number for public transportation, THEN you need the P endorsement to carry more than 15. This was outlined for me also by my research in TX. For a while I drove a party bus. Two guys bought an old school bus and tricked it out for rentals. For that, I was required legally to have a CDL. I kept a paper log for my work. Once the rental was over (dropped off the passengers and they signed the bill), I could legally go pick up 20 of my friends and one of them (non CDL) could legally drive it because I wasn't on the clock. In Mississippi, that was not the case. Because it was a CDL vehicle, registered to a DOT-numbered company, it had to have a CDL-licensed driver at all times. However, if we sold that bus to a private buyer, they would no longer need a CDL to operate it.
I'm sure the insurance varies by company and state as well. In CA I bought a 26' box truck which they let me register as a personal vehicle, but the state's laws required that it be insured commercially. In TX, that same truck I had to both register and insure commercially. In PA I can both register and insure it personally. BUT, I have to shop companies. Some companies have deemed it a high enough liability that their particular company requires commercial insurance.
The short version is this: Although states vary in how they classify commercial vehicles, the FMC regulations have more or less separated out the qualifications for CDL to be more about whether or not you are getting paid to drive that vehicle by a company with a DOT number and less about the vehicle itself. When I first started driving commercial vehicles, I had to have a CDL to drive anything with air brakes. That is no longer true.
I frequently rent 26' box trucks from Penske for work at the theater. Since I am not driving that truck for a DOT company and not getting paid specifically for my driving, I don't need a CDL to drive it. If I worked for a trucking company and they had me run over to Penske to rent an extra truck to drive for their commercial transportation needs, THEN I would need a CDL to drive it.
Having said all of that, I have looked at airport shuttle vans. With my work, I like having a van or a truck (carpenter basically). I have been shopping for a van, but I'm looking at something slightly bigger without being a much larger footprint, like maybe a high-top van, SRW cube van, or high-top SRW ambulance. So Airport shuttles do intrigue me, but I get lost at V10 and 300k miles of stop and go. V8 or diesel might trip my trigger, but with so many other offerings out there I think I get turned off of Ambulances and Shuttles just because there is a high probability of them having been pretty abused.
I could get lucky and it would be wonderful, but I think there is a slightly higher chance that they would be on their last legs. So instead I will likely find a Quigley or AWD 1-ton van and customize it to what I want.
Appleseed said:The first thing I'd think after purchase is' "How many people farted on these seats?"
So I guess you only buy new cars? :)
You want fiberglass molded construction, and as few seams as possible. See toyman's post.
z31maniac said:Appleseed said:The first thing I'd think after purchase is' "How many people farted on these seats?"
So I guess you only buy new cars? :)
But that's only one or a few guys farting in it many times, versus the few farts of many, many people. Totally different 
z31maniac said:Appleseed said:The first thing I'd think after purchase is' "How many people farted on these seats?"
So I guess you only buy new cars? :)
In this case, as a shuttle, it would be how many PEOPLE farted whereas most used vehicles it would be how many FARTS per person. Appleseed seems to want to differentiate gross (
) quantity vs single origin, all natural.
Edit: Furious knows
Look up the requirements to retitle it as an RV in your state. They vary, but in general it's not as strict as you might imagine. You don't need a kitchen AND bathroom AND sleeping quarters. Sometimes you just need a few things that aren't that hard to add. Check this out:
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/id/2425/the-ultimate-no-budget-racecar-transporter.aspx
He converted a box truck into an "RV" that also hauls his race car. In Californa, apparently, to be an RV you need "A vehicle where any FOUR of the following SIX items. 1. Toilet 2. Sink 3. 110 volt AC power 4. Heating and or A/C 5. Cooking facilities 6. Refrigeration." So he added a small sink, a dorm fridge, and microwave, which coupled with his generator made him meet the requirements of an RV.
Now, every state is different I'm sure, but look into it. It might be super easy to make a shuttle bus meet the RV requirements and then you've got an easy registration and insurance process with low costs.
Yeah Ambulances seem like an attractive entry point, I know they are used for off road RV conversions at times
This guy says its 10k for both was hauling his modified in it. Was supposed to send me interior pics
dculberson said:Look up the requirements to retitle it as an RV in your state. They vary, but in general it's not as strict as you might imagine. You don't need a kitchen AND bathroom AND sleeping quarters. Sometimes you just need a few things that aren't that hard to add. Check this out:
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/id/2425/the-ultimate-no-budget-racecar-transporter.aspx
He converted a box truck into an "RV" that also hauls his race car. In Californa, apparently, to be an RV you need "A vehicle where any FOUR of the following SIX items. 1. Toilet 2. Sink 3. 110 volt AC power 4. Heating and or A/C 5. Cooking facilities 6. Refrigeration." So he added a small sink, a dorm fridge, and microwave, which coupled with his generator made him meet the requirements of an RV.
Now, every state is different I'm sure, but look into it. It might be super easy to make a shuttle bus meet the RV requirements and then you've got an easy registration and insurance process with low costs.
I loved that article but always wondered about loading and unloading a car into something the height of a box truck
That's a mighty sketchy-looking ramp system there...
if you buy it, look under the seats, I bet you find enough cell phones to recoup some of the cost.
I'm gonna make sure I fart more on these transit busses when I get the chance because of this thread.
In reply to fidelity101 :
Somewhere, Wally's ears are ringing.
In reply to Appleseed :
I did start twitching a bit. If you're lucky all the customers did was fart. We had to have someone removed last week whose rearend was bleeding badly enough to leave a puddle.
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