The Party Bus

from RN&R Nightlife 2014

Happy Hour

A Nightclub on the Road

By Martina Beatty

More than two dozen friends are lounging on couches, listening to music and enjoying some cocktails. They’re also cruising down Highway 395. Cheers! They’re on a party bus. “It’s like taking a nightclub on the road, literally,” said Danell Wilson-Perlman, co-owner of Reno Tahoe Limousine and Reno Tahoe Transportation. With U-shaped seating, interior lighting, a bar, a big TV -- and a hired chauffeur for a designated driver -- party buses are limousines on a larger scale. “You can stand up, move around, dance and have fun,” Wilson-Perlman said. “You have the same experience as a limo, but you can seat up to 26 people comfortably.” Clients hire party buses for bar-hopping, weddings, proms, team-building retreats, as well as wine tours and Giants baseball games. Excursions can extend as far as the Bay Area. “Traditional limousines are going away because groups are getting bigger,” she said. “They realize the more people they get the cheaper it is, because if you start divvying up what it costs, it’s not that much.”

Rates are $150 per hour for the 26-passenger bus and $110 per hour for a 16-passenger bus. You can tip the driver during the night, or add a gratuity to your tab. All the details get hammered out beforehand -- especially in case the riders get hammered in the meantime. “We always say, the people who get into that vehicle and the people who get out are two different people,” WilsonPerlman said, “so everything is by contract. That way everybody knows exactly what’s going on.”

Most situations require an on-call driver, but sometimes the bus can be rented for two hours before and two hours after an event. “Every situation is unique,” she said. “We’re family owned and operated, and we work with each case individually.” One party bus can be less expensive than a slew of taxis. “It’s totally worth it to get the bus,” said Brandi Anderson, 38, who had a memorable night out when her friends hired the 16-passenger bus for her birthday. “If you have enough people going, it ends up being way less than cab rides.”

Anderson and her friends used a bus for a Downtown Reno pub crawl. “The convenience of that was incredible,” she said. “We were able to get from South Reno to downtown and back home safely.” The eight couples on board started having fun right away, lip-synching to songs on their own iPod during the drive. “It’s got cool lighting like a limousine on the inside, and there are big couches,” Anderson said. “It’s very comfortable. And we were able to bring a cooler, so we had our own cocktails on the bus. “You don’t have to shoot your entire budget inside a bar.” Communication with the driver went well, too. Anderson said they always knew where he was parked and although they had his cell number, they never needed to call him. “I thought it was awesome,” she said. “We’ve been talking about how we need to get another one of these events on the books for 2014.”