Tour Bus Needed........

crosstownk

Right - me and the lads in the band are thinking of buying a "tour bus". We've got 5 band members and a lot of PA gear plus instruments.

Can anyone recommend a van/bus type of thing?

We only want to spend about €2k so it will have to be a wee bit old.

We are looking at a Merc 609 or similar. We all only have B licences.

Any suggestions...................?

Wishbone Ash

crosstownk wrote:

We are looking at a Merc 609 or similar. We all only have B licences.

You won't be able to legally drive 609 with a B licence as most AFAIK are up to 24-26 seats. With a B licence you are limited to a GVW not exceeding 3.5 tonnes and up to eight passengers. 609s are at least 5 tonnes. Even if you removed the passenger extra seats, it would be over GVW 3.5 tonnes. A D1 only allows up to 16 passengers - most 609s buses/vans require a D/C1 licence.

You would need to be looking at Transit/Hiace/Ducato etc.

(A useful guideline - If the van/bus has orange/red reflective stripes on the rear and yellow/green stripes on the side, then it is over 3.5 tonnes and can't legally be driven with a B licence).

BrianD3

I often see "crew cab" Transits with an extra window and one row of seats behind the drivers cab. There would be plenty of room for 5 people and loads of room for stuff in the back in one of these esp if it was a LWB van. Not sure about the legality of them though as some look like home conversions and may not have the proper seatbelts etc. installed

crosstownk

Thanks lads. I guessed the weight would be a problem. Transit crewcab sounds like a good idea. It looks like I've to a lot more research into this.................