We have a number of Indian casinos in the area and they all offer free or cheap bus transportation to get you in the door. Some of them used to use MCI 9s, As, and Cs. Now I see a lot of D series buses used by the casinos. Most or all of the casino buses are actually operated by charter operators on behalf of the casino.
Are charter operators finally upgrading because a newer bus saves enough fuel to pay for itself? I see casino buses more often than other charters so I haven't noticed if others are upgrading. It seems that most of the non-casino buses have already been upgraded to newer 45 footers with four stroke engines.
The bigger charter operators are running late model coaches not so much because of fuel costs, but because they compete with other operators running late model equipment. Tour groups want the latest, nicest bus for their money. Nowadays, you can finance a bus directly from the manufacturers, or lease companies. Bus companies turn them over every 5 years or so. That is partly why you can now get a '95 MCI D3 for 40 to $50 000.00.
JC
I can't say about others, but we've been "UPSIZING"! Ya know like at McDonalds thay ask "would ya like that UPSIZED?" LOL! Seriously with the price of buses dropping to an all time low! We have bought 2 buses in the past 4 months, and are prepping 2 others to be put into service in the near future. Which for us is highly unheard of! We might trade up, or even buy one in a year. But to add 4 to service in one yr? OK one has been pulled from service, but not disposed of so it is still possible it may return to service someday! (if it's up to me, it'll be as a "hurricane mission bunk house, mess hall, and lounge combo!" That way when not in use for hurricanes it can be used for week end getaways! Opps we never get away on week ends, so it'll have to be a week long getaway! LOL !)
;D BK ;D