Airport Buses

Airport Buses are a means of conveying airport patrons from the parking lot to the airport terminal. You may not realize it, but there is a significant demand for airport busses because often times a large enough airport will have parking that is a significant distance from where the passengers need to be in order to board the plane. Sometimes it could be a mile or more! Do you want to walk a mile with all of your luggage before boarding or unboarding a plane? Didn't think so!

Airport Shuttles

So, what the airport will do if there is a significant distance between the parking lot and the terminal is implement an airport shuttle service. What will happen here is that you will park your car in a parking lot, walk a short distance to the airport shuttle bus stop, and wait patiently for the bus to swing around. This is typically in hourly (or maybe semi-hourly) intervals. Also, they will obviously cater their service to times when more people will be arriving or departing.

Airport Shuttle Bus etiquette

Airport shuttle bus drivers are constantly on the move, taking people to and from the parking lot. These people all have a ton of luggage, maybe some screaming kids, and everybody is always tired or cranky or apprehensive about the flight, or god forbid just a regular jerk! So, be kind to the operators of airport shuttle buses. They have had a long day, and it was a long day yesterday, and it is going to be a long day tomorrow.

Tips for proper Airport Shuttle Bus Etiquette
1. Have your luggage organized in a fashion that when it is time for you to get on or off the bus, you can do so as quickly as possible with minimal fidgeting around.
2. Do not bring food or drinks on airport shuttle buses
3. Be kind to the driver
4. Under no circumstances should you complain about how long it took for them to get to the stop, especially if you did not observe tip #1
5. Stay as quiet as possible. Some child will undoubtedly be screaming in the airport shuttle bus operators ear at some point today
6. (If the airport shuttle is relatively empty, its late at night, and it is not busy) Strike up a pleasant, simple, light, non-committal conversation with the driver, just to remind them that they are human, so are you, and there are decent people in the world. Obviously you should not do this when they are busy, because they have other things to worry about
7. A tip MAY be appropriate. For little to no 'extra' service, a dollar or two. This may require its own page of explanation

Airport Shuttle Buses for sale

A good airport shuttle bus for sale depends on whether it is a parking lot or hotel airport shuttle bus. For the parking lot variety, usually something with seats lining the perimeter is ideal for easier loading and unloading of passengers and their luggage. These go at lower speeds so that open atmosphere is as much of an issue. For the hotel shuttle bus variety, you are going to want something more geared towards comfort, as the ride is longer, the riders are more 'tuckered' and the chance for the driver to get tipped is higher. Better tips mean better morale for the drivers, better service and better representation of the airport at large.

Airport Shuttle Buses Revisited

There are really two kinds of airport shuttle buses. The kind that take you two and from the parking lot, and the kind that take you to and from a hotel. Obviously, the rules are slightly different for the hotel airport shuttle buses. First of all, if you get help loading and unloading the bags, or receive any kind of special assistance, DEFINITELY tip them. I used to smoke and I remember one guy on a hotel airport shuttle bus giving me a light. I don't even think I used the shuttle.. I don't think I tipped him either! But I was young and naive at the time. That was definitely tip worthy.

This is not as tense of an atmosphere as the parking lot airport shuttle buses, conversation is more highly recommended here.