Cool Bus Houston: 10 Questions with Lance Cavazos

Transportation - Lance Cavazos

Business: Cool Bus Houston
Location: Houston, Texas TX
Experience: 5 Years
Profile: Cool Bus Houston
Website: coolbushouston.com

1. Introduction: What's your story?

I first heard about the party bus concept in my first year living in Houston in 2007. I thought it was such a fun idea to have a party on wheels! One of my coworkers had a buddy who started his own party bus company in another city so I gave him a shout to discuss his business. I immediately fell in love with the idea and told myself that I would, one day, have my own party bus company.

Well the years went on and life got in the way and I still hadn’t achieved my goal. In May 2013, I was in San Diego, CA for a friend’s wedding and they had booked a party bus to take their guests to/from various locations. I wound up chatting with the driver throughout the night and as we traveled from location to location, the passion that I once had back in 2007 for starting my own party bus company found new life.

I established my LLC in June 2013. The next 2 years would be spent creating business plans, logos, bus designs, attending small business workshops, networking events and visiting with other small business owners to learn about their success and failures and hopefully to get some advice from experienced entrepreneurs.

All this hard work would lead up to that fateful day when I was driving through Humble, TX in October 2015 when it was spotted in front of a commercial building with a “FOR SALE” sign taped to the front. The bus was covered in red, white and blue paint and Texans logos as it was previously used as a Houston Texans Tailgate Party Bus.

The first Cool Bus was purchased November 11, 2015.

Multiple repairs and maintenance took place over the next few months and finally, in late February 2016, The Cool Bus would start to become the beautiful specimen of a party bus that you see today, with new upholstery, interior LED lighting, Bluetooth radio, air conditioning and handrails. A few custom items were made specially just for The Cool Bus and had to be fabricated from scratch, including an ice chest/trashcan compartment on board and a custom frame on the back of the bus that house the generators that power the all-important A/C. Once we finished the interior, the final steps were decking The Cool Bus exterior out with a custom paint job in its signature black and neon green. And with that, The Cool Bus was officially ready to roll.

2. What type of vehicles do you offer? (Describe the types, sizes, capacity and colors)

As of March 2021, we currently only have 1 vehicle in our fleet - a 16 passenger school bus turned neon green and black party bus!

3. What amenities do your vehicles have (TV, bar, sunroof)? Will beverages/food be provided?

Cool Bus Houston comes equipped with a built-in cooler to stock your own beverages, ability to control your own party tunes on our booming sound system via Bluetooth and each guest will also receive a complimentary pair of our signature neon green Cool Bus Houston sunglasses! Food and beverages are up to the customers as we allow finger foods and are BYOB, as long as everyone is over 21 yrs old.

4. How well in advance should couples book their wedding transportation?

I would recommend booking a minimum 2 months in advance. Since we currently only have one vehicle, I would say to book ASAP, because we are first come, first served, but 2 months should be plenty of time to secure your date.

December is our busiest month, by far. So if you are getting married in December, I would recommend booking by September.

5. How much does it cost to book your services? What is the hire price for each of your vehicles?

Our pricing ranges from $125/hr to $200/hr, depending on the time of day and # of hours booked. We usually start at a 5 hour minimum, but are happy to customize packages for couples.

We always offer a cash discount as well for customers that pay with cash, Venmo or Zelle.

6. What do you recommend for timing? (How long does a service last?)

Again, depending on the time of day for your rental, we would recommend minimum of 3-4 hours during the day and minimum 5 hours at night. We can offer transportation before the wedding (taking wedding parties to the venue to get ready), before and after the ceremony (take wedding party to the church and then to the reception hall) or after the wedding (take the wedding party or VIPs out for a fun night out on the town to celebrate!).

7. Are the chauffeurs professionally hired and then trained?

Yes, each driver has a minimum Class B CDL and go through an extensive training period to learn the culture of our company and how we treat our customers.

8. What does the driver wear on the wedding day?

Our drivers wear our black Cool Bus Houston Columbia fishing shirts with jeans or shorts, depending on the weather.

9. What are the back-up options if a vehicle breaks down on the day of the wedding?

If we have a vehicle breakdown, we are prepared to book an XL and/or Premium ride-hailing service (Uber or Lyft) to get the passengers to their destination on time.