St Paul Charter Bus Rental FAQs
About Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com
Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com is an advertising and quote comparison website that lets you compare bus rental options and pricing from a network of transportation companies serving St. Paul through a national booking company. Fill out one quick form — or call 651-212-9400 — and you get to a results page showing available vehicles and prices in seconds, instead of calling five companies and waiting on callbacks. Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com is an advertising and referral website and does not own or operate vehicles. The benefit to you is simple: more options, more price points, and far less time spent searching.
No. Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com is a comparison and referral website. You use it to compare vehicles and pricing from a network of independently owned transportation companies serving St. Paul and the surrounding area. Once you submit your trip details, you head over to a national booking platform where you can see what is available and book the vehicle that fits your group.
The transportation itself is carried out by independent operators serving your area — Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com connects you to that network and makes the comparison fast and easy.
When you search on your own, you reach one company, get one set of vehicles, and hear one price — then start over with the next call. With Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com, you fill out one form or make one call to 651-212-9400 and you are looking at vehicles and rates from a whole network of providers serving St. Paul in seconds. More options come back, different price points appear, and you find the bus that actually fits your group and your budget instead of settling for whatever one operator has open on your date.
An independently owned transportation company serving St. Paul. When you submit your trip details, you go to a national booking platform that works with a network of operators in the area. What you are choosing on that platform is a vehicle and a price — you pick the bus that fits your group, and the transportation company confirmed to your booking handles the trip.
The network puts more than one option in front of you so you are not locked into whatever a single operator has available on your date.
Booking a Charter Bus
Fill out the quick form on this page — your pickup location, destination, date, group size, and how many hours you need — or call 651-212-9400 and go through it with someone. Once you submit, you go straight to a results page on a national booking company's website. That booking company works with a network of operators serving the St. Paul area, and right there on their site you can see available vehicles, pricing, and photos, and book the bus you want.
What you are choosing is a vehicle and a price, not a company off a list.
Your pickup city, where you are going, how many people are in the group, and how many hours you need the bus. That is enough to get a quote started. The more detail you give — your stops, start and end times, any luggage or oversized gear, and the amenities the group needs — the more accurate the quote comes back and the better your options.
A complete itinerary gets you a number you can actually plan around, so lay it out as fully as you can when you submit.
Right away — there is no waiting on a callback. As soon as you submit the form, you go straight to the search results page and see vehicles and pricing from the booking company's network. no waiting until the next business day. If you would rather talk through the trip with someone, call 651-212-9400 and a live agent can walk you through available options and help you put together the right package.
The earlier the better on a popular date, and a larger group or a specific vehicle type books further out. That said, because Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com puts your request in front of a whole network of providers serving the St. Paul area rather than one operator with one yard, short-notice trips are often still workable — that is the real advantage of comparing a network instead of calling a single company and being told no. Submit the request or call 651-212-9400 even on short notice and see what comes back.
You may be surprised.
All of those can be requested. Hourly or as-directed keeps the vehicle with your group for a block of time and works well when the schedule is flexible or the group is making several stops. A one-way transfer moves the group from one point to another.
A round trip brings them back. A multi-stop itinerary runs a set route with several stops built in — a brewery crawl through St. Paul's West Side and Summit Hill, for example, or a shuttle looping between a hotel block and a wedding venue. A multi-day booking covers a trip that runs across more than one day.
Which format fits depends on the trip itself, and a multi-stop or overnight itinerary should be laid out in full when you submit so it comes back priced correctly.
Charter Bus Pricing
A charter bus costs $205–$385+ per hour on weekdays, $225–$410+ per hour on weekends, and $1,650–$2,950+ per day. Those are real ranges — but pricing is not one size fits all. The type of bus, the date, how long you need it, the route, and how busy that date is in St. Paul all move the number.
The ranges are a starting point, not your price. The fastest way to see what your actual trip costs is to fill out the form and get to the results page in seconds. Or call 651-212-9400 — going through the trip with someone can turn up packages and pricing you would not find searching on your own.
It depends on the trip, and all three are used. A short trip of a couple of hours is usually priced hourly. A trip that runs long distance — roughly past the 100- to 200-mile mark, or heading well out of the Twin Cities metro — may carry a per-mile charge instead.
And a long day, generally around eight hours or more, often comes back as a day rate rather than stacked hours, because the vehicle is booked for so much of the day that a flat daily figure makes more sense. Which structure applies to your trip is determined by the actual itinerary you submit — so lay it out fully and the quote that comes back reflects the real format.
Six things move a charter bus quote: the type and size of bus, how long it is booked for, the date and day of the week, the distance and route, the number of stops, and how busy that date is locally. Sunday through Thursday prices lower than Friday and Saturday; daytime prices lower than those same evenings. Booking the size the group actually needs beats over-booking capacity — a 56-passenger coach for 20 people costs more than a minibus would.
Grouping riders into one or two pickup points instead of five cuts the hours on the clock. In St. Paul specifically, dates around the Minnesota State Fair, Wild playoff runs, Allianz Field match days, prom season, and June and September wedding weekends see the whole local market get taken early — on those dates, booking ahead is the single most effective way to hold a better rate.
About Charter Buses
A charter bus is a full-size passenger coach that a group hires for its own trip — its own route, its own schedule, its own stops — rather than riding a fixed public route. It is built for moving a large group over a distance in one vehicle, and a full-size coach seats roughly 40 to 56 people. The group has the whole coach to itself for the duration of the trip.
From the outside, a full-size charter bus is a tall, wide coach body — high windows running the full length of both sides, and luggage bay doors along the lower skirt underneath. The exterior is usually finished in white, silver, black, or a solid color, though some coaches are wrapped in an operator's own graphics, so the coach that shows up will not always look identical to a photo. Inside, you will find forward-facing seats arranged in pairs on either side of a center aisle — cloth or leather depending on the make and model.
Overhead parcel racks run the full length above the seats. Toward the rear you will find an onboard restroom. Real models you may recognize include the MCI J4500, the Van Hool CX45, and the Prevost H3-45 — all full-size 45-foot coaches with the same basic layout.
Some of the amenities available on charter buses include reclining cloth or leather seats, individual climate controls, onboard restrooms, overhead parcel racks and undercarriage baggage bays, WiFi, power outlets and USB charging ports, a PA system, and TV monitors. Amenities may include any or all of these depending on the make, model, and the specific coach — features vary and are confirmed during booking. If there are amenities the group needs, note them with your trip details when you submit your quote, since that narrows which vehicles come back as matches.
Generally 40 to 56 passengers, depending on the make and model, with 56 the most common build on a full-size coach. The MCI J4500 seats 56 as standard and can be built for up to 60. The Van Hool CX45 is the same — 56 standard, up to 60.
The Prevost H3-45 seats 56. Shorter 35-foot coaches seat closer to 44. What changes the count on the same coach is configuration: extra legroom or a wheelchair position each take seats out of the total.
Because Stpaulcoachbuscompany.com works with a network of providers, the exact coach on any given trip depends on what is available for your date — submit the trip or call 651-212-9400 if the group needs a specific capacity confirmed.
A 56-passenger coach runs 14 rows, with two seats on each side of a center aisle — forward facing, paired, one aisle down the middle. The row count drops on coaches built with extra legroom or a wheelchair position, since those configurations use the same floor space with fewer seats. Some coaches also tier the front rows slightly for a better view forward.
The basic layout — 14 rows, two-and-two, one aisle — is what to picture on a standard full-size build.
A full-size charter bus is 45 feet long and 8.5 feet wide. The reason most people ask this is that they are working out whether one fits somewhere — and the quick reference is roughly three cars parked end to end. Shorter coaches exist, most commonly around 35 feet, and those come up when a venue or a route has a tighter fit.
The 45-foot coach is the standard full-size vehicle you will see on most trips.
A full-size charter bus stands about 11 to 12 feet tall depending on the model, and traffic engineers design overhead clearances for 12 feet. The reason most people ask is that they are checking a clearance somewhere — a parking garage, an entrance canopy, an underpass. A useful reference: a full-size coach is a little taller than a single story of a house.
If the route includes a structure with a posted clearance, confirm it against 12 feet before the trip.
WiFi is one of the amenities available on charter buses, and many coaches on the road today are equipped with it. One point worth knowing: onboard WiFi is an equipment option a coach is built with rather than something every coach carries, so whether a given vehicle has it varies by make and model. The other thing worth setting honestly — onboard WiFi runs off a cellular connection and is built for light use across a full coach.
Phones, messaging, browsing, and light work all run fine. It is not built for 50 or 60 people doing heavy downloads or video calls simultaneously. If WiFi matters to the group, note it with your trip details so vehicles that have it come back as matches.
Yes — an onboard restroom is standard on full-size charter buses, located toward the rear of the coach. It is there so the group does not have to stop, and on a longer run the trip may still be planned with real rest stops built in. Features may vary by vehicle, so note it with your trip details if it is important to the group's planning.
Yes. Charter buses are built with 110-volt AC power outlets, and coaches are commonly fitted with them at every seat — some with a USB port built into the same outlet. This is an equipment option rather than something every coach carries, so it varies by vehicle.
Practically speaking, a group can keep phones and laptops charged across a long run from St. Paul to Chicago or Duluth without hunting for an outlet at a rest stop. Note it with your trip details if the group needs it, so vehicles equipped with outlets come back as matches.
Yes — in two places. Overhead parcel racks run the full length of the interior, and undercarriage baggage bays sit beneath the coach along the lower skirt. A full-size coach carries roughly 460 cubic feet of underfloor baggage space and around 100 cubic feet in the overhead racks.
Across a full 56-passenger load, that works out to roughly 8 cubic feet per person underneath and under 2 overhead — in practice, about one checked-size bag each below plus one small carry-on above. Two things change that math: a coach fitted with a wheelchair lift gives up some baggage bay space, and bulky gear like instruments, sports equipment, or event supplies takes the space of several standard bags. A group heading to a tournament or a multi-day trip with full luggage should state that when submitting the quote, so the right coach gets matched to the load.
Note any oversized items — skis, cases, equipment bags — at the same time.
Charter Bus Service in St. Paul, Minnesota
Just about any group trip that needs one vehicle for everyone. Airport transfers to and from Minneapolis–Saint Paul International (MSP) are one of the most common requests — one bus handles the whole group instead of splitting across rideshares. Corporate travel and employee shuttles move teams between offices, campuses, and event venues without the carpool scramble.
Weddings and private events use shuttle buses between hotel blocks and venues across the Twin Cities. Concerts and sporting events at Grand Casino Arena, Allianz Field, and CHS Field are popular, as are school and church group trips, prom, game-day shuttles, brewery and winery tours, and long-distance trips to Duluth, Chicago, Fargo, and beyond. If the group is going somewhere together, there is a bus for it.
The network serves St. Paul and the entire Twin Cities metro and surrounding region. That includes Minneapolis, Bloomington, Eagan, Roseville, Maplewood, Woodbury, Cottage Grove, Inver Grove Heights, South St. Paul, West St. Paul, Mendota Heights, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Richfield, Edina, White Bear Lake, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Stillwater, and Hudson, Wisconsin — among many others. Those are examples rather than a complete list.
Enter the full route when you submit your quote, or call 651-212-9400 to check a city not listed here.
The Minnesota State Fair — 12 days ending Labor Day each year — is the single busiest stretch for charter buses in the entire Twin Cities market. Buses fill weeks in advance. Prom season in April and May across St. Paul area schools — Central, Harding, Johnson, Como Park, Highland Park, Cretin-Derham Hall — takes the market fast.
June and September are the peak wedding months. Minnesota Wild playoff runs at Grand Casino Arena and Minnesota United FC match days at Allianz Field drive strong demand. Grand Old Day (first Sunday in June) and the St. Paul Winter Carnival (late January–early February) fill downtown.
New Year's Eve is always tight. On any of those dates, book well ahead. Short-notice requests are still worth submitting — the network gives you more options than a single call would — but the earlier you move on a peak date, the better your selection and your rate.
Planning Your St. Paul, Minnesota Charter Bus Trip
Yes — the primary airport serving St. Paul is Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) (4300 Glumack Dr, St. Paul, MN 55111), about 15–20 minutes from downtown St. Paul via I-35E South or Highway 5. MSP is one of the busiest airports in the Upper Midwest and handles the vast majority of commercial flights for the Twin Cities region. Terminal 1 (Lindbergh) and Terminal 2 (Humphrey) are both served.
For pickups, the coach meets the group at the lower-level arrivals curb following MSP's ground transportation guidelines for buses and larger commercial vehicles — the group gathers with all luggage before the bus is called forward to the curb. St. Paul Downtown Airport (STP) handles general aviation only and does not serve scheduled commercial passengers.
Yes — the major venues in and around St. Paul are all served. Grand Casino Arena (199 W Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55102) is home to the Minnesota Wild (NHL) and hosts concerts and major events year-round; buses use Kellogg Blvd and W 5th Street for drop-off, with staging in the RiverCentre parking area. Allianz Field (1000 Snelling Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55108) is home to Minnesota United FC (MLS); Snelling Avenue sees significant match-day congestion, so building in extra time is smart.
CHS Field (360 Broadway St, St. Paul, MN 55101) hosts the St. Paul Saints in Lowertown. Groups from St. Paul also regularly charter buses to Target Field, Target Center, and Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for Twins, Timberwolves, Lynx, and Gophers games. Wild playoff runs and Minnesota United home matches are among the busiest demand periods in the St. Paul market — book those dates ahead.
Yes — the primary convention and event complex in St. Paul is Saint Paul RiverCentre (175 W Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55102), which includes the RiverCentre Convention Center, Roy Wilkins Auditorium, and connects directly to Grand Casino Arena. Charter bus drop-off is on Kellogg Blvd, with staging in the RiverCentre parking ramps or along W 5th Street. The Minnesota State Fairgrounds (1265 Snelling Ave N, Falcon Heights, MN 55108) — just north of St. Paul — publishes specific bus and motorcoach entry and parking instructions for the State Fair and other fairgrounds events.
Downtown concert venues including the Palace Theatre (17 W 7th Pl, St. Paul, MN 55102) and Myth Live (3090 Southlawn Dr, Maplewood, MN 55109) are also served. Large venues have designated bus loading areas separate from the main entrance, and a repeat shuttle between a hotel and a venue should have its full schedule laid out with the request so it comes back timed and priced correctly.
Yes — any wedding venue in the St. Paul area. Popular venues include the Landmark Center (75 W 5th St, St. Paul, MN 55102), one of St. Paul's most iconic event spaces in Rice Park; the Saint Paul Hotel (350 Market St, St. Paul, MN 55102), a grand historic property on the same park; Union Depot (214 E 4th St, St. Paul, MN 55101), the restored Beaux-Arts train station in Lowertown with charter bus drop-off at the 4th Street main entrance; Forepaugh's (276 S Exchange St, St. Paul, MN 55102) in the Irvine Park neighborhood; and The Commodore Hotel (79 Western Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55102) in Cathedral Hill. Shuttling guests between a hotel block and the venue is the most common wedding setup — give the exact venue address with the request and the right vehicle gets matched to the route.
Yes — all of them. Saint Paul Public Schools is the major district, with high schools including Central, Harding, Johnson, Como Park, and Highland Park. Private schools including Cretin-Derham Hall and St. Agnes are also served.
On the college and university side: University of St. Thomas (2115 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105), Macalester College (1600 Grand Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105), Hamline University (1536 Hewitt Ave, St. Paul, MN 55104), Concordia University, St. Paul (275 Syndicate St N, St. Paul, MN 55104), St. Catherine University (2004 Randolph Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105), and Metropolitan State University (700 E 7th St, St. Paul, MN 55106). Field trips and team travel typically pick up at the school or campus itself. Campuses have designated bus loading zones, and student trips should include the exact headcount plus any chaperone or accessibility needs with the request.
Yes — all of them, and a multi-stop loop is one of the most popular formats. In St. Paul: Summit Brewing Company (910 Montreal Ave, St. Paul, MN 55116), one of Minnesota's most iconic craft breweries; Saint Paul Brewing (688 Minnehaha Avenue East, St. Paul, MN 55106); Burning Brothers Brewing (1750 Thomas Ave, St. Paul, MN 55104); and Bang Brewing (2320 Capp Rd, St. Paul, MN 55114). Groups also head to Surly Brewing Co. in Minneapolis (~9 miles) and Tattersall Distilling in Northeast Minneapolis (~12 miles).
For wineries: Saint Croix Vineyards in Stillwater (~20 miles east) and Alexis Bailly Vineyard in Hastings (~25 miles south) are popular day-trip destinations. Casino runs to Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake (~35 miles southwest) and Grand Casino Hinckley (~80 miles north) are common. Nightlife on West 7th Street, Lowertown around Mears Park, and Grand Avenue rounds out the local circuit.
A multi-stop route is timed by how long the group stays at each stop — list the stops and the time at each one with the request and the hours come back right.
Yes. Groups travel from St. Paul to Duluth (~150 miles, about 2.5 hours via I-35) for North Shore trips and concerts at the DECC. Rochester (~85 miles, 1.5 hours via US-52) is a common medical and corporate destination.
Fargo (~240 miles, 3.5 hours via I-94) and Sioux Falls (~250 miles, 4 hours) serve groups heading west. Madison (~270 miles, 4 hours via I-94) and Milwaukee (~340 miles, 5 hours) are popular Midwest destinations. Chicago (~410 miles, 6.5 hours via I-94) is the most common long-haul run from St. Paul.
A long-distance trip is usually booked as a one-way transfer or a multi-day trip rather than by the hour, and an overnight trip needs the full itinerary — stops, overnight location, and return timing — laid out with the request so it comes back priced correctly. Call 651-212-9400 for any multi-day trip and go through the itinerary with someone.