How much does it cost

[Gvlax]

How much does a trip to plano in total usually cost on average. Not sure if teams wanna say how much they paid but i need a rough idea. Flying, driving, hotel, camping... any ideas would be helpful. Thanks

[KnoxVegas]

We spent around $9,000 on:

31 passenger bus
35 room nights

All other incidentals and food was paid by the individual team member.

[Gvlax]

This might sound dumb but is renting a bus more expensive than flying? Since im from michigan we will have to hire two drivers to get to texas right?. I just thought that would be more expensive.

[KnoxVegas]

If you can purchase the tickets at least two weeks in advance, it might not be as expensive as driving. But since most teams I would imagine might be planning on making a trip to Nationals but don't know for sure until they win their conference, this is not a luxury. For us it would have been: 30 players X $480 for airfare plus transportation on the ground. You can see how this adds up.

For Augustana, the most economical way to travel to Plano was by bus and a double team driver is included in the quoted price. GVSU is farther north and east of us, so I am sure your prices would be higher. Some teams have to no choice but to fly.

[Jolly Roger]

This might sound dumb but is renting a bus more expensive than flying? Since im from michigan we will have to hire two drivers to get to texas right?. I just thought that would be more expensive.

Remember, if you fly, you'll also have to arrange ground transportation as well. It's often difficult, or at aminimum more expensive, to secure vans without drivers over 25 years old.

[Gvlax]

My school offers 15 passenger vans for drivers over 19. I think its like $70 a day per van. Im not sure how many days we will need it but that might be a good option.

I didnt think about transportation from the airport.

[Jolly Roger]

My school offers 15 passenger vans for drivers over 19.

Vans = BAD

Please refer to the Liberty U Lacrosse team incident
http://forums.uslia.com/viewtopic.php?t=911&highlight=liberty

OR

Ask your CCLA brethern at Purdue.

[Gvlax]

its unfortunate that those things happen. Still taking 3 busses might save money since we dont have to pay for drivers. Our school makes the "drivers" take a 8 hour class of driving and such. Also a background check is done to make sure those people are allowed to drive.

Im not saying we are going to make it to nationals but we have to ask the school for money in the fall for nationals otherwise they wont have enough for us. Thats why i asked in the first place how much each team spended so i can give them a rough estimate the first week of classes to student senate.

[zolander]

15 passenger vans are death boxes on wheels because they have a high rate of crash and roll overs, so you might want to reconsider your options with this vehicle. I mean, I guess it depends on the driver, but our school will not let us take anything higher than a 12 passenger van for this reason. On another note, its pretty crappy on bad weather (rain, snow, sleet, fog, etc.). Just some (safety) food for thought...

[cmulax34]

Central Michigan has used 15 passenger vans to drive to and from florida for the past 2 years for our spring break and yet to have a problem(knock on wood). As long as you have responsible drivers it is not a big problem

[A.J. Stevens]

Central Michigan has used 15 passenger vans to drive to and from florida for the past 2 years for our spring break and yet to have a problem(knock on wood). As long as you have responsible drivers it is not a big problem

That is a very naive statement. You may want to do your research. A great deal of the drivers that have been in fatal accidents have been ministers and high school/university staff. I would place both as more responsible than college aged students heading to spring break. They are not safe period. It has little to do with the driver.

[KnoxVegas]

Look within your own conference and ask the folks at Taylor about the use of 15-passenger buses.

[Has No Left]

All Utah public colleges have eliminated 15-passenger vans. As has been discussed here, they are too dangerous and expose even good drivers to situations which they do not have experience with when commonly driving standard passenger vehicles.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_4396854

[cmulax34]

I am not saying that bad things can not happen to responsible drivers but if you have never had to drive a 15 passenger van than are asked to drive one with 15 people in it things can go wrong. And sometimes teams have to use them because they can not afford to take a bus or fly so if you have quilified drivers who have driven those types of vans then that is what you have to do

[Zeuslax]

When I was with Ferris we use to use 15 passenger vans all the time. It was always a battle against the wind, curves, etc.....very dangerous. They have since discarded them from what I understand. I use to compare driving them to flying a brick with 4 wheels. I remember one trip specifically. We were driving directly south for 6 hours with a cross wind. The whole time I had the wheel turned towards the wind to keep us straight. Very bizarre!