Goodbye Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Hello, Luxury Bus?
What is it? A private coach. What does it cost? $15,000.
Here’s the thing — it may not be in the luxury bus category, but it’s just as impressive as that.
The coach, built by New Zealand-based design firm, The Coach Company, is a 10-passenger, luxury, fully air-conditioned, and wheelchair-friendly bus, that transports passengers between the airport and a variety of hotels, shopping malls, airports and resorts — anywhere in New Zealand.
For most, this is the first coach ride they’ve had since 9/11, said CEO and chairman, David Hall. The company is also looking to sell this “ultimate luxury” transport service to the entire country.
It all started with a very good friend of David Hall, a man from a small-town New Zealand town who was working for the Ministry of Post & Telecommunications when it came time to put in a new bus. They called David and asked him if he’d like to take the lead on building it.
“He came back with this wild idea,” David said. “He wanted to build a bus that was an absolute showpiece.”
Not only did it look spectacular, but David had a vision for what it could do and how it could benefit other small towns and communities in New Zealand.
“We had never built a bus before,” he told me. “It’s all my idea. The buses that started with the Ministry have gone through dozens of drafts and iterations and are still going, while I’ve been away.”
So while he was building an amazing bus, David was also working on a business plan for a business that would be sustainable, he said.
It’s this combination of �