Fleet
Seven seats to fifty-seven
Every vehicle is air conditioned and seatbelt fitted. Pick by the number of people travelling and we will tell you which one we would send.
The vehicles
What each size is actually for
Seat counts below are maximums. For comfort on a full-day charter with luggage, allow one or two seats spare — we will flag it if your group is close to the limit.
7seats
Mercedes-Benz SUV
Executive transfers, couples and small families.
Fitted with: Air conditioning, leather trim, rear luggage space, Bluetooth
14seats
Minibus
Winery runs, small wedding parties, golf groups.
Fitted with: Air conditioning, seatbelts, rear luggage, Bluetooth
24seats
Midi coach
Groups that need coach comfort on narrow hinterland roads.
Fitted with: Reclining seats, air conditioning, PA, luggage bay
33seats
Coaster
The most-booked size for school and club work.
Fitted with: Seatbelts, air conditioning, PA, overhead storage
48seats
Full-size coach
Conferences, weddings and multi-day touring.
Fitted with: Reclining seats, underfloor luggage, PA, climate control, USB
57seats
Large coach
Our largest single vehicle. Beyond this we run coaches in convoy.
Fitted with: Reclining seats, underfloor luggage, PA, climate control, USB
After dark
Party buses
A separate part of the fleet, run under our sister brand PartyParty Bus. Capacity from 10 to 45 depending on the vehicle, with lighting rigs, sound systems, poles, Bluetooth, screens, air conditioning and standing room. Some carry karaoke.
Pricing is hourly and depends on the vehicle, the night and the duration. We quote it in writing before you commit — including any cleaning bond, so there are no surprises the following week.
Alcohol on board is at the driver's discretion. Bookings involving anyone under 18 are strictly alcohol-free. Smoking and vaping are prohibited on all vehicles.
Access and comfort
Tell us what your group needs
Limited mobility
Several vehicles have a low first step and grab rails, and drivers are used to unhurried boarding. Say so when you book and we allocate accordingly.
Wheelchair access
Arranged case by case rather than guaranteed across the fleet. Give us as much notice as you can and we will tell you honestly what is possible for your date.
Child restraints
Available on request. Give us the ages of the children and we will confirm what the law requires in that vehicle class.
Luggage and gear
Boards, clubs, bikes, instruments and stage gear all change which vehicle we send. Mention them at quote stage, not on the day.
Assistance animals
Always welcome on every vehicle in the fleet, at no charge.
Long charters
Comfort stops are built into the route planning. Most vehicles do not have an onboard toilet, so timing matters.
Choosing
Seat count is not the same as group size
The most common booking error is matching the number of people to the number of seats exactly. It works on paper and it is uncomfortable in practice.
Count everyone, not just the guests
A class of 28 with four supervising teachers is 32 people. A wedding of 44 guests plus the photographer, the celebrant and two children is 48. A team of 22 plus a coach, a manager and a physio is 25. The number that decides the vehicle is the number that boards it, and it is almost always higher than the first figure people give us.
Then allow for the luggage
A 48-seat coach with underfloor bays will take 48 people and their suitcases. A 33-seat coaster with 33 people and 33 bags will have bags on seats. If your group is travelling with anything more than a day pack, either step up a size or accept that some seats are carrying luggage.
For a full-day charter we suggest leaving one or two seats spare regardless. Nine hours is a long time in a full vehicle with nowhere to put a jacket.
And for the day
Thirty people on a forty-minute transfer is fine at any size. Thirty people on a nine-hour tour with three stops want more room than that. The longer the booking, the more the extra seats are worth paying for.
When two smaller vehicles beat one large one
Sometimes we recommend two 24-seat midi coaches over a single 48, and charge you more for the privilege. Three situations make it the right call:
- Venue access. The driveway, the turning circle or the road in will not take a full-size coach. This is common at hinterland wedding properties.
- The itinerary forks. Half the group is going to the brewery and half to the beach, and they want to rejoin for dinner.
- Timing spread. Some people need to leave at nine and the rest at midnight, and holding one coach for three hours costs more than running two.
Ask about it if your itinerary has any of those shapes in it. We would rather quote both and let you choose.
Quick sizing guide
- 2–6 people, light bags: 7-seat SUV
- 7–13, or 6 with boards: 14-seat minibus
- 14–22: 24-seat midi coach
- 23–30: 33-seat coaster
- 31–44: 48-seat coach
- 45–53: 57-seat coach
- 54+: multiple coaches together
Access
Where each size can physically go
This is the conversation that prevents the worst kind of problem: a coach that cannot get down the driveway with your guests already on board.
Fine at 57 seats
The Pacific Motorway and all three airports. Ewingsdale Road and the Byron Bay town drop-off points. The Farm at Ewingsdale. Ballina, Lennox Head, Brunswick Heads, Mullumbimby and Bangalow on the main approaches. Most purpose-built conference and function venues.
Midi coach or smaller
The Cape Byron Lighthouse road. Wategos. Most of the Coolamon Scenic Drive. Boutique wedding venues with gravel driveways and no turning circle. Nimbin's main street. Several hinterland cellar doors and retreat properties.
Minibus territory
Private residences on unsealed roads, accommodation up steep driveways, and anywhere the last two hundred metres was built for one car at a time. Also the right answer for small groups who want to be dropped literally at a door.
Tell us the venue name, not the area
"A property near Federal" cannot be checked. A property name can, and we check it before we quote. If it will not take the vehicle your group size suggests, you find out at quote stage rather than on the day, and the answer is two smaller vehicles rather than an optimistic driver and a reversing manoeuvre in front of your guests.
Turning circles and drop points
Getting a coach in is only half of it. It has to get out, often in the dark, often with cars parked along the only clear route. Where a venue is genuinely marginal we will suggest a drop point slightly further out with a short walk, which is nearly always a better outcome than a coach stuck on a bend.
Safety
How the fleet is kept on the road
Seatbelts on everything
Every vehicle in the fleet is seatbelt fitted, and passengers are required by law to wear them where they are fitted. Drivers will say so at the start of the journey, and they will say so again if they need to.
Accreditation and driver authority
Passenger transport operators must be accredited in each state they operate in, and every driver carrying passengers for hire holds a current Driver Authority. Drivers on school and youth work also hold a Working With Children Check. We will send the specific details for your job with the quote — and you should ask any operator for them, not just us.
Inspection and maintenance
Heavy passenger vehicles are subject to regular statutory inspection, and the fleet is maintained on a scheduled programme rather than in response to faults. If you want to know when a specific vehicle was last inspected, ask. A reputable operator answers that question without hesitating.
Fatigue management
There are legally mandated maximum driving hours and minimum rest periods, and they are not negotiable regardless of what an itinerary says. On long and multi-day charters we plan the route around them from the start. Occasionally that makes our proposed itinerary look less ambitious than one a client has drafted. That is the point.
The driver's discretion
Drivers can stop consumption of food or alcohol on board, refuse boarding to someone under the influence, and make decisions in the interests of passenger safety even where that affects the schedule. This is stated plainly in our terms so nobody is surprised by it on the night.
On board
What the features actually mean
Fleet pages tend to list features as though they were self-explanatory. Here is what each one is worth on a real journey, and where the limits are.
Air conditioning
On every vehicle, and not optional in this climate. A coach parked in the sun at Point Danger in February gets genuinely hot; the driver will run the vehicle to keep it cool while you are off it. On winter hinterland runs the same system does the opposite.
Reclining seats
On the 24-seat midi and up. It sounds like a small thing until hour six of a multi-day tour. On a forty-minute airport transfer it is irrelevant, which is why we do not charge for it there.
Public address
On coaches. Useful for a tour driver giving commentary, essential for a group leader who needs forty people to hear one instruction, and the difference between an organised conference shuttle and a shouted one.
Bluetooth
On everything. Your music, your playlist, your responsibility. Drivers will turn it down if it is a safety issue and otherwise leave you to it.
USB charging
On the 48 and 57-seat coaches. Not on the smaller vehicles, so bring a battery pack if you are on a long day in a minibus and everyone is filming.
Underfloor luggage
On the full-size coaches only. This is the single biggest practical difference between a 48-seat coach and a 33-seat coaster: one takes 48 people and 48 suitcases, the other takes 33 people and puts the suitcases on seats.
Overhead storage
On the coaster and up. Fine for jackets, day packs and shopping. Not for hard suitcases.
Onboard toilet
Not on most vehicles, and we would rather say so plainly than let you find out. Long charters are planned with comfort stops built into the timing, roughly every ninety minutes on a full-day run. If an onboard toilet is genuinely essential for your group, ask at enquiry stage and we will tell you honestly whether we can supply one for your date.
What is not on board
No wi-fi as standard, no catering, no refrigeration. Food and drink require prior written approval and may attract a cleaning bond — not fussiness, but the simple fact that a coach needing a deep clean cannot run the next morning's job.
Assistance animals
Welcome on every vehicle in the fleet, at no charge, with no notice required. Other animals are by arrangement only.
Access and comfort
Groups with specific requirements
Limited mobility
Several vehicles have a low first step and grab rails, and our drivers are used to unhurried boarding. Tell us at booking and we allocate accordingly, choose drop points closer to entrances, and build a little more time into the schedule so nobody feels rushed on the steps.
This matters most on retirement village and community group work, which is a substantial part of what we do. Getting it right is mostly about the vehicle choice and the timings, both of which are decided before the day rather than on it.
Wheelchair access
Arranged case by case rather than guaranteed across the fleet, and we will not pretend otherwise. Give us as much notice as you can, tell us whether the chair folds and whether the passenger can transfer to a seat, and we will tell you honestly what is possible for your date.
Child restraints and boosters
Supplied on request. Give us the ages of the children rather than just the count — restraint requirements vary by age and by vehicle class, and we would rather confirm what the law actually requires than guess and be wrong.
Coaches and minibuses are seatbelt fitted throughout, which is the starting point for any conversation about carrying young children.
Long journeys
Comfort stops are built into the route planning at roughly ninety-minute intervals. Groups with a medical need for more frequent stops should say so — it changes the timing, not whether we can do it.
Tell us at booking, not on the day
Mobility needs, wheelchairs, child ages, assistance animals, surfboards, golf clubs, bikes, instruments, stage gear, prams.
Every one of these has at some point been the reason a job needed a different vehicle than the one quoted. Mentioned in advance, none of them is a problem at all.
In practice
Which vehicle we would send for a typical job
Real examples of how group size, luggage, venue and duration combine into a vehicle choice. Yours will differ — but the reasoning is the same every time.
Airport transfer, 4 people, 2 surfboards
14-seat minibus, not the SUV. Four passengers fit in the seven-seater comfortably; four passengers, four suitcases and two boards do not. The boards decide it.
Wedding, 60 guests, hinterland venue
Two 33-seat coasters. A 57-seat coach would carry everyone in one run, but the driveway will not take it. Two coasters also let us split the 9pm and 11:30pm return runs cleanly.
School excursion, 28 students, 4 teachers
33-seat coaster. 32 people, day packs only, three-hour round trip. Seatbelt fitted, Working With Children checked driver, and the compliance pack sent with the quote.
Brewery and distillery day, 18 people
24-seat midi coach, held all day. Eighteen people would fit a 24-seat vehicle exactly; the extra seats matter over seven hours with three stops. The midi rather than a full coach because of the road up to the distillery.
Conference arrivals, 90 delegates
A timetable, not a vehicle. Typically a 48-seat coach for the mid-morning cluster, a 14-seat minibus for the scattered afternoon arrivals, and a second coach for the evening wave, all against the flight list.
Hens night, 22 people, four venues
Party vehicle, held for the night. Capacity is not the constraint here; standing room, lighting and sound are. Cleaning bond quoted up front rather than charged afterwards.
Sports team, 22 players plus staff and gear
33-seat coaster. 25 people is comfortable in 33 seats, and the spare seats take the kit bags. Driver stays with the vehicle rather than leaving and returning.
Retirement village day tour, 26 residents
33-seat coaster with a low first step. Extra seats for comfort over a long day, stops every ninety minutes, and drop points as close to entrances as the vehicle can physically get.
Behind the fleet
Why fleet depth matters more than any single vehicle
Every operator's fleet page shows you clean vehicles in good light. The thing that actually affects your booking is what happens when one of them goes down at six in the morning on the day of your wedding.
Byron Bay Buses has been running since 1992, and sits inside Waggie Group alongside Cooee Tours Australia, Cooee Coach Charters, PartyParty Bus, Sunshine Coast Bus Lines and Bus Charter Services Australia. That means a Gold Coast yard full of coaches roughly ninety minutes from Byron Bay, rather than a phone call to a competitor and an awkward conversation with you.
It also means we can scale. A single coach tops out at 57 passengers, but multiple vehicles departing and arriving together on one timetable is routine work — that is how conference and event groups of several hundred are moved, and with enough notice we can go to around 2,000.
The same depth is why we can be honest at quote stage about what will not work. An operator with three buses has an incentive to tell you the coach will fit down the driveway. We do not.
Vehicle allocation
We confirm the vehicle class when we confirm the booking, and the specific vehicle closer to the day. If the exact make matters to you — it occasionally does for photography — say so at booking and we will commit to it in writing rather than allocating from the yard on the morning.
Rules of the road
What we ask of passengers
Short, and none of it arbitrary. Every one of these exists because a vehicle that comes back in poor condition cannot run the next morning's job.
Seatbelts
Worn where fitted. It is the law, not a house rule, and the driver will enforce it.
Food and drink
Not consumed on board without prior written approval. Where approval is given, a cleaning bond may apply and will be quoted before the day rather than deducted afterwards. Water is always fine.
Alcohol
On party vehicles, permitted at the driver's discretion, and that discretion can be withdrawn during the booking. On standard charters and tours, only with prior written approval. Any booking involving passengers under 18 is strictly alcohol-free, without exception and regardless of what a parent has agreed to.
Smoking and vaping
Prohibited on all vehicles by law, including in any onboard toilet. There is no version of this we can be flexible about.
Dress
A shirt, shorts, trousers or a skirt, and footwear. Wet swimmers straight off the beach onto upholstery is the one that comes up most; bring a towel.
Damage
The person who made the booking is responsible for damage caused by passengers on it. Not for damage caused by us or our staff, obviously.
Lost property
Items left on a vehicle are held for 90 days while we try to identify the owner. Collection is the passenger's responsibility; return freight is at the passenger's cost. After 90 days, unclaimed items are disposed of.
Refusing travel
We can refuse or remove a passenger who is disruptive or threatening, who appears to be under the influence, who smokes on board, or who will not follow a lawful direction. This is in our terms in full, and it is there so the driver never has to argue about whether they are allowed to act.
Getting the right vehicle on the first try
Send us four things
The total headcount including supervisors and children, the luggage situation, the named venue or address at each end, and the start and finish times. With those four we can allocate a vehicle, check the access and quote a figure that will not move.
Without them we are guessing, and the guess is what produces the phone call three days out asking whether a bigger coach is available on a Saturday in December. It usually is not.
Ask us to check the venue
It costs nothing and it is the single most useful thing we do at quote stage. Give us the property name and we will tell you what will physically fit down the driveway, where the coach can turn, and whether a drop point slightly further out would give you a better day than a tight manoeuvre in front of your guests.
If we have been there before — and across the Byron and Northern Rivers venues we usually have — you get a straight answer immediately.
Every vehicle on this page is available for charter, day tours and airport transfers across Byron Bay, the Northern Rivers and the Gold Coast. Tell us the group size and the date and we will tell you which one we would send, why, and exactly what it costs.
Before you book
Fleet questions
What is the largest single vehicle you have?
57 seats. For groups larger than that we run multiple coaches departing and arriving together on one timetable, which is how we move conference and event groups of several hundred and, with enough notice, up to around 2,000 people.
Are all the vehicles Mercedes-Benz?
Many are, particularly the SUVs and minibuses. The larger coaches are a mix of makes. We will tell you exactly which vehicle is allocated to your job when we confirm the booking.
Do the vehicles have seatbelts?
Yes. Every vehicle in the fleet is fitted with seatbelts, and wearing them is a legal requirement for passengers where they are fitted.
Is there a toilet on board?
Not on most vehicles. Long charters are planned with comfort stops built into the timing. If an onboard toilet is essential, say so when you enquire and we will tell you honestly whether we can supply one for your date.
Can we eat and drink on the bus?
Not without prior written approval, and a cleaning bond may apply. This is not fussiness — a coach that comes back needing a deep clean cannot run the next morning's job.
Not sure which size you need?
Give us the number of passengers and how much luggage they are bringing. We will tell you which vehicle fits and what it costs.