The Fun Bus: Navigating Challenging Times

Note: This story was written for publication in our current annual report. We thought our blog readers would appreciate learning about the pandemic related challenges that this unique local business has experienced since 2020.

When you look back on the last two years and consider how different industries have fared the pandemic, many things come to mind. We saw restaurants go to curbside pick-up and bolster their drive-thru services in lieu of dining rooms full of patrons.

We saw retail establishments that previously offered no online shopping begin to sell through online avenues and phone sales with curbside service. Businesses that relied on in-person services like hair salons or riding stables reopened as soon as the law allowed.

Many customers rallied around their favorite stores and restaurants to help businesses they wanted to see survive the pandemic.

Sadly, the world of travel which thrives on keeping people in motion and entertained, came to an abrupt halt.

Wildlife could be seen on empty city streets and hundreds of New York City yellow cabs were parked while theaters everywhere fell dark. Sporting events were closed to spectators, casinos shuttered, school field trips were canceled and hotels suffered as people were told to stay home and stay safe.

While these woes seemed far away to many Americans who view taking a trip as a luxury, the threat was personal to those who work in these industries. Closer to home, these shutdowns had a devastating effect on one local business that is still struggling to recover.

The Lancaster-based Fun Bus has long been synonymous with travel, exploration, fun and safety. Most locals are familiar with their day trips, red eye adventures and multi-day travels to major vacation destinations. The company also offers trolleys for weddings, taxis, motor coaches for school field trips and pharmacy deliveries in the area.

But for owner Rebecca Vaughn, these last two years have been anything but fun. “We were on track to have our best year ever and all the sudden, the world just stopped. Suddenly, we had nowhere to go and nothing to do once we got there. People were home being safe and I was trying to figure out how to stay in business,” she explained.

Not only did their income stream dry up, they completed over a half million dollars in refunds to customers in 2020. “Every wedding, every field trip, every retail client who had already booked their vacation had to be canceled. We had absolutely no income coming in and a half million going out the door.”

This was a tragic fall for a business that had seen remarkable growth and success in its 25 year history.

Rebecca founded the company in 1996 with a loan from Dave George at our Friendly Bremen Bank in Lancaster. “No one else would take a chance on me but he did. Here I was with no job and a loan for a bus. Dave asked me what I planned to do for income until I got things up and running and I told him this was my job. You either give 100 percent or you don’t. I won’t tell you a job at McDonalds is the reason I failed,” she said.

She surpassed her first five year plan in eighteen months.

 It wasn’t long before the company had outgrown the one bus. When they outgrew their original Junction City location in 2011, she relocated the company to Lancaster. Here, the Fun Bus again outgrew their Commerce Street facility where quarters were cramped and the focus was on garage space rather than comfortable office space. Rebecca laughed as she described these good old days when they had seven full time employees and the office was a 12x60’ temporary trailer in the parking lot of their garage. Marketing supplies filled up the kitchen while desks were packed into a small space and a trip to the restroom meant going outside, across the parking lot and through the garage.

While they made do at this site, Rebecca lamented that she badly needed to find a place where they could emphasize bus storage and garage safety but also where they could have real office space and a comfortable lounge for visitors. They needed a facility that reflected the professionalism of the company.

That’s when she located a property at 2188 East Main Street in Lancaster that met their needs. The new facility is an impressive result of two years of effort to buy, design, gut and build it into what she knew it could be. After years in a temporary trailer, they moved to this facility in 2016. The new property meets all their needs and the office is light and bright, spacious, modern and full of charm to make guests feel welcome. Approximately 85 percent of the materials used for construction and décor are repurposed or recycled making it environmentally friendly as well.

With a fleet of nineteen coaches to transport sports teams, school field trips and retail tours for travel and recreation, business was booming prior to the pandemic. Their three matching trolleys are commonly booked for weddings and smaller passenger cars are used for pharmacy deliveries and non-emergency medical transport. They even operate a parking lot shuttle in Marietta four days a week.

While this diversity would help them during the pandemic, those first several weeks were rough. Rebecca did the only thing she knew to do as Ohio and the rest of the world came to grinding halt: she closed her doors for five solid weeks. “We shut down for five weeks to figure out how to keep people safe. Safety is so important to me. I’ve spent my entire life being responsible for the lives of others and never want anyone coming to work on my clock and not feel safe,” she said.

She studied safety protocols to make her customers and employees as safe as possible. Not only are the vehicles cleaned by traditional seat vacuuming, window washing and floor waxing, they undergo MicroSure treatment. This product is marketed to kill Covid on surfaces and it is safe for humans.

Eventually, PPP funding meant that she was able to alleviate strain from her bank account while keeping her workforce employed.

They did start offering tours as soon as they were allowed. “We were running buses at half capacity just so we could get going again. That half capacity cut into the profit but I thought it was important to send the message that the heart is still beating. We’re still here.”

As Americans are becoming more comfortable with travel, major tourist destinations have been lifting occupancy restrictions and attractions are open again with optimism for the future. However, the current challenge the Fun Bus faces is a shortage of qualified drivers. “My expectations are high when it comes to my drivers and rightly so. We are responsible for the safety of anyone who travels with us and I expect my drivers to be skilled, courteous and knowledgeable.”

Finding qualified drivers in an economy struggling with national driver shortages has held back the progress they could be making. We went from sixteen drivers pre-pandemic to just six now. I am trying to hire drivers but can only book out for the amount of staffing I have today. What happens if I can’t find a driver for a trolley and I have to cancel a wedding? We can’t do it so we can’t build back to where we were until we find more drivers.”

They are getting back to some of the annual offerings that customers have come to expect. This includes trips to places like Savannah, Myrtle Beach, New York City, Vermont and Mackinaw Island. She is working on trips to Ohio State University away football games as well.

They are now booking signature red-eye trips to New York City, Chicago and Nashville. These trips travel at night so guests can wake up rested at their destination and have a full day of fun in the city before boarding the bus for another night of travel.

The Fun Bus also offers day trips to Amish Country, Put-In-Bay, casinos and thrift shop hops so that travelers can sit back and enjoy the fun of a destination without worry. Guests can board at designated pick-up locations along the route making this service easy and convenient.

The trolleys are booked for weddings most weekends. “They all match and have real bells that go ding, ding, ding!” she exclaimed. “Sometimes the bridal party will just pose for pictures with the trolley. Sometimes we spend the day transporting the bridal party from the church to the reception or guests from their hotel to the church and the reception. We are full service in that regard and happy to do as much as the bride likes.”

Rebecca readily admitted that these last two years have been stressful and terrifying as she has been forced to make tough choices, dip into her own savings and plan carefully to keep the Fun Bus rolling. When asked about regrets or anything she might have done differently in the past, she was thoughtful but firm in her response.

“You are where you are today because of choices you made. It could be decisions you made ten minutes ago or ten years ago. I chose this. I am here because of my own decisions. I have never been one to look back and be sorry and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t change anything,” she said. “You go forward or you go back. We need to keep moving forward and that’s the direction I want to focus on. We will see this through."

The Fun Bus can be reached at 740.653.4600 or online at www.funbus.com. Here you’ll find a schedule of upcoming trips, pick-up locations, company history and more. Each trip lists a full travel itinerary. You can also follow them on Facebook by searching The Fun Bus.