What's the difference?

[VTR1000]

What's the difference between a bus and a coach?

[billyboy]

Chassis, seats, suspension, entrance door ect.
Some busses are used as coaches though
But the coaches generaly give a more comfortable ride. Most have air bag suspension these days and are generaly more luxurious too

[william dillon]

To refer back to S.N. , this sounds like is it a "Liner or a Cruise Ship" ???????????

[billyboy]

Indeed the re was a time some were referred to as liners. the more luxurious ones of course
Must try to remember to take my camera out and get some pictures of busses here. the sun glinting off the bald tyres should look good. and the ones parked with boulders behind the wheels as a handbrake too!...LOL

[Trapper John]

There isn't a hard-and-fast definition of a bus or a coach - there never has been. When I were a lad, a bus was built with an eye on the maximum number of seats, minimum comfort and was generally for "short" journeys. A coach was for longer journeys and had slightly fewer seats which were all on the level. If a bus body had coach seats, OR a coach body was fitted with bus seats, then it was considered DUAL-PURPOSE.

John the Trapper

[Engineeral]

As mentioned above ride and comfort (coach) versus passenger capacity (bus). (Mostly.) I think in North America most bus/coach fans and bus/coach companies use "coach" for inter-city and "bus" for transit.

But lots of people and companies use the word "bus" for intercity service advertising - but the vehicles are coaches. Maybe it is better to say that in North America fans and industry people make the bus/coach word distinction but passengers don't distinguish the words.

Alan Taylor.

[G-CPTN]

Here in the UK, buses will usually have certification for 'standees', whereas coaches (as above, designed for longer distance travel at (possibly) higher speeds) are unlikely to have any provision for standing passengers (and should now be fitted with seatbelts).
Buses are likely to be fitted with 'rapid-action' folding doors (and may have more than one entrance/exit) whereas coaches probably have close-fitting side-hinged doors (OK some luxury coaches for tour-operator use might also have multiple entrances/exits) designed to minimize wind-noise (and retain heat).
Buses are more likely to operate 'on demand' with passengers collected from staged stops and paying (sometimes the driver) for a short indeterminate part of the vehicle journey, whereas coaches more likely carry pre-booked passengers for longer (and maybe total) sections of the journey and the driver is unlikely to handle money.
Coaches typically have individual overhead lighting for each seat (and maybe a dedicated fresh-air outlet).
The driver may also have a PA system, and the vehicle will be fitted with side and/or rear underfloor luggage lockers (accessed externally).

[bus & coach man]

Strange as it may seem, the actual legal definition is judged by how the passengers have actually paid for the journey. If they pay individually and seperately then it is a bus service. If they pay en block then it is a coach. This raises some very strange situations. If a coach is hired in from a private operator by National express to do a journey to London, then it is a bus. It is legally entitled to use bus lanes within London.
On arrival at London it may then go on to a hire from a travel company to transfer some passengers to an airport. It is now a Coach and as such can only use some bus lanes. i.e. those showing "bus & coach" lane.
This is the police definition, so unless a better one can be found it is the definition I tend to use.

[Ian]

When I drove I used all Bus Lanes except the ones marked "Local Buses Only" never got pulled maybe good luck!!

Ian

[billyboy]

In a nutshell ... A coach has provision for suitcases and a bus dont. Imagine trying to get 58 + suitcases onto a bus....LOl