40-Passenger Party Bus for Dallas Game Days and Tailgates

Forty is the number people say before they have counted. So count. If you genuinely have 34 to 38 fans, alumni or coworkers going to the same game, this is one of the most useful buses we run. If your list is closer to 25, you are on the wrong page and the 28-passenger party bus will treat your wallet better.

What you get: bench seating wrapped around the cabin walls, a wide open floor, multi-zone LED lighting that holds team colors on many buses, a commercial sound system with Bluetooth for the fight song, and wet bar areas with ice coolers built in. A restroom and flat-screen displays appear on select buses, which is worth asking about when the ride home follows four hours in a stadium. Layouts differ, and we will send photos of the exact bus open for your date.

Groups this size are rare in our world. Around 7% of our group-transportation inquiries involve more than thirty riders, and among sports groups specifically, three quarters are twenty or fewer. The 40 is a specialist. When your day fits it, nothing else comes close.

Sports requests do not spread across the year. Half of the game-day inquiries in our group-transportation data are for fall dates, far above any other season. October is the single biggest month at 18%, with September and November just behind. That is football: college Saturdays, NFL Sundays, and the October weekend when Texas and Oklahoma meet at the Cotton Bowl in the middle of the State Fair.

The day-of-week pattern is strange too. Saturday still leads, but nearly one sports inquiry in five is for a Sunday. For almost every other kind of trip, Sunday is an afterthought. For a Cowboys home game it is the main event, and the big buses that sit quiet on other Sundays are all spoken for.

So do this: the home schedule comes out in spring. Pick your game then, not the week of kickoff. Roughly half of sports inquiries in our network data arrive within thirty days of the game, and at this size that is late. Lot rules and timing get a fuller treatment on our tailgating party bus page, and the AT&T Stadium game-day guide covers the Arlington side street by street.

Game-day groups travel heavier than anybody else. Everyone has a jersey and a jacket, and your organizer shows up with three coolers, two folding tables and a bag of charcoal. None of it goes underneath, because party buses have no cargo bay. All of it shares the floor with your feet.

Our rule of thumb for the 40:

• Bus as transport only, because you are headed to a suite or a bar near the stadium: 38 to 40 riders works.
• Bus plus a modest tailgate, two or three coolers and a few chairs: plan on 35 to 37.
• Full tailgate kit, canopy, grill, tables, a dozen chairs: cap the riders near 32 and ask us what can safely ride inside. Propane and lit charcoal never can. Some groups send the gear ahead in a pickup and keep the bus for people.

If your gear-adjusted count leaves you short, the 42-passenger party bus adds a little bench. If it leaves ten seats empty, the 38-passenger or something smaller is the better use of your money. Pack from the Ride Packing Checklist, which has a game-day list ready to go.

This is the arithmetic that sells large buses. Your quote covers the vehicle and the hours. A 40-passenger bus costs more than a 20 but well short of double, because it still takes one driver and one dispatcher. Fill it and each fan pays less than the same fan would on a half-size bus. Leave a third of it empty and the advantage evaporates.

The Cost Split Calculator in the middle of this page makes that visible. Put in the all-in quote with gratuity, try it at 38 payers, then try it at 26. It also helps with the awkward truth about fan groups, which is that somebody always bails the morning of the game. Decide now that a no-show still owes a share, and collect before the deposit comes due.

This is where game days come apart, so read it twice.

Arlington. AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field share an entertainment district with designated areas for buses and limousines. A bus pass is a different thing from a car pass, your group buys it in advance through the venue or its parking partner, and we need to know which lot it is for. Afterward, expect the lot to hold traffic a good while. A long bus cannot thread out through a side street the way a rideshare can.

Fair Park. During the State Fair, the streets around the Cotton Bowl are closed or restricted and oversize vehicles get routed to specific gates. For the Red River game, pad both ends of your day and pick a meeting spot inside the fairgrounds for the walk back. Our State Fair party bus page has the rest.

Downtown arenas. There is no tailgating to speak of at American Airlines Center. Your bus drops on a nearby street and comes back at the final horn, so agree on the exact corner before anyone steps off.

Your pickup point. A bar patio in Uptown or Lower Greenville is a popular place to gather, but the curb is tight. A grocery or church lot with permission, or an office lot on a weekend, makes for a much calmer load.

Routing comes up in fewer than one sales call in ten. For a stadium trip it should be the first thing you raise.

Sunday noon kickoff in Arlington

1. 7:30 a.m. Bus pulls into an Addison office lot. Coolers load first, people second.
2. 8:00 a.m. South on the Tollway, west on I-30. Breakfast tacos on board.
3. 8:50 a.m. Into the pre-paid bus lot in Arlington. Three hours of tailgate ahead of you.
4. 11:15 a.m. Walk to the gates. Your driver stays with the vehicle and your gear.
5. 3:30 p.m. Reboard. Expect 30 to 60 minutes before the lot lets anyone out.
6. 5:15 p.m. Back in Addison. That is a ten-hour day, and it should be quoted as one.

Saturday evening match in Frisco

1. 4:30 p.m. Supporters group boards at a Design District brewery.
2. 5:30 p.m. Up the Tollway to Toyota Stadium in Frisco. Shorter tailgate, lighter gear, no charcoal to cool down.
3. 9:45 p.m. Depart, with a nightcap stop on the way home if your hours allow.

Build your own version in the Rental Hours Estimator. Game days almost always run past the four to six hours a typical party bus trip takes, and an honest estimate up front costs less than overtime later. For other sports ideas, see the sports event transportation page.