Art car in a city!

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:41 am

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking of starting an art car service in my city.

The idea is, that we would buy a car / bus, and travel around the city at night transporting people from party to party. We would give it "artsy" look, play music and perhaps even do some performances inside.

Did any of you hear about a similar thing being done anywhere?

Cheers,
Merlin

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:49 am

do you refer to this service in Warsaw?

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:13 am

Well - I'm thinking of starting it in Warsaw, but the question is whether anyone had a similar idea in any other city / country, and how did it pan out :)

And also, what do you think about the idea.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:29 am

I'd say, it's a grand idea, but, unless the city is a really big party/tourist city, probably hard to make a profit.......
I suppose it'd also depend on the country, relating to insurance requirements, wages, fuel, etc.........

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:44 am

Well - Warsaw has 1,5M people living in (and like 150k students), but I would say that it rates "average" on a party scale.

You mentioned the profit - I'd say that this is the main challenge. I wonder whether I should charge people who enter the bus, or rely on sponsors...

There are of course plenty of regulations regarding safety, loudness and so on, but I can take care of that.

Another thing is the route. Which parties to visit :)

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:03 am

Do it for free, as is done in BRC. Gift it!

Isotopia · Post by **Isotopia** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:33 pm

The idea is, that we would buy a car / bus, and travel around the city at night transporting people from party to party. We would give it "artsy" look, play music and perhaps even do some performances inside.

Did any of you hear about a similar thing being done anywhere?

Actually, yes.

Chicken John who has been loosely affiliated with and certainly a part of the Burningman event has a large travel bust which he often uses to shuttle people around the bay area for various events. Some are of his making and others are 'happenings' that are taking place in and around the San Francisco bay area.

He has a mailing list which he often sends out with schedules/events/plans/etc. Messages are usually pretty short and come out maybe two times a week.

You can subscribe to the list using the link below.

http://chickenjohn.us/cgi-bin/dada/mail ... st/chicken

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:57 am

Thanks, Isotopia.

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:09 am

Ugly Dougly - I'd love to, but I have to eat something :) And it is a lots of work to organize a thing like this.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:36 am

so, this has nothing to do with Burning Man, except for the intellectual property of art car?.

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:55 am

@ygmir: the idea would be to make a service that gets you some place cool, and makes you experience something amazing while getting there :) the whole thing would look mutant (although there are many things that you can't do in the city), and we'd organize some kind of events inside (according to the everyone's a participant rule)

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:59 am

Translation: "Yes, ygmir, that is correct!"
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

There are several party bus companies here in Seattle, but the ones that stay in business all have modern buses, almost always black and shiny like a limo, and interiors like this

I've worked with trucks of all sorts from pickup-sized to tractor-trailers, and I can tell you, the costs are far higher than people think.
If you do a bus, you'll need a very expensive new or late-model bus, which I'm assuming is out of the question, or an inexpensive older one but you better be a good mechanic with the tools, knowledge, and place to do all types of truck repair. And, missed appointments due to down time don't help your reputation for future customers.

If I were gonna give this a go, I think I'd start with something smaller like a van and see if there's a market to support the cost of operating something bigger. Artsy-wise, it would be cool to have a "mutant" styled rig, but business-wise, you might need more broad appeal. I'm a burner but I wouldn't hire the mutant bus, I'd go with the sharp black one if I was planning a pub crawl with friends in town. Business is about numbers, to stay afloat you need the most customers you can attract. You gotta find out, are the people who would hire a mutant-bus the kind of people who ever hire buses?

Having said all that, I gotta say it's really cool to find the shop or restaurant or service that's small and unique that adds way more character and interest than a commercial, sterile, same-old one.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:11 am

There was a guy on here by the name "lapeer20m" who did something very much like what you're talking about. He bought old but decent buses and put hot tubs in them. He painted the buses black with big flames.
He did it more because he wanted the bus, but I think he did a little rental service if I remember correctly. I think he did better by building and selling the buses; he built about 4 of them. At least one of the rigs he built and sold still appears as a featured rig in a limo/party bus service website.
You could try messaging him and asking how it all went. Elliot from on here might know something about that too, he knows about the jacuzzi bus guy.

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:56 am

I'll find that lapper20m guy, thx.

Due to a very limited budget (like $10k-$20k tops) I cannot go sterile & sharp. I'm also worried about the costs of repairs that you mentioned.

What I'm thinking is renting an old bus for 4-5 months as a trial. That should limit unexpected costs, but unfortunately also render many of the mutations impossible.

The plan for profit would be to run a daily service that would travel around the city. Inside the bus we'd organize any kind of games / parties (and give discounts to any non-fat person getting naked ;), and stop at the most popular clubs / destinations.

During weekends we could do something to compete with City Sightseeing bus services, but more BM-style (that is - crazy trip ideas, artists inside, and destinations different than the museums and churches).

I would target people who experience and participate (as opposed to "watch and take photos"). And bachelor parties. And basically the same cool people that visit BM.

With this kind of money I cannot make it sharp enough to rent.

My calculations:
- $8 / ticket
- 50 people / night
- 1500 people / month
- $10.000 / month income

Some costs are lower in Poland than in US (I can hire two drivers for $4000 / month). I don't know yet how much renting a bus costs.

What do you think? I guess there are many things that I didn't take into account yet.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:14 pm

Help me out here. Do they have Jeepneys in Poland?

merlinthe · Post by **merlinthe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:30 pm

That's a good idea, I didn't know they're called "Jeepney".

We don't have those in Poland (and I'm not even sure if EU allows them bc of pollution they generate), but perhaps I could find them in Ukraine, or some other place.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:34 pm

Google "Jeepney" and tell me what you find.

IMHO this is the grandfther of art cars.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:41 am

Depending how much you can modify a rental bus, it would be a way to do an actual market study without sinking a lot of capital into the project to find out if it would work. I'd start with one, run it like a point to point taxi gig (say, hell, 10 zloty per trip or something) payable up front as you board. Everyone off at the next gig, then you start over again for the next leg, maybe an hour later. 8 parties, sure, would cost someone 80 zloty for the night, but you get the tour d'Warsaw.

The question is, would it make enough to pay the vehicle (and license fees!), driver, insurance, and fuel. Plus would you need permit from the local city government to do this? (I know Italy is brutal like that, and running underground is risky to say the least!!!)

CG makes a good point, that if you want people to participate as paying passengers, it has to have a very slick and cool element to it. Even if the thing is mutated ilke a typical BRC Mutant, it would have to be cool (well, in the winter, warm >>grins<<) clean, well built, and relatively safe (at least to EU standards for public conveyance).

People will not generally want to climb on a rickety looking machine, esp. if they're out dressed up and clubbing/partying. Something to think about.

Used busses - well, you have to be careful they're NOT from someplace like, well, the Ukraine or whatnot, as passing EU standards are really tough for "eastern" vehicles. (There's a reason the old Trabi's are generally not permitted!!!)

Now there's an idea. The Jeepney idea based on a fleet of upgraded ancient Trabi's. Make it a ride into the deeper, darker side of the Eastern Europe tradition. (Hell, our theme camp themes around post-apocalyptic Sovietski stuff, and people seem to really like it - ESPECIALLY those from the area!). Might be worth looking into...

Anyway, good luck with the idea. It sounds like (if you can get past all the regulations) it would be fun, and might actually work!

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 12:21 pm

I wonder why you plan to charge anything. The joy of art cars is that it's public art, experienced for free. You're obviously talking about something different.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 4:51 pm

Bob wrote:I wonder why you plan to charge anything. The joy of art cars is that it's public art, experienced for free. You're obviously talking about something different.

Now, Bob... that's hippy talk.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:42 am

Damn, if you converted the Contraption to a high efficiency low-emission diesel, put all the rubber bumbers and insane lights and other ultra-safety crap the EU mandates, I could see a future in this for you, LCN!

Of course... you'd have to learn Polish... transport the Contraption over there... find the Warsaw hotspots... get one hell of a good GPS... hire armed thugs, er, guards...

Actually, tho, it sounds like a fun way to make a living. As long as the zloty/dollar exchange rate is in our favor!