How wide is too wide...

[KatTravels]

Hey yall,

My nephew and I are looking for a bus under 28ft long and, here's the crucial part, 8ft or less wide on the outside. My driveway is EXTREMELY narrow and I have widened it as much as possible already (8ft5 at it's narrowest point). It is cut into a hill and with neighbors on one side and a retaining wall on the other, there really isn't an option to widen it further. I haven't heard good things about cutaways, but right now it seems like it's my only option.

Anyone heard of a smallish bus (24-28ft long) that is only 8ft wide or less??

Thanks for your time!!

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Even full size school buses are 8 feet wide, it's a standardized size limit. Mirrors and lights may protrude beyond this limit but the body will not.


I have seen a very few "motorcoach" style school buses but these are very rare in the U.S. (and I suspect many of them were for field trip use).

[plfking]

Howdy neighbor (somewhat).

My full-size conventional is 24' bumper-to-bumper....the rear tires are the widest part of the bus (excluding mirrors).

I measured the wheel spans last year (for someone here), which is why I have pics.

The board is 8' long. The front tire span (outside edge to outside edge) is 91".

In the last 2 pics (rear tires), you can barely see the ends of the 8' board on each side (pics taken looking as straight downwards as possible).

The mirrors stick out a good 6" on each side, so if that retaining wall is taller than 5 1/2' of so, you'll have issues.

Hope this helps.

[sepudo]

My 25-foot Thomas bus is 8 feet wide. It's in standard driveways. Once you get the size of it just hug the wall and all is well

[KatTravels]

Thanks for your feedback, Yall!

Brad_SwiftFur, I'm not sure why 8 1/2 ft was stuck in my brain, maybe that's with mirrors?? Thanks for setting me straight!
plfking, hey neighbor! Your pics really put me at ease, I was having a panic attack there for a minute thinking I was going to have to give up/severely downgrade my dream. Where'd you find your bus btw? I'm having a hard time finding a shorty that is not a cutaway in NC.
sepudo, oh my god that photo is terrifying lol. I'm definitely going to need to practice before i try to pull it up the driveway. In the meantime, I suppose i can park it on the street for a couple weeks while I get comfortable.

Thanks again so much for taking the time to answer! I can't wait to get started!!

[cowlitzcoach]

School buses are limited to 96" wide and 40' long maximum.


Motorcoaches and transit buses are limited to 102" wide and 45' with three axles.

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Mine's a close match for your description, it came from southern WV and, of all things, has a manual transmission. I can fairly easily back it into most parking spots. They're not too hard to find.