The Ultimate Road Trip: Why School Bus Conversions Are Taking Over

School bus conversions are all the rage night now, in the nomadic lifestyle we have all dreamed about.

School buses became popular for RV and tiny home conversions because they are hardily built for the daily grind of transporting children to and from school, their lightweight construction uses extensive aluminum, large amounts of windows, and most of all, they are really, really cheap to buy.

How cheap you ask? Brand new these things cost about $250,000 for local municipalities to procure, and now you can buy 10- to 15-year-old 78 passenger busses for around $15,000 in good working order. Equipped with massive diesel engines and more space than you can think of using, these are all built with commercially available components and are excellent choices for traveling North America with the ease of access to parts for repair. Additionally, once purchased, these can be registered as RVs through your local DMV and do not require a commercial driver’s license to operate, despite full air-brake braking systems.

If you have dreamed of picking up your own school bus to convert into a roaming home, no need to wait for the right moment; there are thousands available and all you need is a little elbow grease to strip them of their previous life and rebuild them into your vision.

Wilderness Wandering took on the task of purchasing a ‘97 Thomas flat-nose bus and converting it into a tiny home to travel the country in. Their first episode is below, and once you are hooked, there are plenty more to watch