Jonathan Welch continues his chat with YouTube star Pete Sonneveld about his bar bus business and some of the other opportunities which have arisen from his unusual venture
In last week’s issue, we started speaking to the star of YouTube channel Pete And his Bus about his bar bus business, which he started a decade ago. Having converted one Routemaster into a successful business venture, Pete is well underway with his second conversion, as documented in his monthly videos. We left off speaking about some of the successes, but the bar bus has not been Pete’s only source of success.
On the road with Racoon
As viewers of his channel will have seen, Pete has diversified into other bus-related event activities alongside his own Routemasters. “I did a deal to sell a bus to PR company Racoon,” he explained. “They were looking for a bus, but struggling to buy one for commercial use. I sold them RM 2634 which belonged to a friend. Their Managing Director came to see me, and asked ‘so you’re an events manager who drives buses?’
“There are events managers, and there are bus drivers, but there are not many who can do both, so they were impressed. They asked if I’d work with them. Initially I said no, but they kept asking, so I gave them a price and they agreed.
“The first job I did was for the shoe brand Malone Souliers at Covent Garden. It happened to be the same day as a vintage bus running day. When I arrived in Covent Garden with RM 2634, it was full of bus fans wanting to take pictures. I remember one of the Malone Souliers staff saying ‘OMG he’s like, literally, famous’! It was a very successful day.
“I’ve done two tours for clothing brand Shein as well,” Pete added, “which is quite a controversial company. They’ve made significant efforts to clean up their act, though, and want to retain their market share. That was interesting to deal with.”
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The advantage of using a PR company’s own bus is that a full vinyl wrap can be applied without risking damage to paintwork or the need to pay for a repaint afterwards, Pete pointed out. His work on promotional tours has seen him driving much more modern vehicles, such as an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 and and Alexander ALX400, which might be more suited to the needs of promoters internally, but lack some of the road presence of a Routemaster; the trade off of course being reliability. “My business model is based on a vehicle from 1965 getting to a specific location for a certain time. I always have an inner fear of something catastrophic going wrong.”
Legal learnings
“When I first started, I was planning to do my PSV licence, but my Routemaster expert Tim [Barrington] explained that I could drive the bus on a car licence. It was quite a scary thought with such a big vehicle. I was always paranoid that I’d commit to going down a road and not being able to get out.
“I got stuck in front of a low bridge once, but you have to go through those situations to realise that you can work it out and it’ll be fine.”
Pete has since sat his PCV test, and shortly after CBW’s visit was planning to be at the wheel of another Routemaster at a local running day, this time one still fully equipped with seats and which has not been seen in public for over 37 years: RM 1009.
Another legal question Pete finds himself being asked frequently is the bus’ status. From an insurance perspective, he explained, it’s a mobile catering vehicle, and a key element in it not being classed as a PSV is that it doesn’t conduct any business whilst being driven; travel is just for the sake of transporting it from one location to another.
“If you’re going to use a vehicle for something other than what it was designed for, you’re always going to be operating in some kind of loophole,” he said. “It doesn’t fit the operating licence requirements for a PSV or HGV. It also doesn’t need an MOT because of it’s age, but Tim carries out a yearly inspection. That’s probably better, because he’s an expert in Routemasters and knows exactly what he’s looking at. Plus it’s my livelihood, so it’s sensible to keep on top of the maintenance.”
When it comes to parts, whatever the purist might say, for a working vehicle Pete is very happy to have a bus that has been repowered with a Cummins engine.”I tip my hat to Cummins,” he said. “They genuinely want you to buy their engines and use them for years. You can ring any distributor and get a part from anywhere. Virtually all the service items are available, a full service kit costs less than £200. Body parts are harder to find, but Tim has a good network.
“Of course, they were built with an AEC engine, and because of the design, the engine is part of the structure. An original one feels really solid and well put together. When you get into a rebuilt one, they can be a bit vague and rattly.
“There’s a huge difference in power between the different engine types. Some were rebuilt with Iveco engines, which are the weakest, though mechanically sound. The Cummins is more powerful.
The AEC is the best of both, with monstrous torque. For a purist, it will always be an AEC but if you’re going to use it regularly, you want the Cummins.
Possibly worse than getting stuck in front of a low bridge, Pete dislikes private parties and has started doing more public events rather than private ones such as weddings, ones where security staff are on hand to keep an eye on people. “I won’t ‘dry hire’ to private parties,” he said. “There’s too much risk.” Among the list of horror stories was one, probably unrepeatable in its entirety, involving an inebriated young woman wearing little more than a short dress being prevented by Pete from succeeding in her attempt to climb onto the bus roof through the sunroof.
YouTube
So how did the YouTube channel come about, I asked. “It started with a blog just to get better search engine results. Everybody has a blog. No one reads them, but Google does. It was mainly pictures of me building the bus,” Pete explained.
“I saw 215 people were reading it, so thought ‘I have to make this good.’ So I decided to film the second bus build. For the first few years, YouTube did very little, but with my background in music and performing, it was a natural thing for me. Then one of my videos was promoted by YouTube, and quickly got a lot of views. I have a lot of subscribers on there now, but there are a lot of people who watch and don’t subscribe.
“The core business hasn’t changed, but YouTube is a nice bonus, along with the opportunities that come with it. I used to advertise a lot, but I don’t need to any more. I do get quite a bit of criticism, sometimes over silly things like music. I pride myself on not being distant from my followers. If someone’s taken the time to write a message, I’ll take the time to reply.
“I’d originally intended to do a classic car channel, but decided there were already lots of those so I switched to buses instead, with some classic cars included on the side. I’m just a normal guy in a shed, but people show so much respect and love. I can’t produce enough videos.
“I’ve been invited to events like ‘Rustival’ because of YouTube. I wouldn’t say I’m famous, but well-known. I enjoy people coming to say hello. They know me, but I’ve no idea who they are. It’s quite humbling.”
The business has naturally taken time to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic; 2019 had been its best to date, and 2023 finally saw Pete and his bus almost back to the same level in terms of workload and profitability, though the business model has somewhat shifted thanks to new developments with the likes of Racoon and Shein.
“I still ask myself sometimes, ‘how did I end up driving a classic bus for a living?’ I feel so lucky to be able to exercise my hobby for a living,” Pete summarised. “One of my best friends is a software engineer in London. He earns five times as much, but hates the lifestyle. I look forward to coming into the barn and working on the buses.
“Even when I’m doing jobs for Racoon with mega hours it’s still fun. I know I can’t do it forever, it’s definitely a young man’s game. But I’ll keep doing it for as long as I can. The same for YouTube. I thought if you’re not young and cool, it’s not for you, but that’s a myth.”
So whether you’re curious about Routemaster restoration, want to hire a classic bus bar for your corporate event, or just want to see the latest progress on RM 2730, why not pop over to Pete’s YouTube channel and take a look, or pay a visit to his website to find out more?
Visit Pete’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/peteandhisbus and see CBW’s own YouTube channel for a special video update.
